Mini-trip: Salem

Mini-trip: Salem

I am bewitched!! Last Saturday my roomie and I along with a bunch of BU people we don't know, we went to Salem, MA.







The witch trials were based on events that took place there. But nothing compared to the Inquisition in Europe. We are talking about 20 people in the witch trials here, and thousands of people in Europe...simply no comparison.

In any case, I find it very interesting that a few girls caused so much trouble in the state and affected so deeply public perception against witch craft. After all, there were a bunch of teenage girls, in a society that sounded very puritan and which was really fast to point the finger to a black woman for "be-witching" the girls. And the more people believed and feared, the more power did they give the courts to rule against their own neighbors.

Which brings us to sth very important: if someone with some power persuades the public that they should fear sth (an idea, a group of people) whether rationally or irrationally, the public will immediately grant greater powers to the leader to destroy the cause of the evil. Ahem, reminds you of sth?