Explore the Archives
A Journal of the Plague Year Arizona Collection Australia Boston Bronx Community College New York Brooklyn College New York Canada Las Americas Lockdown Staten Island New Orleans Oral Histories Philippines Sacramento Community Based Organizations Southwest Stories Teaching the Pandemic The City College of New York

Collected Item: “Old Paranoia”

Give your story a title.

Old Paranoia

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Two photos, one found at first online; however, I found both images I wanted at Snopes to fact check them.

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

The modern day photo, the one quivocating social distancing to Communism, I first stumbled upon on social media. The photo instantly made me think how paranoia has always played a part in the American attitude towards the government; Americans have always been quick to assume that the government isn't being straightforward with them and that there's a conspiracy afoot. That conclusion leads me to the second photo, taken in August of 1959 in Little Rock, Arkanasas, was the response to school integration that allowed African-Americans to go to formerly White-Only schools. As you can see, it's a mirror image of Americans forming conspiracy theories or general paranoia that is usually scapegoated onto Communism.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#USF #H396

Enter a URL associated with this object, if relevant.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/social-distancing-communism/

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Unknown

Give this story a date.

2020-04
Click here to view the corresponding item.