Posted on 12/12/2017 11:07:45 AM PST by Kaslin
Recognizing the problems inherent in the hysteria surrounding the #MeToo campaign, which the media and politicians are heralding as a pivotal moment in our culture, should not require a difficult intellectual exercise. It was once conventional wisdom gleaned from history. But given that modern media narratives serve more to reshape history than to appropriately understand and learn from it, perhaps a brief history discussion is in order. All you have to do is remember the first famous #MeToo campaign to take place in the Americas.
Salem Village, 1692. Young girls, caught up in the frenzied hysteria of rampant devilry and witchcraft as explanations for the problems plaguing Salem Village, led to the accusation of more than 200 men and women of witchery, leading to the execution of 20 innocent people. Today, it is generally believed that these young women and the later accusers voiced their accusations for attention, personal gain, or to capture a moment of relevance in a popular wave of accusations that were then-thought “brave” by local religious leaders, who were both the media criers and political leaders of their day.
Examination of a Witch (1853) by T. H. Matteson
Myriad lessons were learned from this horrific event. Chief among these is the realization that there is a distinct problem in weaponizing random accusations of wrongdoing amidst mass hysteria about the rampancy of a peculiar moral evil. That is, innocent men and women are invariably punished when accusations grow from the passions of a frenzied mob. In fact, during this event, Increase Mather, then the president of Harvard, was prompted to make a reasoned observation that what would eventually become a famous cliché: “It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
The Year after the “Miracle of Lourdes’ in France 1858, Twelve Hundred young French girls also claimed a visit by the Virgin Mary, Twelve Boys did.
For every 100 hundred women that claim the Stigmata, I man does.
Are you calling the Virgin Mary a witch?
What?
Ok, I get it. Very good...
Good read - thanks for passing it along.
I googled to see what finally stopped the Salem witch hysteria: they ran out of people to accuse.
Don’t forget the false memory child abuse hysteria of the 80s and 90s. McMartin Daycare, etc.
I presume you are making the case that females are drawn to drama and attention.
Pretty much.
Key characteristics transcend eras, so what held true in Salem in dark centuries past holds true today, with comparable effects.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
Translate?
The more things change the more they stay the same.
The more that things appear to change, the more that constants prove to be timeless.
People may say that the 21st century is very different from centuries in which there were witch hunts.
However, personality types and temptations to which many people succumb still dominate, and everything else in society is window dressing around an unchanged core.
Wonderful explanation, thank you.
Thank you!
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