What Is an Example of a Modern Day Witch Hunt?

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A modern day witch hunt is described by Care 2 as a situation where a mob mentality attacks someone or something while operating on dubious premises. It is essentially a situation where paranoia and suspicion are taken to another level through a mob mentality.

An example of this is when the media attempted to make NFL player, Richard Sherman, look like a thug due to his outburst after a game in January 2014. In political terms, it is a situation where someone is “hunted” through being discredited and made to look “evil.” The Internet and Twitter have become major forces in modern day witch hunts. In the previous example with Richard Sherman, tweets calling him a thug immediately came across after the game. These were in turn picked up and re-tweeted by members of the media and others. It eventually turned into a huge story with a variety of media sources calling him a thug for his comments and behavior.

Another example of a modern day witch hunt is a phantom idea perpetuated by radical political sources that there is an entire contingent of socially dependent people who are living richly off the backs of taxpayers, as explained by the Salon.com. This idea has its roots in suspicion and paranoia and has been used and reused by right-wing politicians to gain support.