There are subtleties of witch hunting which most of us take very much for granted today, and these behaviors are certainly not exclusive to Americans.  Most of us on this planet do these things all the time and see "no harm" in them.  But... think about it.

     These practices create annoyance, or distress, or even  irretrievable harm on the part of the recipients:

            Guilt by Accusation;

the "just because I say so" syndrome  that is never based on evidence; speculation is not evidence and never will be; opinion is not and never can be factual evidence;

            Gossip;

delight in concocting and narrating the imaginary "sins" of others;

            The Ad Hominem fallacy:

name-calling.. disagreeing with another person, but "attacking the man and not the issue"; in formal debate, it loses the position immediatly

            Defamation and False Witness;

this is against an Old Testament commandment that forbids lying about others, and includes fabrications that are an attention-getting salve for the perpetrator's ego;           

           The wisdom of eons tells us that one who lies about                     others finds that lies inevitably come back to haunt him.  A Liar's reputation brings him nothing but pervasive mistrust.  

                         

           Oral Abuse

(sarcastic, spiteful remarks, often followed by the snicker and the “just kidding” “just teasing!” gambit,* with the victim accused of “poor sportsmanship” if he defends himself);

            * not to be confused with "soft" teasing which is

                    usually humorous, often a play on words, and

                    doesn't hurt nor is it intended to.

                    It's a gesture of friendship or affection.

            The Sore Winner

and his hubris as he ridicules the loser;

            Any "Jihad" or "Crusade"

which by its very nature relies on extremism... an abnormality... and results in bigotry;

            Power-mongering

for self-aggrandizement regardless of the harm to another;

           Ethnic Cleansing,

which exists even today in far more subtle ways than Hitler's holocaust, but nonetheless, ostrasizes the victim and denies him an equitable life; and...

           ...O yes, its more recently noticeable manifestation:

           Terrorism... 

perpetrated by a minuscule group of Muslims, quite irrefutably insane in the old fashioned sense, but under whom the rational populace is reminiscent of the Germans in the 1920s and 1930s.

Kathryn Ilsley-Shannon © February 2008

The Puritan Connection VII.

We are not, America, unique.

And Who Will Answer?  --->

"The Devil's Dance" was the dance of the "witches"

when they struggled with  involuntary movements after the noose was pulled around their necks..

To The Puritan Connection Page Guide

Text, design, and website created by

Giles Corey, in a shallowly dug pit, was pressed by granite rocks to his death when he refused  

to admit that he was a witch who followed the devil. 

Corey was a well-to-do farmer; 

and his wife, Martha,

was hanged two days later.

The "neighbor,"  who had

denounced the Coreys, 

acquired Corey's landholding. 

Sound familiar?  It happens today, analogously, many times, in many ways, here, and all over the world.

Can there be a change in this?

Perhaps.  Perhaps not.  The old concept of negative reinforcement 

might be considered, however: 

If something bad succeeds,

it will be repeated.

If it does not succeed,

it usually won't occur again.

 

So... what is the answer?