Throughout the first parts of The Crucible, the people of Salem decided to go on an all out manhunt for witches, claiming that people were giving themselves to Lucifer and bewitching others. But the people based their accusations off of faulty credibility of some teenage girls that were trying to get out of trouble. “I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (Abigail, act 1,pg.189). There’s no solid proof that these girls have to convict these people of witchcraft, and because no one wants to challenge that in fear that they too would be convicted, things get worse. This same idea can be seen in McCarthyism and in modern examples; when McCarthy held up the sheet of names of people who were allegedly plotting against the government for the communists, he didn't have proof that those people were in fact with the communist party. If the people confronted McCarthy with his lies he would ignore the question, and most people “were willing to believe his charges without any evidence or in the face of contrary evidence.” (McCarthy,202). People began just go along with things because if they spoke out then they too would have been wrongly accused. Even in today’s modern world you can find examples of this, such as the claims on “attacks thwarted” by the NSA even though there’s no solid proof. “ The NSA, President Obama, and members of Congress have all said NSA spying programs have thwarted more than 50 terrorist plots. Two weeks after Edward Snowden’s first revelations about sweeping government surveillance, President Obama shot back. ‘We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information...’ But there's no evidence that the oft-cited figure is accurate.” (Claims on Attacks). Just like McCarthy and the accusations of communism, we now have the president and NSA on accusations of terrorism. Both of these not only relate to each other but to The Crucible as well. In all three cases there was a public figure wrongfully convicting people with no proof to back themselves up on. But those watching it all happen couldn't speak up otherwise they too would be now under suspicion.
Once you were wrongfully convicted in Salem, there was nothing you could do about it. Someone would take you to the jail and from there the people would try the accused in court for witchcraft. Once deemed a witch the people took immediate action; “You know yourself I must do as I’m told… I have a warrant for your wife.” (Proctor, act 11,pg.202). There officials in Salem were arresting and throwing women into the jails because someone accused them, and they couldn't do anything about it. Similar to the Salem women, the people that McCarthy persecuted for being a communist had similar problems. “HUAC reached out to ruin the reputations from private citizens from all walks of life” (McCarthy, 210). The people ruined one another and convicted them to avoid suspicion. Not only that but government organizations made it their goal to ruin them, they were left with nothing but they had to just watch it happen. This is also relevant in modern times as well, especially with one Canadian citizen whom the government arrested and detained for more than a year because they thought he was security threat. As said in the audio, all in a matter of a couple weeks the government detained him at a New York airport and then was sent to a Syrian prison. There he underwent numerous interrogations and tortures to confess to things he didn't do. But like the Salem women and people accused of being with the communist party, there was nothing he could do to prevent it or stop it. So even though society considers the Salem witch trials to be behind us, there are still examples from today’s world that are similar to what happened. Either between people being afraid to speak out in fear of being persecuted or having to watch it all unfold and not being able to do anything about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment