The Blame Game

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A witch hunt is usually thought of as a search for witches or practitioners of black magic. Throughout history however there have been many witch hunts, although those who were persecuted were not always called witches. Other names for them were communists, spies, and heretics. The arrests spawned from these witch hunts were usually based on false accusations, and the fates of those on trial, such as those portrayed in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, were usually decided before the trial even began. After discovering about witch hunts time and time again one begins to wonder why there have been so many witch hunts all over the world in all different times. Many experts believe that the causes of witch hunts, no matter what time period, is the result of “everyone is looking for someone to blame” (Shermer) for the troubles in their lives when they cannot take the responsibility themselves.

The most distinguished witch hunt took place in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem in 1692 was occupied by the Puritans who held a very strict moral code. In spite of this the people still committed sins. When the growing number of witch accusations got out many saw it as “a long overdue opportunity for everyone so inclined to express publicly [their] guilt and sins, under the cover of accusations against the victims.”(Miller) For example if a man were having land disputes with his neighbor he could just accuse his neighbor of witchcraft take his land and feel no guilt about it. Witch accusations began coming out for an assortment of reason many times including adultery. When people saw how witch accusations just conveniently lined up to the advantage of the accuser those people in turn did the same thing and thus the accusations spread until fin...

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...t? Is it possible that personal responsibility will make a comeback?”(Montgomery)

Works Cited

Arnold, David. "Finding Someone to Blame." Boston Globe (Boston, MA). Jan. 31 1992: 1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 Feb 2012.

Bartholomew, Robert E., and Erich Goode. "Mass Delusions and Hysterias." Skeptical Inquirer. May/June 2000: 20-28. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 Feb 2012.

Miller, Arthur. The Crucible (Penguin Classics). London: Penguin Classics, 2003

Montgomery, Scott. "It's Not My Fault." Palm Beach Post (West Palm Beach, FL). Dec. 4 1994: 1D+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 Feb 2012.

Shermer, Michael. "An Epidemic of Accusation." Skeptic. Spring 1994: 52-57. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 26 Feb 2012.

Yanak, Ted, and Pam Cornelison. "McCarthy, Joseph R." The Great American History Fact-Finder. Dec. 1 1993: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher.Web. 26 Feb 2012.

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