Movies confront the evils of rumor and gossip

First thing this break, we went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. One of its themes is the damage that can be caused by rumor and gossip, in this case the pernicious buzz that Harry put his own name into the Goblet of Fire. Even Harry's best friend Ron believes the rumors (don't these people KNOW that dark magic occurs ALL THE TIME and that Harry has demonstrated his integrity NUMEROUS TIMES???). A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about going to see Good Night, and Good Luck, a wonderful film about journalist Edward Murrow's efforts to expose Senator Joseph McCarthy's campaign of gossip and innuendo. We've got some great books in the library that examine this era in detail. Among them are Many Are the Crimes: McCarthyism in America (973.9 Sch71m) by Ellen Schrecker, Red Scare: Memories of the American Inquisition (973.92 F226r) an oral history by Griffin Fariello, Joseph McCarthy: The Misuse of Political Power (973.9180924 M12c) by Daniel Cohen, The Cold War Comes to Main Street ((973.918 R72c) by Lisle Rose, and Red Scared! The Commie Menace in Propaganda and Popular Culture (973.9 B28r) by Michael Barson and Steven Heller. Why is it that we can't see these gossip firestorms for what they are, as they are occurring?

Here are some samples (from Barson and Heller's book) of the kind of propaganda that was so pervasive during McCarthy's "glory" period. I like the image of the Senator presumably sweeping the Capitol free of Communists.