Mass of children

Thoughts can cycle, change, and develop, but they are still more easily controlled than emotion.  A term used when describing one particular level of control one has over their emotions is hysteria.  An antonym of collectedness, hysteria is defined as "an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.".  Hysteria is often brought about during a time of social or political unrest.  In the previous post, I discuss how human beings are strongly influenced by eachother; when emotional instability is experienced in a community of people, it is called mass hysteria.  In history, mass hysteria was displayed in the Red Scare, a movement during the 1940s to 1950s involving the evaluation for communists among United States employees.  During this time, many were falsely accused at the cost of their jobs as well as their status in society.  

Mass hysteria follows an unspoken outline, which will be applied through the analysis of the Red Scare.  It is spurred by discontent among a group of people who seek something; it could be power, status, money, etc.  Around the time of the Red Scare, the United States dropped a bomb on China, governed by the communist leader Mao Zedong, and joined the Korean War, fighting against the communist North Korea.  Americans felt an urgency to protect themselves from any communists that might intrude the United States.  The hysterics claim that their unjust actions are moral; American political leaders used the excuse of "protecting their citizens" to validate the destroying of the lives of countless, innocent Americans.  By doing so, they were able to gain complete control over one aspect of their duty as leaders as other aspects spiraled out of regimentation.

In short, hysteria is used as a weak excuse to make nefarious and selfish acts appear necessary and completely appropriate.  As a baby will cry when he or she doesn't get a toy, an immature being will employ mass hysteria as an elementary tactic to obtain a desired result.