I think that witch hunts can be specified and defined
on an extremely broad spectrum. Honestly, I think that witch hunts are
occurring every day from people going against the norm to run away convicts who
are being chased down. With them ranging so wide, it blows my mind to think of
the fights that society chooses to face as a whole compared to the fights that
they decide to battle alone. Happening more often today than not, people are
constantly harassing and judging others who are even slightly different from
what they are used to. If people are not willing to conform to those around
them, they are often excluded or ganged up on to make sure they feel somewhat
smaller than those around them. I think people are always “hunting” for things
to pick on others about. The witch hunt that I think occurs the most really
does happen in everyday living. From personal experience and being an aunt, I
have learned that people are extremely nasty and will go out of their way to
exclude anybody that may have a weak spot. Say a girl gets a Mohawk and dyes it
red just because she wants to be an individual. The girls in her class are
going to have something to say about that because she was willing to do
something completely out of the norm. Witch hunts happen more on the regular
than people realize. What people search for are the things that are different
and they go out of their way to turn everybody else against those differences
they do not appreciate. In the crucible, the father of Betty is upset because
he saw them dancing around a fire and having a good time as girls and he
automatically assumed that they were into witchcraft. They did one thing
different, one thing that was out of the norm, and they were instantly
questioned about their motives and who they truly are. People should just be
able to live and take life as it comes without having to worry about these
minute hunts happening.
I agree, society tries to read into something a lot more than it should. Nowadays I believe different is the new norm. Everybody tries to do the same things over and over again and its "normal" but, when someone does something spontaneous everyone else suddenly has a negative opinion. People fear change because they formed a comfortable bubble around them of what society deems fit and have learned not to try stepping past the yellow line. Sometimes I feel like change can be good and people shouldnt be judged for trying it.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, I agree that people really have not changed since the times of the Salem witch trials. People still push judgment on others and find a person guilty before they can proclaim their innocence. Religion still does this on a grand scale as well as the stereotyping of anyone different in society. Some people have been able to embrace changes in society and accept what is different but a vast majority still cling to the instinct to fight all that is different and consider it blasphemes. Today the difference is that only the bold speak up about these feelings and the rest pass judgment in silence.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that the small witch hunts amount to so much more. Someone dying their hair red, to someone wearing tight clothes, to young girls dancing and having fun. People pass judgement. I have to say reading your post hit close to home for me. For some time at work I have been dealing with a staff member telling me that what I eat/drink is "heebie jeebie" stuff and I shouldn't be bringing this hoodoo voodoo stuff to work-why don't I just eat normal food?
ReplyDeleteThe comments that I have heard from this woman about what I eat or drink range from outright horrendous to racist. One day she actually asked me what "witches brew" I was drinking that day (because I drink tea instead of coffee), because I'm different and don't eat the same way she does or drink the same things she does she feels the need to repeatedly focus in on this one aspect of my life and always find some cruel and idiotic thing to say. At one point she warned me that I might get ebola in my food because it was "heebie jeebie stuff and not what us normal americans eat".
So while this small act of passing judgement isn't a huge deal and not going to catch any media attention its enough to disrupt my daily life and actually make me go out of my way to make sure I have to spend as little of my day around this woman.
Many times I believe the accusers are those that are actually guilty of the act themselves just as the girls were in the book. Some people want to be individuals and don't know how to express that and therefore out of jealousy or some other unknown factor they criticize the very thing they themselves would like to experience or in this case accuse others of the very thing they were doing to draw attention away.
ReplyDelete