Word: hysteria
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Capitulating to the hysteria of McCarthyism, Harvard commanded Raymond Ginger to either divulge his political allegiances or resign. Unwilling to comply with the coercion, he immediately submitted his letter of resignation. Harvard gave the Ginger family the monetary equivalent of the two remaining months of his contract, contingent on their rapid departure from Massachusetts. The quality of Raymond Ginger’s teaching and scholarship was never challenged, and the University committed a grave sin against academic freedom by forcing him out on the basis of his political views...
...unpopular nerd," Moran says, and made fun of his black clothes. One day at lunch, a group of kids approached him; one said, "You're like those kids at Columbine." The boy responded, "I could be." On the strength of those three little words, Moran says, hysteria broke out at the school as rumors swirled about his possible intent. His locker was searched, and the baseball bat found inside was labeled a weapon. The entire school was evacuated. The boy spent six months in counseling and is now flourishing at another school. The school has said that under the circumstances...
...That was before the French government confirmed a case of the highly contagious virus in the northeastern corner of the country, sending European financial markets and farmers into barely controlled hysteria. Roadblocks and embargoes were established, travelers were asked to disinfect their shoes, and thousands more animals were slaughtered and burned as French farmers scrambled to contain the devastating disease. Across the Atlantic, the United States' Agriculture Department banned imports of all livestock, fresh meat and unpasteurized dairy products from all 15 countries in the European Union. While some E.U. countries expressed surprise at what they term "drastic" action...
However, the reality is far from the collective hysteria that's been blaring from the pages of USA Today and The New York Times. Indeed, there are several popular myths that we need to dispel about the current economic situation...
...weakness in the old DARE program, as several studies suggest, was the simplicity of its message - and its panic-level assertions that "drug abuse is everywhere." Kids, program directors learned, don?t respond well to hyperbole, and both the "Just Say No" message and the hysteria implied in the anti-drug rhetoric were pushing students away. It?s also possible, some researchers speculate, that by making drugs seem more prevalent, or "normal" than they actually are, the DARE program might actually push kids who are anxious to fit in towards drugs...