War hysteria is an emotional reaction to propaganda about impending war, causing panic among the population. During the Cold War, Americans hoarded food and built private shelters. Today, the threat of terrorism has led to a reduction of individual rights, such as invasive body scans at airports.
War hysteria is a hysterical emotional reaction to the feeling of impending doom created by the dissemination of propaganda relating to impending war. War hysteria affects the parties involved in the war and induces feelings of panic among the population. For example, in a situation where word spreads that country A may go to war with country B, feelings of panic may start to spread among citizens of both country A and country B who feel that the war will lead to catastrophic consequences for them.
Such embers of panic can be fueled by government propaganda and other sources that can drive the embers of panic into full-fledged hysteria. During the onset of the Cold War, Americans were in the grip of war hysteria, which resulted in feelings of fear and panic. These were purely emotional reactions leading to certain actions. People started buying food in bulk and hoarding it for emergencies. They have also begun to include some form of protection in their homes as they deliberate on the prudence of relying on public shelters instead.
Perhaps, this hysteria can best be captured by the sentiment of some Cold War-era residents who thought they should take steps to better defend their private shelters. These people believed that hordes of people could swarm their homes for shelter if war started. The primary fear in the 1950s Cold War was that of a nuclear attack on the United States.
The war hysteria resulting from the Cold War has been replaced with a mass hysteria emerging in response to the growing threat of terrorist attacks. This is in addition to America’s wars against countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. The war hysteria due to the growing fear of terrorist attacks has led to a drastic reduction of some individual rights as people give up more rights in exchange for feeling better protected against these attacks.
For example, the use of body scans at various airports around the world can be viewed as prudent or as the result of war hysteria. Without the threat of terrorist attacks and people having emotional fear of such attacks, these things would never be tolerated as people would see it as a violation of their dignity. In addition to image scans, people are also prepared to endure often invasive body searches and restrictions on the types and number of items they can travel with in exchange for feeling safe.
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