What is paranoia? Who can have paranoia? Why be paranoid? After all - if someone really is out to get you, it's not actually paranoia. Right? Or what if you think that someone's out to get you? Is it alright to be paranoid then? Have you ever felt paranoid about being paranoid - like you're being paranoid for no reason at all? Have I made you paranoid yet?
See, that's what the Puritan people were able to do to each other. (Not that I have a problem against any form of religion at all!) I'm not talking modern-day. I'm talking about way back to the Salem Witch Trials - back when people assigned the only explanation to something unknown that they could - that being the supernatural.
There's nothing wrong with believing in the supernatural - nothing at all. In fact, I ardently wish for there to be something paranormal (ghosts, goblins, imps... you name it - something!). And rightly along with this occurrence, there should be a *healthy* respect for the unknown. (Note please: I said healthy.)
What the Puritans had all those years ago was an unheathly fear for the unexplained. Of course, being wary and staying alive is much different than charging blindly into danger. But remember: living a life too cautious is hardly living a life at all.
Maybe it was the fact that these people had traveled so far across the ocean, or maybe it was because they were so uneducated to the fact that different cultures have different beliefs and different places are indeed scary at first - but doesn't anyone else find it funny (not funny ha-ha, but funny humm) that they came over from England for religious and political freedom?
Sure, the settlers were able to set up some form of government that worked pretty well, but when it came to religious freedom, they failed epically.
The Pilgrims wanted to escape the King's persecution for following a different train of thought than he did. That's one of the reasons why they came over, ne?
What eventually happened - the Puritans got all freaked out when they thought that someone was a witch, which led to mass hysteria and a bunch of people were falsely executed. Now, that's not saying that there wasn't a witch among those who were killed, but really.... Just because they claim witchcraft as a form of religion, is that any reason to kill them? Isn't it a little ironic that the Puritans did the very thing that they wanted to escape from? Doesn't anyone else think so? (If every religion thinks that every other religion is wrong and the practitioners are condemned to Hell, well, at least we'll all be warm, ne?)
I wonder if they thought about that when the Trials were going on. If they did, and they voiced this thought, were they themselves tried as a witch? (And of course, it would be a woman, because women would be the ones practical enough to have this dawn on them - no offense guys!)
Did the "normies" - the non-witches - the townsfolk - did they have any reason to be tried? Was it self-preservation that made neighbor turn on neighbor - sibling turn on sibling - friend turn against friend? Was the fear of death enough for the false accusations to be justififed? If those who confessed and repented were spared, why was this fear so great? Couldn't they just say, "Yup, sure, whatever, and I'm sorry, and I'll never ever do it agian, and I'll follow whichever religion you want me to follow."?
Just think about that for a minute. Keep thinking...
What other ways could the Puritans have gone about this development? Could the judges have done more to keep the fear in check? Of course, there's always going to be the fear and the wondering whether or not that person or this person is a witch, but coudn't the judges have passed a mandate saying that those who accused out of falsehood were subject to proscution themselvs? I know that this is the twenty-first century, but even thinking from a Puritan mindset, there had to be ways around over 100 people being accused of such a "henious" act.
Hence, then, what else could be done...?
On tomorrow's blog: How too much faith and religion can be a bad idea.
See, that's what the Puritan people were able to do to each other. (Not that I have a problem against any form of religion at all!) I'm not talking modern-day. I'm talking about way back to the Salem Witch Trials - back when people assigned the only explanation to something unknown that they could - that being the supernatural.
There's nothing wrong with believing in the supernatural - nothing at all. In fact, I ardently wish for there to be something paranormal (ghosts, goblins, imps... you name it - something!). And rightly along with this occurrence, there should be a *healthy* respect for the unknown. (Note please: I said healthy.)
What the Puritans had all those years ago was an unheathly fear for the unexplained. Of course, being wary and staying alive is much different than charging blindly into danger. But remember: living a life too cautious is hardly living a life at all.
Maybe it was the fact that these people had traveled so far across the ocean, or maybe it was because they were so uneducated to the fact that different cultures have different beliefs and different places are indeed scary at first - but doesn't anyone else find it funny (not funny ha-ha, but funny humm) that they came over from England for religious and political freedom?
Sure, the settlers were able to set up some form of government that worked pretty well, but when it came to religious freedom, they failed epically.
The Pilgrims wanted to escape the King's persecution for following a different train of thought than he did. That's one of the reasons why they came over, ne?
What eventually happened - the Puritans got all freaked out when they thought that someone was a witch, which led to mass hysteria and a bunch of people were falsely executed. Now, that's not saying that there wasn't a witch among those who were killed, but really.... Just because they claim witchcraft as a form of religion, is that any reason to kill them? Isn't it a little ironic that the Puritans did the very thing that they wanted to escape from? Doesn't anyone else think so? (If every religion thinks that every other religion is wrong and the practitioners are condemned to Hell, well, at least we'll all be warm, ne?)
I wonder if they thought about that when the Trials were going on. If they did, and they voiced this thought, were they themselves tried as a witch? (And of course, it would be a woman, because women would be the ones practical enough to have this dawn on them - no offense guys!)
Did the "normies" - the non-witches - the townsfolk - did they have any reason to be tried? Was it self-preservation that made neighbor turn on neighbor - sibling turn on sibling - friend turn against friend? Was the fear of death enough for the false accusations to be justififed? If those who confessed and repented were spared, why was this fear so great? Couldn't they just say, "Yup, sure, whatever, and I'm sorry, and I'll never ever do it agian, and I'll follow whichever religion you want me to follow."?
Just think about that for a minute. Keep thinking...
What other ways could the Puritans have gone about this development? Could the judges have done more to keep the fear in check? Of course, there's always going to be the fear and the wondering whether or not that person or this person is a witch, but coudn't the judges have passed a mandate saying that those who accused out of falsehood were subject to proscution themselvs? I know that this is the twenty-first century, but even thinking from a Puritan mindset, there had to be ways around over 100 people being accused of such a "henious" act.
Hence, then, what else could be done...?
On tomorrow's blog: How too much faith and religion can be a bad idea.
I don't think that Puritans were opposed to witches because they simply practiced a different religion. The witches that we learned about in The Craft are not the same as those feared in 17th century America. These were presumably people that were inhabited by the very demons that the Puritan religion assumed they were fighting against.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Justin, I don't think it was a religious thing. It was sheer terror that the thing their religion was created for was in their very presence. Witchcraft wasn't a religion in puritan times, it was the Devil incarnate, and even today Christians fear the Devil.
ReplyDelete