These days of “cancelling” people whose views one doesn’t agree with is nothing new. In recent times (the 1950s) this went on at a semi-official level.
The best depiction of what it must have been like during the McCarthy era — and, indeed, what it’s like now for many academics and others — is a radio play called The Investigator.
Written in 1954 by Reuben Ship, it was a satire on McCarthyism, and was Ship’s revenge against the McCarthy investigations for his being branded a communist. It must have hit home, because Ship was summarily deported back to Canada, even though he was in hospital at the time.
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