Sunday, October 6, 2013
witch hunts: not necessarily a thing of the past
I bet a lot of people read "The Crucible" and just laugh and the senselessness of witch hunts. Most people think that these issues have been resolved and no one in their right minds accuses another person of practicing witchcraft. This is in fact, wrong. Witch hunts still happen today. Not necessarily in America, but in less developed countries like Africa and Tanzania. Thousands of people, mostly women, are being killed for their supposed connection to the devil through sorcery. The article we read this week about how global warming directly affects thousands of women said it best. Whenever there is civil disobedience, climate change, bad harvest, or anything negative, people in less developed countries look for a scapegoat and blame certain women for cursing the community and are immediately killed with no proof of witchcraft. I would have assumed we as a global community, would have moved beyond this in the past 60 years, even in the world's most underdeveloped areas, because the thought of senselessly killing people is totally crazy. Somehow the world should come together, recognize this issue, and eliminate it because it is hard to believe in a world that has become so sophisticated and advanced in some areas, is still practically in the dark ages in other areas. Most people did not even know witch hunting still occurred and it should be recognized and dealt with because the mass killing of innocent people is never okay.
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It's true that it's unbelievable that these witch hunts still happen, and that a solution needs to be found for it. However, it's hard to make this a priority due to so many other problems happening in the world right now.
ReplyDeleteYou're right Trevor, the continuation of "witch hunts" happening in our world is completely unacceptable and it is most likely due to the lack of knowledge in the less developed countries that you mentioned. They don't completely understand natural forces and therefore blame bad occurrences on reasons such as witchcraft. So I think the real solution to this would be to educate those that participate in these witch hunts, about why these bad things actually happen. However, it is hard to change people's beliefs, which raises another problem, making the process of stopping these witch hunts even more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI am one of those people who did not know that witch hunts still occur today. It is really astonishing that something so unbelievable actually still occurs, or ever did occur. I agree that this is a problem which must be brought to attention and eliminated.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree and I think that a lot of people today are naive and don't even know that there are greater problems in the world. This is one of several issues that should be brought to the attention of the world.
ReplyDeleteWow it's actually crazy to think about the extremities that people are willing to go
ReplyDeleteWhen we discussed that article in class about witch hunts that still happen due to climate change, I was completely shocked. Who knew that witch hunts still happen today? However, I think it would be very difficult to stop them. I don't think we can just go into third-world societies and say, "You people are stupid. There is no such thing as witches. Stop killing people." It would take a lot of effort to change people's entire belief systems to get them to stop hunting witches. While it would be nice to stop modern-day witch hunts, I just don't know if it is possible.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the world would come anywhere close to addressing an issue like this. Although it seems extreme and inhuman, its still a relatively small issues that doesn't occur in most developed countries -so no developed country with any clout will bring it up. There are bigger problems to fix and issues like this would most likely be pushed aside.
ReplyDeleteI agree, topics like these need more media spotlight to gain more public attention, However, I do not think African governments yield the power to control the witch hunts, and I am sure that these people are not willing to show it off to the world. The people in Africa need serious help to put a stop to events, and it is not the rest of the world's fault that they do not know. Afterall, only those who reach out for help get it.
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