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For all you hear about the Salem Witch Trials, it was a surprise when I found out that the total number of people who wound up killed was only nineteen. The amo

• yareally 11y ago
  "Witch hunting" (used in the metaphorical sense of "us" versus "them") goes back much farther than Salem. However, it's the most cited example that gets dragged up in discussions and leads people to think it's the first case of it. None of that is new to Western Civilization though. Many cases, religion was only the pretext for some monetary or status gain by the accuser, but if you look deeper into the Salem Witch Trials, the same goes for them as well. Reformation and Counter Reformation had Protestants and Catholics killing and accusing each other in some of the bloodiest wars of Europe of the time[1]. Middle ages had it with Heretics, Jews, Muslims and sometimes even Roman Catholic versus Orthodox Catholic all accusing and killing each other. Early Christianity, there was pagans versus non-pagans[2] as well as the various sects of Christianity denouncing each other[3][4]. Could go back further, but I think that's enough examples :) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorianism [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arianism
  • function_seven 11y ago
    And if you want examples from today: [1] http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/seven-accused-african-witches-burned-to-death-141011.htm http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/seven-accused-afr... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/opinion/the-persecution-of-witches-21st-century-style.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/opinion/the-persecution-of... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_witch-hunts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_witch-hunts