What were they really afraid of?

The biggest question I have about the blacklist is a pretty large one, and I understand that it's not one that Bernstein is interested in, because either way he was out of a job.

What were the blacklisters really afraid of? Was the fear really that these Communist Soviet sympathizers would brainwash the American public? It just seems far more likely that this effort was an attempt to send out the message that being a Communist was bad for your health. In general it seems like the American government was uninterested in the impact of art, especially after the dismantling of the Federal Theatre Project in 1939, and the industry assumption was that artists were inherently Progressive but ultimately ineffective.

I suppose my point is that it doesn't seem like the art was what the censors were actually afraid of, because it seems like they would be more active in attacking fronts for the blacklisted writers if that was the real worry. It seems like it was more important to them to keep up the appearance of being a Communist being dangerous, being something that was more trouble than it was worth. Ideas are powerful, especially when they're conveyed in a subversive medium but in the case of the blacklist, it seems like what they were more afraid of was people spouting ideas openly. If you were going to send the message that being a Communist is dangerous and not worth it, you'd want to attack high profile people, to suggest that even Hollywood isn't safe. It just makes more sense than it only being the art by itself.