Throughout history, fear has been within humanity, ecoking a wide range of responses from courage and innovation to hatred and destruction, making it crucial for humans to understand fears’ societal impacts. The Salem witch trials were a series of prosecutions and executions of people accused of witchcraft from 1692-1693. During World War 2, 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to internment camps. Even though fear can motivate individuals and societies to take necessary precautions and make positive changes, fear can negatively impact society by leading to prejudice, irrational behavier, and a breakdown of social trust, as seen during the Salem witch trials and in WW 2 when Japanese Americans were being put in internment camps. …show more content…
After the attacks on Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1943, the U.S government feared that Japanese Americans might aid Japan on future attacks on American soil.As a result, president Roosevelt issued executive order 9066, which granted the secretary of war and his commanders the power “to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded.”(Britannica 1).While specific were not mentioned in the order, it was used on almost the whole population of Japanese Americans on the west coast. Many Americans at the time saw Japanese people as a threat to national security and believed that they could not be trusted.According to Christopher Prokes, Posters depicted Japanese people with large teeth, yellow skin, and pointed ears.”It was media like this that furthered the public's fear of Japanese Americans, painting them as potential spies and