Word: hysteria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Throughout the Yard, the annual rite of the freshman housing lottery prompted statistical hysteria as the College experimented with its new system, under which Yardlings were informed of their lottery number before they were asked to choose their future residence...
White House Spokesman Larry Speakes tried to deny that anything similar could happen in U.S. atomic plants. Said he: "Ours are quite different from the Soviet system and have a number of redundant safety systems built in." Noted another White House aide: "We don't want the hysteria building around the Soviet accident transferring over to the American power industry...
...mother of small children. What measures should I take against the radiation in the air?" "I am pregnant. Are the radiation beams dangerous to the child I am bearing?" Public-health assurances that the radiation was too low to pose a hazard failed to stem the concern. "Mass hysteria in a situation like this is not uncommon," said Are Holen, a catastrophe researcher in Oslo. "We experience a danger that we cannot see and cannot register with any of our other senses, and that leads people to be worried and afraid...
Because of the climate of fear and hysteria the Administration has created, the Reaganites can expect the House to approve their aid request next week. While allegedly trying to bolster the democratic process in Central America, then, the Administration apparently has little respect for it here at home...
Preston Sturges used to write and direct this stuff pretty well, with gusts of anarchic energy and a gaggle of pruny character actors to undercut the sentiment. Frank Capra was a master at building social comedy to the apex of hysteria, then pulling a happy-ending miracle out of his hat. Ron Howard, even after Splash and Cocoon, ain't these guys, yet. When he lets his film relax into hip facetiousness, and when Keaton parades his elfin jock swagger, Gung Ho is agreeable. But its relentless stereotyping of the Japanese provokes winces and worse. Its tone swings violently from...