Salem Trials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Salem Trials - Essay Example To defend themselves from the punishment and excommunication of their religion, they had to admit that they were unaware of what they have done and that some witch cast a spell upon them and made them do such kind of things. An act that was born out of curiosity and adventure now turned into a general crisis. Upon realizing this story, the authorities took action by demanding that the girls give out names, thus 19 people were accused. Similarly, history seemed to have repeated itself in the guise of cold war when the conflict between USSR and USA erupted. Due to ideological differences, the communistic Russia compounded several reasons to cause apprehension among Americans. Both countries began to question their subject's loyalty and considered everyone a threat to their liberty. In America, a massive hunt for communist began. The HUAC campaign of John McCarthy "expounded fiery anti-Communist diatribes in print and in the new medium of television" (Boyer. 1985). What started as mere rivalry of powers, turned into a dark cloud of suspicion above everyone, and so began the espionage mission to address the impending threat to national security. The arrest, prosecution and execution of the Rosenbergs started the massive hunt for treacherous act which denotes how suspicions play a role in one's decision over the inherent right to be heard and to live freely. The announcement of those who were suspected to have communi stic inclinations working inside the government extended far into the strata of prominent actors, producers, academes, and scientists, where no one was excluded and no amount of heroism and bravery could restrain its deadly repercussions. Likewise in this era, there was also this looming suspicion as to the possession of nuclear weapon, a powerful arm set for massive destruction and even to the demise of mankind. There are several angles whereby the Salem witch trial ran in parallel with, the Cold War and Arms Race, and this is most clear in the area of power, more particularly in the aspect of subordination and the exercise of authority. The central theme of this paper is to point out the aspects in which all three are parallel and why they are considered as such. The Parallels in the aspect of a socialist view The commonalities in Salem trials, the cold war and arms race, lies in the nature where the unfounded skepticisms triggered enormous abuse to mankind, denying the inherent right to live and defend life. The Salem witch trial is congruent to both cold wars and arms race is the sense that each of them demonstrates the manipulation of the subordinates without paying any consideration to the subject's inherent right. All three stories defines the American culture of conformity, whereby one is forced to align his or her ideals according to what the standards say or what is generally accepted to be correct. Conformity, dictates that one is forced to follow if one does not want to be an outcast. In the Salem Witch trial, everyone conformed to the standards of their religion and because the practice of witch craft is deemed heretic by the church, then everyone who violates this standard ought to suffer punishment. Not one of those young children who accused 19 people of heresy took their wor d back for fear. No one dared defended the innocence of the accused for fear of being committing the