The Crucible Sails On
It may just be an unescapable human trait, or it could be that we have psychologically evolved less than we actually believe, but the tendency for human beings to search for other reasons and explanations for bad incidents has alway been present. The book, "The Crucible," by Arthur Miller, focuses on the Salem Witch trials. The book was written about the same time as the "Red Scare, " and the McCarthy trials, and compares the mass hysteria surrounding both events, hence the name, "The Crucible." On April 20th 1999, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, opened fire in a suburban Denver high school, killing 13 people, including themselves. What ensued afterward through television analysts and newspaper columns across the nation, was a barrage of people who appeared to know the personal lives of these two boys, and with that, a knowledge of what drove these boys to go on a killing spree. Video Games, popular music, guns, movies, the media, lack of chistianity, parenting, and television all compose a short list of all the things that were blamed. In addition to what was blamed for this tragedy, characteristics of the boys were also mysteriously attributed to them without any proof. The boys were accused of being Nazi's,
It's peculiar how these rumors are usually first generated by people who know nothing about the subject matter. The priests of the witchhunting era initially knew nothing about witchcraft. The journalists, analysts and church figures of the present day know nothing about being in high school in 1999, nor do they know anything about the goth lifestyle. They really don't even seem to know that much about the two boys. So what happens? Rumors are started, people are unfairly blamed, and more restrictions are placed on people. And in either era, people end up dead, and the crucible sails on. they were accused of hating christians, they were accused of being racist, and they were accuse of being biased towards athletes. The christian churches were some of the strongest accusers compared to all the organizations contibuting their opinions. Within a day of the assault, Colorado Gov. Bill Owens was declaring that the murderers didn't, "have the same moral background as the rest of us." Bill Davenport, a Baptist pastor in San Clemente, confidently asserted that the killers didn't value life, "because they haven't been taught about God." Jerry Falwell suggested that the killers were gay, a cry taken up in a press release from Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church
Some common words found in the essay are:
Basketball Diaries, Malleus Malificarum, Web Page, Video Games, Dylan Klebold, Baptist Church, , Sarah Brady, San Clemente, Scare McCarthy, mass hysteria, barrage people, hysteria surrounding, eric harris, movie hollywood, mass hysteria surrounding, 13 people,
Approximate Word count = 855
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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