The Salem Witch Trials and the Social Justice Warrior Hysteria

Just a note:

We often think of the men who conducted the Salem witch trials. They were the judges and jurors.

But they weren't the accusers.

The accusers were a nine year old girl, an eleven year old girl, and a twelve year old girl.

It's important to remember that. Young people, especially young girls in a male-dominated society, may feel powerless. And may feel more acutely any ambient paranoia in a community.

Immature people of all genders and ages might be prone to this.

Lodging a hysterical accusation suddenly makes the powerless powerful, and the marginally noticed suddenly the center of attention.

In Salem in the seventeenth century, the ambient paranoia was the Devil's works and the afflictions (epilepsy, probably of a feigned type) he visited on people.

In the current age, it's "hatred." The Devil is still seeding the countryside with ills, but now he devotes most of his time to cake-based capers and/or organizing the occasional fraternity gang-rape.

You just need ambient paranoia, a power structure primed to go haywire the moment an accusation is hurled, and juvenile, marginal people who might greatly enjoy making their more powerful elders (or betters) dance like puppets at the end of their line.

Boys like throwing rocks at things for a simple reason: The feeling of power. Boys like seeing things topple over, break, or even die when they throw stones.

It is empowering on a primal level to see that one can cause dramatic -- destructive -- effects at a distance.

Throwing accusations gives one the same feeling of power.

A window wants to be broken.

A group of dour Puritans wants to be whipped into a devil-hunting mob.

A shouty, paranoid, hysterical media wants to be convulsed into fury and frenzy.

And as long as there are such inviting targets, which almost beg to have things thrown at them, things will indeed be thrown.

It's a stupid idea that some people have that we've gotten over this nonsense. Humanity has proven for 40,000 years it never gets over any of its nonsense, and never will. Humanity -- as a whole -- will still be the same stupid, dishonest, attention-seeking, demon-haunted idiots it always has been.

In fact, as some have argued, humanity is becoming net dumber, because prior ages -- harder ages -- never would have let so many dummies and basket-cases grow much past the age of 12.

Today's media are the hysterical judges of Salem, not only believing that the Devil puts dirty words on cakes when no one's looking, but secretly praying that he should do so, because they're hysterics too, and nothing pleases a hysteric more than confirmation that all of her hysterias are the actual facts of the world.

Satan's Bakery Aisle. I know the Devil isn't making cakes like the one claimed at Whole Foods. The Devil is a wily serpent.

His baked goods will be pleasing to the eye, inviting.

He is a tempter and a traitor. His works are more subtle.

Satan's snack selection would look rather more like this:

Sad Update: This twitter account purporting to be run by "Cake Girl" (and who seems to have enough photos to demonstrate that) says she's getting married to Ryan.

Where do dreams go when they die?

posted by Ace at 05:23 PM

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