Proving a Point

On Tuesday, Sept. 22, I woke before the sunrise and listened on-line to the Writer’s Almanac, a Garrison Keiler-hosted segment highlighting events in history or birthdays of noted literary figures, which ends with a poem. 

That day marked some prominent moments in history; among them the establishment of the Peace Corps, the Emancipation Proclamation and the last of the executions of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

The Witch Trials rank among the saddest chapters in this continent’s history. It was an example of hysteria, fear of the unknown or using long-standing grudges as motivation to wrongfully harm others.

The best known theatrical work based on that time period was The Crucible, a powerful play written in 1953 by Arthur Miller. Although it is a fictionalized account, it helps put faces to the names of people who were wrongly accused and even executed in a case of justice gone wrong.

The idea for The Crucible was triggered by the Red Scare that had taken hold in the United States. Miller’s fears were later realized when he found himself in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Walking with my dog and thinking about that play, I wondered how far we’ve come as a society. While we don’t execute people for witchcraft, a quick review of more recent history told me that we haven’t changed all that much. To test that theory I tweeted this: 

“Despite years passing-many recent events remind us that in many ways human nature is little changed from the time of the Salem Witch Trials.” 

Knowing some would draw a connection between that tweet and what happened here in 2011, I checked in periodically to see the reaction. 

While making arguments, and misstating inaccuracies as “facts” of the recent events that they felt I was referencing the virtual outrage was immediate. One tweet referenced an inaccurate article written four years ago. That was long before so many facts of the case pertaining to Penn State football were further distorted before beginning a long and continuing climb from the dark pit of false narrative to the light of truth. 

These people who weighed in made my point for me. I understand why. It is human nature to set our minds in stone on the first and least accurate narrative in our rush to justice. Ultimately truth emerges, but by then most have already taken their torches and pitchforks to the next incident that sparked their outrage. 

The storyline is a thread that stretches across centuries of human civilization. The tools have changed, the mob is worldwide on social media but the underlining frailties of human nature remain.

We want someone to blame, to scapegoat and the sooner the better. We often believe the worst about people because it is easier than looking for the good. 

If the economy is perceived to be bad, there is political hay to be made by blaming immigrants. After 9/11, some Americans came to fear all Muslims. Japanese-Americans were rounded up into intern camps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1891, Sicilians were lynched in New Orleans even after a jury found them innocent of the police chief’s murder. 

Richard Jewell was a hero-turned-suspect in the Atlanta Olympic Bombing. His life was turned upside down. When he was finally cleared, everyone walked away in a whimper and he never got the recognition he deserved. 

The list goes on and on. We condemned the National Fraternity system because of false accusations against one University of Virginia fraternity printed as “fact” in a Rolling Stone Magazine article. After the shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, the narrative of “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” went worldwide. Even Penn State’s President Eric Barron had his photo taken in that pose. 

After a long federal investigation, United States Attorney General Eric Holder said that narrative never happened. But weeks earlier Ferguson, Missouri had burned because of a story rushed to a waiting public hungry to express outrage. When anger boils over there is no turning back. 

Even if calm leaders of conscience stand up it’s doubtful they can stop torrents of anger from flooding our minds once the tempest has been unleashed. 

On Tuesday, as nasty tweets rolled in repeatedly accusing people at Penn State of things that aren’t true, my point was made. I get it, we can’t help ourselves. It is human nature—human nature that stretches back as far as human history. 

After all the Allegory of The Cave was written in Plato’s Republic thousands of years ago. In the cave men were shackled and could only see life through the shadows cast on the blank wall in front of them. That was their reality. Even in ancient times wise men understood that unless we can free the shackles on our minds, stand up and walk towards the light and perhaps even out of the cave we will not know truth. 

The more times change the more some things stay the same.