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C.S. Lewis: "One man said to me, 'Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the Rule of Human Nature or R

C.S. Lewis: "One man said to me, 'Three hundred years ago people in England were putting witches to death. Was that what you call the Rule of Human Nature or Right Conduct?' But surely the reason we do not execute witches is that we do not believe there are such things. If we did -- if we really thought that there were people going about who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers from him in return and were using these powers to kill their neighbours or drive them mad or bring bad weather -- surely we would all agree that if anyone deserved the death penalty, then these filthy quislings did?"

btschaegg 10y ago
Very interesting quote. That statement underlines an important point: Witch hunts are commited by people who are convinced that their reaction is justified. Then, it was because that evil witch had cursed your cousin, now it is perhaps because someone made a joke you didn't get[1]. And obviously, no single person holding the digital pitchforks would ever think of themselves doing the same thing as a superstitious peasant a couple hundred years ago. Is there something productive anyone could do in this regard? I would guess in the most cases, the trenches are almost instantly dug way too deep for a sensible discussion... [1]: To resort to an example Jon Ronson talked about in various talks. Well worth a Google query.
- maxlybbert 10y ago
  In the US, these kinds of reactions are often called "moral panics" (according to Wikipedia, the term has a slightly different meaning in Britain). It's much easier to identify them when you aren't involved. I don't know any way to avoid them, but I believe a good first step is to acknowledge that you may not be immune to overreaction, even if you are open minded and hold all the correct political positions.
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manarth 10y ago
if we really thought that there were people who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers then surely it would be a terrible idea to attack them, and in fact, the only people who could be successfully attacked, were the ones innocent of the charge?

btschaegg 10y ago

Very interesting quote. That statement underlines an important point: Witch hunts are commited by people who are convinced that their reaction is justified. Then, it was because that evil witch had cursed your cousin, now it is perhaps because someone made a joke you didn't get[1]. And obviously, no single person holding the digital pitchforks would ever think of themselves doing the same thing as a superstitious peasant a couple hundred years ago. Is there something productive anyone could do in this regard? I would guess in the most cases, the trenches are almost instantly dug way too deep for a sensible discussion... [1]: To resort to an example Jon Ronson talked about in various talks. Well worth a Google query.

maxlybbert 10y ago
In the US, these kinds of reactions are often called "moral panics" (according to Wikipedia, the term has a slightly different meaning in Britain). It's much easier to identify them when you aren't involved. I don't know any way to avoid them, but I believe a good first step is to acknowledge that you may not be immune to overreaction, even if you are open minded and hold all the correct political positions.

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manarth 10y ago

if we really thought that there were people who had sold themselves to the devil and received supernatural powers then surely it would be a terrible idea to attack them, and in fact, the only people who could be successfully attacked, were the ones innocent of the charge?