The+Final+Draft

The Final Draft DONE nuff said. It says rough draft but this is a link to my final draft.

Hysteria The Salem Witch Trials were some of the greatest examples of mass hysteria in the history of mankind. It is a perfect example of how hysteria can devastate a community. The trials started with three girls being accused of witchcraft in the New England colonies and led to hundreds of arrests and murders. It shows the drastic measures taken by the community and the problems those measures can lead to. Because of its effects, Americans should know the causes of hysteria, what it can lead to, and how to receive it to avoid the disaster it brings. Americans need to learn the cause of the hysteria in order to stay away from the bad endings. What the people really need to focus on is to making sure the hysteria is not a creation of their times. In a magazine article, Laura Spinney (24) looks at how the surroundings contributed to mass hysteria in a Latin American country, “A community like hers, ravaged by war, with poor general health and high anxiety, can be fertile ground for mass hysteria. All it takes is a bad smell from a school drain and you have an outbreak of something that looks like mass poisoning.” This situation arrived in the Trials as well. Brett Loiselle gave this information in his book //The Salem Witch Trials.// Salem had just gone through a bout of small pox, Indian attacks were becoming more prevalent, and political uncertainty was engulfing the town (2). People always try to find a scapegoat. In Salem’s, case it was three young girls behaving oddly. They had never seen behavior like this and times were bad so the people started making connections in their heads. Those connections led to nineteen deaths. If they had looked at their circumstances, realized these were poor times, and the girls were young and innocent the massacre could have been avoided. The second step to avoid disaster is being open about the problem. In the same article as mentioned before Pat Troop (24), of the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency said, “The best way to handle outbreaks of uncertain origin is to be open with people, while conducting thorough environmental investigations.” If the government is not open about the problem people start to speculate and no good can come when people start to speculate. In the US, there is an Unidentified Flying Object hysteria and the main reason is the US government is not open with the public. Nick Schwellenbach, of the Corvallis Times, talks about how government secrecy has cost the citizens, “Secrecy is expensive, too. Over the same period the amount of taxpayer dollars spent on classification increased nearly $2 billion, to $6.5 billion annually .” When people see numbers like this they want to know why they are paying so much. If people are left to speculate where the money goes, innocent parties can be accused of something, this can lead to litigations. It’s better to be open with people because people can not deny the facts, but when there are no facts given the human mind can run wild. The other side of the story is the government needs to find a way to give information in a safe way. The government can not give all the gruesome facts and create hysteria. They need to present information in an informative yet calm manner. An information overload can scare people. This prevents hysteria because being open and honest cuts out speculation and giving safe facts cuts down on people thinking they will be harmed by whatever the problem is. People need to learn the truth about their hysteria which can change the perception on their hysteria. UCLA professors did a study to see whether there was a bias in the media. This is what the professors said, “Coverage by public television and radio is conservative compared to the rest of the mainstream media. Meanwhile, almost all major media outlets tilt to the left.” Everyone has an opinion about something, especially the news outlets. A person should always be aware of where their news comes from. Distorted facts can lead to very dangerous opinions on an individuals view for a particular story. A huge hysteria for the American people is terrorism. Benjamin Friedman (22), a leading doctoral candidate in political science, found these facts in a chance of dying in a terrorist attack, “According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the odds are about 1 in 88,000.” So the biggest hysteria in the U.S. is a dud. A person has a better chance of dying in a car accident than a terrorist attack. A person’s understanding of the news he or she receives can elevate depending if the hysteria is legitimate or not. What it all comes down to is the people shouldn’t trust the surface of a story they should dig down and find facts. The better knowledge someone has on a subject the more they can understand it and solve it. Better yet great leadership can prevent hysteria just as much as the civilians. When great leadership sees a problem they attack it. The leaders do things in a calm rational manner. The swine flu case of the United States is a great example of this. The leaders are in the midst of a pandemic, yet they held a calm and reasonable composure about the situation. Ruth Engs gives this information about how people in charge can handle a suspected illness, “ When confronted with this type of illness, calm responsive leadership from staff is essential for monitoring the situation. Protocols for contacting emergency personnel need to be implemented immediately, and as soon as possible those stricken should be separated from those showing no symptoms of the illness. A precautionary evacuation of the area and relocation of members of the group to comfortable areas can help avoid panic reactions. It is important that staff be available, both on site where the illness occurred and in the area where the group is relocated so that communication can be maintained and rumors can be held to a minimum.” The US shows this by getting the infected people healthcare separated from the people who are healthy. They have told the areas where swine flu is most prevalent also where it is not so people can’t start rumors on what state it’s in. The government has given clear cut symptoms where people can be positive on whether they have the disease or not. This also cuts down on rumor spreading and panicking. This relates back to the topic of prevention because the rumor spreading is cut down, people are positive on whether they have the disease or not so there is no speculation, and the infected areas are told so people won’t be speculating if the person sitting next to them has the disease. All of this cuts down on whether a hysteria is started about the disease. Rumors and speculation lead to hysteria so when leaders can cut those out hysteria is prevented. People need to learn how hysteria starts, what can come from hysteria, and are the stories their receiving about hysteria accurate to avoid the harsh endings of hysteria. Remember this Frank Herbert quote, “The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.” Hysteria has a reward behind it for someone. The people can’t let a cause of someone else fog their judgment. Innocent lives could be at stake.