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Witches, wizards, incantations and fear have inhabited the murky edges of human existence since Eve reached for the apple in the Garden of Eden. It is no surprise that witches, and wizards, incantations and fear have been at the heart of literature for centuries.
The students at the Alternative Learning Center, where I teach, are reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It is a play about the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The play is historical fiction that tells the story of the young girls in Salem who became ill, could not speak, could not wake and were reported to be seen flying; the doctor could not find a cause for the illness. The community feared that the girls were bewitched. Miller clearly expresses the theme of the play in the introduction: fear drives men to use the government to rid society of danger. That summer and fall over twenty members of the Salem community were brought to trial and hung as witches, a few died in prison and one man was pressed to death. The trials, imprisonments and hangings were the community’s way to ride society of fear.
To understand why Miller wrote the play when he did, it is important to know that the play was written at the height of the Red Scare in the 1950s; a time when the fear of communism enshrouded America. It was his way of openly comparing the actions of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, where Senator Joseph McCarthy was using the government to purge America of the fear of communist spies from society, to the fear of witches in Salem.
When I first read the play I thought, two events over 350 years apart; seemingly unconnected. I saw no connection of men using government to rid society of danger until 2001.
9/11. A day when America’s enemies targeted symbols of America’s dominance in the world. The center, literally, of the stock exchange, brokerage firms, banks, insurance companies, major international business and the most sacred of all - American lives. The enemies were sending a clear message to the world – America and its awesome power – is not impenetrable.
President Bush made a vow to the American people to find and punish the perpetrators. At the time, I questioned how that vow would be fulfilled: an eye for an eye – a life for a life? Or would we seek righteousness – the act of being righteous, blameless. Do we show the world we are a superpower? Yes, we are penetrable; our nation is vulnerable but if and when ‘evil’ decides to mess with the giant be aware that the giant never sleeps, the giant has might and, like it or not, might makes right.
To rid society of fear, our government charged forward. The Patriot Act was passed, American soldiers fought in Iraq, Osama Bin Laden was killed, and American soldiers are still fighting in Afghanistan.
There have been other times in our history where the government has charged forward to face the evil of fear. I can clearly hear the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address in 1933. As Americans were in the depth of The Great Depression he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The one who leads the government has the power. Men allow the government to rid society of fear.
My question is: At what cost?
Witches, wizards, incantations and fear have inhabited the murky edges of human existence since Eve reached for the apple in the Garden of Eden. It is no surprise that witches, and wizards, incantations and fear have been at the heart of literature for centuries.
The students at the Alternative Learning Center, where I teach, are reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller. It is a play about the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. The play is historical fiction that tells the story of the young girls in Salem who became ill, could not speak, could not wake and were reported to be seen flying; the doctor could not find a cause for the illness. The community feared that the girls were bewitched. Miller clearly expresses the theme of the play in the introduction: fear drives men to use the government to rid society of danger. That summer and fall over twenty members of the Salem community were brought to trial and hung as witches, a few died in prison and one man was pressed to death. The trials, imprisonments and hangings were the community’s way to ride society of fear.
To understand why Miller wrote the play when he did, it is important to know that the play was written at the height of the Red Scare in the 1950s; a time when the fear of communism enshrouded America. It was his way of openly comparing the actions of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, where Senator Joseph McCarthy was using the government to purge America of the fear of communist spies from society, to the fear of witches in Salem.
When I first read the play I thought, two events over 350 years apart; seemingly unconnected. I saw no connection of men using government to rid society of danger until 2001.
9/11. A day when America’s enemies targeted symbols of America’s dominance in the world. The center, literally, of the stock exchange, brokerage firms, banks, insurance companies, major international business and the most sacred of all - American lives. The enemies were sending a clear message to the world – America and its awesome power – is not impenetrable.
President Bush made a vow to the American people to find and punish the perpetrators. At the time, I questioned how that vow would be fulfilled: an eye for an eye – a life for a life? Or would we seek righteousness – the act of being righteous, blameless. Do we show the world we are a superpower? Yes, we are penetrable; our nation is vulnerable but if and when ‘evil’ decides to mess with the giant be aware that the giant never sleeps, the giant has might and, like it or not, might makes right.
To rid society of fear, our government charged forward. The Patriot Act was passed, American soldiers fought in Iraq, Osama Bin Laden was killed, and American soldiers are still fighting in Afghanistan.
There have been other times in our history where the government has charged forward to face the evil of fear. I can clearly hear the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address in 1933. As Americans were in the depth of The Great Depression he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
The one who leads the government has the power. Men allow the government to rid society of fear.
My question is: At what cost?
