The real reason they burnt them witches or, "Subsequently Toast'

                               Those familiar with my online writing know that I began writing a fairly common media/net blog and in time gravitated to the questions of technologies impact on societies and people. After several years I came up with a model that seemed to generate data that matched that of the real world.

                                     However true this may have been I realize now that all my efforts were struck superfluous because of a fatal flaw. Being convinced of my own intellectual superiority I did not give a damn whether anyone read the stuff, or understood it.   

                 Incomprehensibility seemed to be not my problem. But now, after starving and going cold and hungry more times then I care to remember I've changed my ways. Oh I still don't care whether you understand this – but it is now of vital importance that you pay me large sums of money. 

 

Not for selfish reasons do I make this request, but for the good of the world. When I think of how you can do this I'll let you know but for now, readiness is all.

Getting back to the show..

                        Technology empowered a few in the beginning and the rest, to a lesser extent, over the long run.

What I probably did not stress enough was the notion that when natural processes are confronted with technological pressures there is often a complete breakdown of the original, organic, system. A good example of this is the origin of the great American dust bowl in the nineteen thirties.

                                              It had been for millennia the great American Prairie, a place where a top soil a few inches think held together enough moisture to feed first the Buffalo for the Indians and then the cattle drives for the cowboys. In the twenties it was converted to “Quick wheat” farm as and by the thirties it was the home of some of the most nightmarish dust storms ever to hit the planet.

It is not only plants that do not respond to over utilization, humans do not as well. A good example of this is the British industrial revolution where overcrowding, overwork and poor sanitary conditions lead to epidemic diseases.

                                          In the Capitalist model this doesn’t happen because the workers, faced with the negative stimuli of death and suffering, would move out – this, of course begs the question when it is the employers best interest to see to it that such a thing never happens.

                            In other words while in the ideal the worker sits down and rationally decides whether to work in place A or Place B, in the real world his choices are somewhat more limited.

In socialism the case is not much different. There instead of capital being the determinant it is the central committee what is essential is that in neither case is it the worker. The worker rather serves circumstance and opportunity, which in turn are factored by technology.

                                And another way to look at market determination is to disregard both the capitalist and the central committee and consider a wider context. Not ever capitalist is a heartless exploiter and there are those who would wish away hard times, but it cannot be done.

To place this in terms of a cruel joke the fat and ugly girl rarely gets a date despite her abilities as a cook and sense of humor, where as the pretty girl does regardless of her social flaws.

     

                             Now to the subject of todays missive. In Salem Massachusetts, in the seventeenth century, under the gavel of judge Hathorne, Nathanial Hawthornes grandfather, several people of various age and sex were burned alive at the stake for the crime of witchcraft. The laws mandating the use of this punishment were explicit and long standing and had been around for hundreds of years. In other parts of the colonies the use of hexes, spells, and incantations were recognized as criminal punishable offenses and could lead to time in the goal.

                                    The reason why this happened has been debated many times. Some claim the cause was organic, a form of ergot on rye bread – nonsense – it has never occurred again. Others like to suggest s degree of sexual frustration. Again, why then? Besides which, the Puritans were pure in some ways but fairly liberal in their sexual relations. It was considered the norm for instance for a couple to sleep together prior to marriage to see if their sexual attraction was mutual.

                                 Realizing the burning at the stake is now rare, we may seek an equally rare cause. My study of criminal justice has led me to the believe that our use of punishment is a dark vestigial holdover from and equally dark and unenlightened era. The use for lynching for instance had much more symbolic use then practical. It was mean to “scare the blue devils away.”

                         In truth much of what masquerades as justice is superstition meant to say to the devil “We don’t like you.”

                     (Suffice to say as to whether the devil actually hears I will leave to the theologians to decide.)

                                 Sometime justice is just vengeance given an acceptable outlet. Sometimes, whether fair or not we fight to preserve a good thing. On a larger scale we beg of God to intercede for us and to help us. We pay God via sacrifice, usually someone elses.

 

                     The Salem story is simple when understood.

                             English history goes like this. There’s the dark ages which end in the coming of cities and William the Conqueror, then comes the plague which wipes out a sizable portion of the population , then comes a period of a labor shortage when peasants could in effect, name their salaries, then came the central state when gradually year by year the government took  back wealth via taxes and such.

                            The Puritans choose this time to go to America where land was cheap and food was plentiful and there were no king’s men making sport with the daughters. All was good for awhile, until the secular humanists of the day decided they wanted in on the action. The Puritans lived inland, farmed, and spent all day Sunday in prayer. The new comers drank and sang songs and worst of all danced in public! Even worse then that it became obvious that here were a lot of newcomers, a seemingly endless supply.

                                        And what if the Germans should hear of the new Paradise? Even worse the Italians (who everyone knew breed like mice?) And why had God, who had a special place in his heart for White anglosaxon protestants turn his back  on his chosen people?

There could be only one answer. Remember these folks were not worldly – they considered worldliness a sin, a crime, the road to hell even. The answer had to be that their society had been betrayed by witchcraft. Yes the purveyors of evil were among the flock and as we would burn away a cancer so it was decided to burn away the cancer of demonology.

                         The real tragedy and the one that continues to this day is the so called witches bought into the argument. I don’t want to hurt any ones feeling or insult anyone’s god but there is no devil –hence no effective witch craft. The issue has been settled.

                          I am tired. I am tired both literally and figuratively. Once again though we must state that courage is of vital import if one is to survive in these ignorant and superstition ridden times.

                   The people who died did so because the fear of being alone was greater then the fear of death. C’mon let’s give death it’s due. Some say it’s not the worst thing that could happen. But it’s bad enough.

    Yet, in the final analysis it was a economic thing, you see. and like most attempts to influence the gods of commerce it was an excessive in futility

                Uh we like think ourselves civilized but game of life knows no such rules . You are savages, as likely to exterminate a whole race or religion as to light a candle.

              It's all a matter of pushing the right button.












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