Pro-Freedom Fanatic
Witch hunts are what happens when people are not vigilant about ther liberty and allow puritans (or their equivalents) to hold power over other people.
I'd say the lesson is clear.
edited 14th Sep '11 11:58:22 AM by SavageHeathen
You exist because we allow it and you will end because we demand it.
I actually didn't know what pressing was before I read this thread. I'm not very knowledgeable about methods of torture, brutal excecution and the like but I think they are an interesting subject. Don't get me wrong, they're appaling, of course. I mean interesting from a psychological perspective. Human beings devised these methods and applied them on other human beings while others watched. That's food for thought.
edited 14th Sep '11 12:51:46 PM by AnEditor
The dumber people think you are, the more surprised they're going to be when you kill them.
No, Savage, whatever you think it is we should learn from this other than that we should enact personal vengeance on everyone is not actually that clear.
What is clear is that fear can overwhelm our better moral senses. Our current judicial system is set up as to prevent that. It's not perfect, but it's several times better than what they had in Puritan times. If we spend too much time fearing people, and thinking of them as the "other" then they end up suffering. As a moral people, we need to make sure the system is set up so that can't happen.
Blueninja gets 50 points. There is a very good book on this subject, called Salem Possessed, everyone should read it because it is awesome. The whole witch thing was wildly spun out of control because of taxes and economics and stuff. The folks closer to the waterfront were, in general, better off than the people further away, and there was a whole mess of stuff about which wealthy family was staying wealthy and which one was declining, and basically there had been a fight between these general factions about forming a new (tax supported) church and eventually a seperate municipality, for a couple of decades, and emotions were kind of high.
This foreboding is fa...
I too remember reading about this theory, and here it is,
shot down.
Interestingly, it aligns nicely with Blueninja's post about one side of town vs. the other- the people living in the swampy western portion would be those likely exposed to Ergot poisoning. The rest, however, doesn't necessarily fit.
edited 15th Sep '11 7:06:36 PM by deathjavu
Look, you can't make me speak in a logical, coherent, intelligent bananna.
I changed accounts.
It's not the puritanical values, it's the authoritarian exertion of said values...
Also, the "contaminated food" theory makes some sense, since there was another town that did the same thing at the same time in reaction to this, and they easily came to their senses as the "what the fuck, bullshit!" radar kicked in...
I am now known as Flyboy.
The actual breakdown goes almost neatly along geographic lines, with the majority of the accused and their defenders being on one side of town, with the majority of the accusers and their supporters being on the other side of town. It gets even more murky, because a short time before this, the side of town with the accused had attempted to separate from Salem and become their own town - with their own school, church, and taxes. So while it started from a couple of stupid teenagers trying to not get in trouble, it very quickly turned into Salem's Economic Wars: Religious Edition!
That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw