Mitchell's Qualitative Essay

Witch hunts

 by Mitchell Grinwald

Authors Note: I have recently done a group mini-project the Salem Witch Trials. This report is about the mentality of witch hunts and how such events and prejudices have shaped the world.

People are motivated to do terrible things out of fear. When the Nazi’s turned on the Jewish population it was because their country was in bad times and they were looking for someone to blame. Unfortunately things like this happen far too often, and when they do they are referred to as witch hunts. People are not really looking for magical beings but more for someone to blame when things go wrong. This has happened numerous times throughout the world and throughout history.

One of the most famous incidences of a “witch hunt” occurred in the town of Salem, Massachusetts in the year 1692. The crop that year had come in badly and things were not going well. People were upset and tensions were building. Then some girls took sick and pretended to be possessed, claiming that they were being attacked by witches. They blamed the least powerful among them, slaves, widows, and social outcasts. They blamed their lack of prosperity and problems on them. They were unable to speak out and could do nothing against their prosecutors.

The same thing has happened again and again throughout history. The Nazi’s blamed the Jews, the whites blamed the blacks, and people got hurt. Every time people have different reasons for it but it always comes down to that people are looking for someone to blame when things go wrong. Everyone has such as side to them. When the little kid points at the other one, when a group excludes someone, when a group of people are racially or ethnically targeted. It is something that everyone has in them, some choose to oppose that side of them and others thrive on it. People have risen and fallen by blaming others for things they haven’t done.  

The people of Salem were taken in by the girls; they were angry and wanted to find someone to put the blame on. They shoved person after person through an unfair system of trial, and execution without listening to their pleas. They didn’t really care whether it was fair or not, they just wanted to have someone to take out their anger and sorrow on. This is why the witch hunt in Salem continued for so long without being stopped. That is the main reason why these things happen again and again. Although modern times have put a stop to the witch hunts that were actually looking for witches they still continue, ethnic targeting and discrimination still continue on. Even in recent times, particularly in the Middle East dictators have targeted minorities and wiped out entire villages.

It is hard to say if witch hunts will ever truly end. It is in our nature to look for someone or something to blame when things go badly. However this does not justify such actions and hopefully in the near future witch hunts will be put to rest, for good.