The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 were a dark time in American history. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were killed during the hysteria.
Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating.
Many modern theories suggest the girls were suffering from epilepsy, boredom, child abuse, mental illness or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus.
Shortly after, two of the girls named the women they believed were bewitching them. These women were Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and a slave named Tituba (a person of color) who worked for Reverend Samuel Parris.
These three women were social outcasts and easy targets for the accusation of witchcraft. It was not difficult for the people of Salem to believe they were involved in witchcraft.
During Tituba’s examination, she made a shocking confession that she had been approached by Satan
Tituba’s confession was the trigger that sparked the mass hysteria and the hunt for more witches in Salem. It also silenced any opposition to the idea that the Devil had infiltrated Salem.
That same month, four more women were accused and arrested.
Although the afflicted girls were the main accusers during the trials, many historians believe the girl’s parents, particularly Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris, were egging the girls on and encouraging them to accuse specific people in the community that they didn’t like in an act of revenge.
Pre-trial examinations were held at the Salem Village meetinghouse, in Reverend Samuel Parris’ house in Salem Village, in Ingersoll Tavern at Salem Village and in Beadle’s Tavern in Salem Town.
There the accused were questioned by a judge in front of a jury, which decided whether or not to indict the accused on charges of witchcraft. If the accused was indicted, they were not allowed a lawyer and they had to decide to plead guilty or not guilty with no legal counsel to guide them.
Another interesting fact about the witch trials is not everyone in Salem actually believed in witchcraft or supported the trials. There were many critics of the witch hunt, such as a local farmer John Proctor
Critics such as Proctor were quickly accused of witchcraft themselves, under the assumption that anyone who denied the existence of witches or defended the accused must be one of them, and were brought to trial.
Five more people were hanged in July, one of which was Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca Nurse’s execution was a pivotal moment in the Salem Witch Trials.
Although many of the other accused women were unpopular social outcasts, Nurse was a pious, well-respected and well-loved member of the community.
When Nurse was first arrested, many members of the community signed a petition asking for her release.
Her initial verdict was, in fact, not guilty, but upon hearing the verdict the afflicted girls began to have fits in the courtroom. Judge Stoughton asked the jury to reconsider their verdict. A week later, the jury changed their minds and declared Nurse guilty.
After Nurse’s execution on July 19th, the residents of Salem started to seriously question the validity of the trials.
Yet another crucial moment during the Salem Witch Trials was the public torture and death of Giles Corey. Corey was accused of witchcraft in April during his wife’s examination. Knowing that if he was convicted his large estate would be confiscated and wouldn’t be passed down to his children, Corey brought his trial to a halt by refusing to enter a plea.
English law at the time dictated that anyone who refused to enter a plea could be tortured in an attempt to force a plea out of them. This legal tactic was known as “peine forte et dure” which means “strong and harsh punishment.”
The torture consisted of laying the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him. Heavy stones were loaded onto the board and the weight was gradually increased until the prison either entered a plea or died.
In mid-September, Corey was tortured this way for three days in a field near Howard Street until he finally died on September 19. His death was gruesome and cruel and strengthened the growing opposition to the Salem Witch Trials.
As the trials and executions continued, colonists began to doubt that so many people could actually be guilty of this crime. They feared many innocent people were being executed. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials.
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/
Substitute Trump for King Charles II. Substitute "institutional racism" for rye infected with fungus. Substitute cops for social outcasts because they are easy targets. Substitute the first white person to stand up to this madness for Rebecca Nurse. Substitute George Floyd for Giles Corey. To hell with facts and statistics which show: 1) BLM's universal claim of black suppression is baseless and 2) George Floyd death while horrific is an outlier. We are operating on pure emotion here, with BLM acting as a contemporary Salem Witch trial. Dare question the cultural movement and you are fired from your job or even worse, ostracized.
More on its modus operandi...
The Black Lives Matter movement overall has essentially bypassed the civil approach to an argument via antagonization and disrespect. From an objective, logical and historical outlook, they are setup to fail.
Why would the Left want any progress to be made anyway?
They benefit from the controversy.
Their narrative is reinforced and more and more young minds are force fed a certain rhetoric prevalent in almost every form of social media.
But the direct enablers on the left are not the only ones to blame for the apparent encouragement of these counterproductive methods. Many will refuse to condemn these actions for fear of being labeled a racist or at the very least, insensitive to racial injustice. Both consequences entail a social stigma that can potentially ruin relationships, careers and reputations.
It is far safer to join this sort of false crusade bereft of the common sense approach, because this same crusade will be quick to label you one of the many favorites that the Left likes to throw around: racist, bigoted, privileged, and far worse.
This is a prime example of freedom of speech being attacked. Without the marketplace of free ideas, the attainment of knowledge is suppressed and ignorance, ineffectiveness and backwardness thrive.
Emotion has successfully, as it has so many times before, defeated any semblance of logic. Political figures benefit and encourage ineffective means of rioting and protests while successfully silencing a vast amount of Americans from speaking their minds with vile tactics.
It's a new form of tyranny, and we can only hope that sooner than later history can be learned from and logic and freedom can counter the madness.
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-b...ng-wrong-with-the-black-lives-matter-movement
As you know people are getting fired for making innocuous statements against BLM...
There will be no opting out of the Black Lives Matter movement. You’re either for BLM or against it—and if you’re against it, you’re a racist. You will either support BLM publicly and enthusiastically, or you will be harassed, shunned, and shamed out of mainstream America. If you dare to speak a word against BLM, you will be targeted, mobbed, and probably fired.
That’s the message coming through loud and clear, not just from protesters but from corporations and institutions desperate to seem woke enough to escape the wrath of the BLM movement.
It doesn’t matter what your job or profession might be. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a position of power or prestige—in fact being in a position of power might make you more of a target. The only thing that can protect you from the BLM movement’s punitive rage is fealty. Bend the knee, and you might be spared. Then again, you might not.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/11/if-you-dont-support-black-lives-matter-youre-fired/
It's worth noting that of the twenty-three people who died at the hands of the Salem Witch trials (actually it was 23 not 20 as three died in prison) none confessed guilt. On the other hand, anyone who pled guilty was spared and their properties seized. Do you see a pattern here? At its core BLM is a power grab. And Democrats are more than willing to ride this cultural revolutionary wave so long as it unseats Trump.
I thank you and let's keep it real.
Ever since those dark days ended, the trials have become synonymous with mass hysteria and scapegoating.
Many modern theories suggest the girls were suffering from epilepsy, boredom, child abuse, mental illness or even a disease brought on by eating rye infected with fungus.
Shortly after, two of the girls named the women they believed were bewitching them. These women were Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn and a slave named Tituba (a person of color) who worked for Reverend Samuel Parris.
These three women were social outcasts and easy targets for the accusation of witchcraft. It was not difficult for the people of Salem to believe they were involved in witchcraft.
During Tituba’s examination, she made a shocking confession that she had been approached by Satan
Tituba’s confession was the trigger that sparked the mass hysteria and the hunt for more witches in Salem. It also silenced any opposition to the idea that the Devil had infiltrated Salem.
That same month, four more women were accused and arrested.
Although the afflicted girls were the main accusers during the trials, many historians believe the girl’s parents, particularly Thomas Putnam and Reverend Samuel Parris, were egging the girls on and encouraging them to accuse specific people in the community that they didn’t like in an act of revenge.
Pre-trial examinations were held at the Salem Village meetinghouse, in Reverend Samuel Parris’ house in Salem Village, in Ingersoll Tavern at Salem Village and in Beadle’s Tavern in Salem Town.
There the accused were questioned by a judge in front of a jury, which decided whether or not to indict the accused on charges of witchcraft. If the accused was indicted, they were not allowed a lawyer and they had to decide to plead guilty or not guilty with no legal counsel to guide them.
Another interesting fact about the witch trials is not everyone in Salem actually believed in witchcraft or supported the trials. There were many critics of the witch hunt, such as a local farmer John Proctor
Critics such as Proctor were quickly accused of witchcraft themselves, under the assumption that anyone who denied the existence of witches or defended the accused must be one of them, and were brought to trial.
Five more people were hanged in July, one of which was Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca Nurse’s execution was a pivotal moment in the Salem Witch Trials.
Although many of the other accused women were unpopular social outcasts, Nurse was a pious, well-respected and well-loved member of the community.
When Nurse was first arrested, many members of the community signed a petition asking for her release.
Her initial verdict was, in fact, not guilty, but upon hearing the verdict the afflicted girls began to have fits in the courtroom. Judge Stoughton asked the jury to reconsider their verdict. A week later, the jury changed their minds and declared Nurse guilty.
After Nurse’s execution on July 19th, the residents of Salem started to seriously question the validity of the trials.
Yet another crucial moment during the Salem Witch Trials was the public torture and death of Giles Corey. Corey was accused of witchcraft in April during his wife’s examination. Knowing that if he was convicted his large estate would be confiscated and wouldn’t be passed down to his children, Corey brought his trial to a halt by refusing to enter a plea.
English law at the time dictated that anyone who refused to enter a plea could be tortured in an attempt to force a plea out of them. This legal tactic was known as “peine forte et dure” which means “strong and harsh punishment.”
The torture consisted of laying the prisoner on the ground, naked, with a board placed on top of him. Heavy stones were loaded onto the board and the weight was gradually increased until the prison either entered a plea or died.
In mid-September, Corey was tortured this way for three days in a field near Howard Street until he finally died on September 19. His death was gruesome and cruel and strengthened the growing opposition to the Salem Witch Trials.
As the trials and executions continued, colonists began to doubt that so many people could actually be guilty of this crime. They feared many innocent people were being executed. Local clergymen began speaking out against the witch hunt and tried to persuade officials to stop the trials.
https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/
Substitute Trump for King Charles II. Substitute "institutional racism" for rye infected with fungus. Substitute cops for social outcasts because they are easy targets. Substitute the first white person to stand up to this madness for Rebecca Nurse. Substitute George Floyd for Giles Corey. To hell with facts and statistics which show: 1) BLM's universal claim of black suppression is baseless and 2) George Floyd death while horrific is an outlier. We are operating on pure emotion here, with BLM acting as a contemporary Salem Witch trial. Dare question the cultural movement and you are fired from your job or even worse, ostracized.
More on its modus operandi...
The Black Lives Matter movement overall has essentially bypassed the civil approach to an argument via antagonization and disrespect. From an objective, logical and historical outlook, they are setup to fail.
Why would the Left want any progress to be made anyway?
They benefit from the controversy.
Their narrative is reinforced and more and more young minds are force fed a certain rhetoric prevalent in almost every form of social media.
But the direct enablers on the left are not the only ones to blame for the apparent encouragement of these counterproductive methods. Many will refuse to condemn these actions for fear of being labeled a racist or at the very least, insensitive to racial injustice. Both consequences entail a social stigma that can potentially ruin relationships, careers and reputations.
It is far safer to join this sort of false crusade bereft of the common sense approach, because this same crusade will be quick to label you one of the many favorites that the Left likes to throw around: racist, bigoted, privileged, and far worse.
This is a prime example of freedom of speech being attacked. Without the marketplace of free ideas, the attainment of knowledge is suppressed and ignorance, ineffectiveness and backwardness thrive.
Emotion has successfully, as it has so many times before, defeated any semblance of logic. Political figures benefit and encourage ineffective means of rioting and protests while successfully silencing a vast amount of Americans from speaking their minds with vile tactics.
It's a new form of tyranny, and we can only hope that sooner than later history can be learned from and logic and freedom can counter the madness.
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-b...ng-wrong-with-the-black-lives-matter-movement
As you know people are getting fired for making innocuous statements against BLM...
There will be no opting out of the Black Lives Matter movement. You’re either for BLM or against it—and if you’re against it, you’re a racist. You will either support BLM publicly and enthusiastically, or you will be harassed, shunned, and shamed out of mainstream America. If you dare to speak a word against BLM, you will be targeted, mobbed, and probably fired.
That’s the message coming through loud and clear, not just from protesters but from corporations and institutions desperate to seem woke enough to escape the wrath of the BLM movement.
It doesn’t matter what your job or profession might be. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a position of power or prestige—in fact being in a position of power might make you more of a target. The only thing that can protect you from the BLM movement’s punitive rage is fealty. Bend the knee, and you might be spared. Then again, you might not.
https://thefederalist.com/2020/06/11/if-you-dont-support-black-lives-matter-youre-fired/
It's worth noting that of the twenty-three people who died at the hands of the Salem Witch trials (actually it was 23 not 20 as three died in prison) none confessed guilt. On the other hand, anyone who pled guilty was spared and their properties seized. Do you see a pattern here? At its core BLM is a power grab. And Democrats are more than willing to ride this cultural revolutionary wave so long as it unseats Trump.
I thank you and let's keep it real.
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