Unamerican activities/Talk

It seems to me that my original has been edited to make the history more palatable to the American ears. Many people who were persecuted during the show trials of the UnAmerican? activities were not shown to be involved in political activities funded by the Communist Party. Arthur Miller for instance wrote The Crucible as a result of his experiences. He refused to testify against other people as he believed that their political views where no body elses business. For this he was black listed. There was no evidence that Arthur Miller was funded by the Comintern, nor was there evidence presented that those he protected were funded in this way.

Similarly with Charlie Chaplin who was exiled from what he had made his home. He was indeed "left wing" in one sense. The Great Dictator was a biting parody of fascism. His early work reflected the alienation of a factory workforce, and the pain of his own separation from his mother in a British workhouse. He was also one of the richest men in the US, and the personification of the American dream. "Radical leftist political beliefs". I think not. He simply reflected the confusions and contradictions in American society at the time. It is this that makes Chaplin (and US history of the time) so fascinating.

However you look at the McCarthyite? period it was a period of intense paranoia by the American political elite (and yes you have a political elite even in the US) in their attempts to ensure that Hollywood only produced propagnda venerating their arguments. It resulted in severe consequences for many citizens of the US despite the lack of a proper trial and with little or no right of appeal. If you look at the output of the American film industry before and after McCarthy? you can also clearly see how "successful" he was.

To my mind this period stands out in US history as one of the most serious mass violations of human rights. I would rank it along side the forced eugenic sterilisations of the early 1900's, and before that the treatment of native Americans.

The US has a short but turbulent history. In that time it has done great things. It has also done terrible things, and to airbrush these out of the history we place here is to my mind both sad and runs contrary to the ideology of a neutral point of view.

PL