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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 18594
[Art/Music/lit]
Date Posted:
9/29/2007
6:54:14 am EDT
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Comments: 7
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Hysteria Behind Salem Witch Trials Can Cast Its Evil Spell Today
Author: Ray Waddle Source: The Tennessean (TN)
Title: HYSTERIA BEHIND SALEM WITCH TRIALS CAN CAST ITS EVIL SPELL TODAY
The most disgraceful trial in American history took place 315 years ago, but it still haunts us as a witness to religious abuse, fragile justice and the necessity of individual courage.
The Salem witch trials might seem a curious spasm of long-ago Puritan madness that couldn't happen now. Not so.
Rene Copeland of Tennessee Repertory Theatre sees its social, psychological relevance. She is directing The Crucible, Arthur Miller's fictionalized account of the trials, in its Oct. 4-13 run at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Polk Theater.
"It's indisputably one of the great American plays," she says, "with echoes in every generation. What happens when a community feels threatened, seeks scapegoats, and rational thinking is left behind? Miller proposes a circumstance where things go terribly awry, and wonders why it happened and forces us to examine what's in our own souls."
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Community Thoughts: There are 7 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Another Play | Sep 30th. at 10:36:10 am EDT
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Nacine Moonglow (Uehling, Nebraska) - Email Me
If the plays mentioned here are interesting to you please read the one act play "To Burn A Witch".
My best friend and I won the NE top honors at the one act play competition in high school in 1979.
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| Just A Convenient Way To Sanction Murder. | Sep 29th. at 10:54:01 pm EDT
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
How interesting it is when people use this hysteria for their own ends. The Salem witch trials started out as a witchcraft trial, but turned quickly into a grudge fest that had very little to do with witchcraft- and more to do with getting rid of the unwanted poorer neighbors and with the acquisition of all or any of the properties and monies of the accused. A way to sanction legal murder.
And this is behind what the Fundies hope to do with those they don't like, just the way Hitler did.
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| FYI | Sep 29th. at 7:39:16 pm EDT
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Mydnyht (Upton, Maine) - Email Me
Fans of "The Crucible" should check out the closely related drama "Inherit the Wind"... great play.
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| It Isn't "evil" Minds .... | Sep 29th. at 12:08:54 pm EDT
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Leafy (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - Email Me
.... that cause these things, it's ignorance. Ignorance leads to fear. People want to eliminate what they fear, and that causes death.
Human beings haven't changed since the Salem days, they are just ignorant and afraid of different (and sometimes the same) things.
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| Learn From The Past | Sep 29th. at 9:24:40 am EDT
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Silverwing (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - Email Me
Interesting comment in this article. And, I agree that as a society we are still susceptible. The article said , "The mischief started when a group of pranksterish girls claimed ..." There's that word again. Pranksterish. It used to be a fluffy word for me. It has taken on ominous meaning of late as it has been used to describe horrendous behavior that has brought horrific actions forward. So many deaths, fear, classic 'bullying' if you can see that. Those girls did indeed become bullies and, rather than being checked by thinking adults, the demagogues jumped in and took it to the next level with the trials and executions. How sad is that? How is it that people don't see it when it is happening? Maybe they do and they allow it because it serves their purpose.
The next thing I read was, "Accusations and hysteria spread after they came to understand and manipulate their emotional power over the adults." Look at our society today. It's happening all around us. Plenty of people are manipulated daily with this mechanism. Some folks are quick enough to realize the usefulness of these behaviors and they just lead folks around. It is not just kids who engage in this behavior but they are learning from the adults. Whether kid or adult, apparently as a society we have learned how to use this but don't seem to recognize or acknowledge the destructive power that this behavior has. Hurtful things sent out do come back but that doesn't mean damage doesn't happen. Sure wishing we could figure it out and start sending out more positive things. But that is not the world we live in.
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| The World Has Changed, But Not That Much | Sep 29th. at 8:58:54 am EDT
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ladynoogs (lowell, Ohio) - Email Me
This was a good article and well written.
My Junior year i was the student director our our high school version of The cruicble.... surprisingly in our small school (grade 7-12 with 600 students) only a few parents threw fits, and we had to change a little of the show.
I was a Christian back then, my mom was a bit skeptical, especially since i was so closely connected to the show. my dad said let me do it. somehow that show touched my heart and i managed to convince my parents to take me to Salem that summer. It was an experiance i wont forget, sadly i have no pictures from the visit, I was still a Christian at the time of the visit as well and we only did the historical stuff, i started to go into shops but my parents wouldnt let me. only 5 years later would i find my path to wiccca and it has no connecton to my trip to salem.
the sad part is... my mom would probably blame that trip for my "turning evil". Witches today, as they were back in Salem during the trials, are still a scapegoat. I've seen it, pure and simple even in 2007. the world has changed.. but sometimes the minds and hearts of people are still that evil, and at times it feels like its getting worse.
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