Seditious Elements: Capitalism, Socialism, and the Weaponization of Ideology

Senator Joseph McCarthy and Mao Zedong had a lot in common. Despite the former’s hatred of Communism and the latter’s equally virulent hatred of capitalism, both presided over shameful witch hunts that tore apart their respective countries. They embodied and exacerbated deep-seated prejudices in a long war between diametrically opposed ideologies — namely, socialism and capitalism — yet their eerily similar tactics only served to highlight how easy it is for the powerful to manipulate societies.