April 15, 2008

  • Is Justice a Waste of Time...?

    More than 300 years ago, men and women (mostly women) of America were accused of "witchcraft" and hanged for their "crimes." Over a hundred were accused, dozens died, in prison, hanged, or "pressed by rocks" until dead. Today, despite derision from critics and contempt from their peers, some of the descendants of these "witches" have requested a formal pardon of the state of Connecticut. Some are saying the request is frivolous and a waste of taxpayer money. They are criticizing the descendants of the accused, likening it to African Americans seeking an apology for the enslavement of their ancestors. (In my opinion, anyone who has been wronged is entitled to an apology, at the very least!) Some Pagans are saying we shouldn't care about these "witches" because they probably were not witches at all.

    So what's the big deal? The victims of this injustice were not Pagans and probably not Witches, so why should I care as a Pagan and a Witch? Why should You care?

     

    Everyone Should Care.

     

    Whatever the events that spurred them on, the execution of these "witches" centuries ago was a hate crime. I don't really care if the people who were killed as witches three hundred years ago were witches or not. They suffered an injustice, an injustice that is still perpetrated on those accused of "witchcraft" in many parts of the world today (Africa, India, Saudi Arabia...). If their descendants would feel better with a formal pardon, what's the big deal? Why deny a pardon if it costs nothing to give? It costs more to deny it! Pardons, apologies, even if they're not coming from the folk who actually condemned these people, it costs the state very little to give them. The same with apologies to African Americans for the enslavement of their ancestors, to Native Americans for the stealing of their lands.... Heck, even the Pope gave a formal apology for the persecution of Witches in Europe and the demonizing of African religions.

    The fact that they have to deliberate over giving a pardon is what is costing money, not the simple request for a formal apology. Really, I think it's disgusting that they have to think about it. And why would anyone in the committee feel compelled to     bring Monty Python up at a perfectly serious hearing on the subject? That's not respectful. I know it's a psychological thing to not want to admit guilt for something through an apology, but it's symbolic. Everyone knows that the people alive today did not condemn anyone to death for witchcraft. At the same time though, while the people who were hanged for witchcraft were not Pagans, a public pardon or apology would go a long way towards lessening hostility towards Pagans today. In a round about fashion, it would show some people today that such actions were not acceptable then and are not acceptable now.

    Any "publicity," even on an event three hundred years too late, increases public awareness. It may do little to deter people determined to hurt others, or it may be that little nudge that gets someone to thinking about what they're doing. In the short term, it may do nothing, but in the long term, cumulatively speaking, any little drop in the bucket eventually fills it. People don't see this as an important event. And maybe the next little thing will not be important to them either, or the next, or the next, but each time the public is made aware of these things, it increases the chances that someone will be inspired to think before persecuting another for being different. It's not really a matter of vindicating the victims of this three hundred year old injustice, though that's nice for their descendants. It's a matter of seeing justice done. It's a matter of doing what's right and setting an example. It's matter of taking baby steps towards a better future. One little baby step may not get you closer to the goal in any way that matters, but a hundred little baby steps will still get you there, even if taken individually they don't mean anything to most anyone at all.

    Despite modern laws, there is no guarantee that something like the Witch Trials couldn't happen again. Look at how Asian Americans were treated after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Look at the repercussions of 9/11. Look at Guantanamo Bay. We still have hate crimes (violent or discriminatory) in all levels of society from John Doe on the street to our supposedly unbiased leaders. Making something against the law doesn't make people stop doing it. It takes peer and societal pressures to deter ignorant actions. So publicly pardoning people who were condemned for something that is grudgingly accepted today could go a long way towards protecting our rights and the rights of our own descendants. If the state gives its pardon, then it is also giving public notice to the less accepting of our countrymen that it is not okay to discriminate and attack others because they are different. If century old hate crimes connected to witchcraft are not brought to the public eye, the public tends to forget. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Despite what the state of Connecticut, critics, and disinterested Pagans and Witches may think, the pursuit of justice is never a waste of time... no matter how long ago a crime was committed.

    April 15th

    This is the fourth day of the Cerealia.

    A feast was organized by the Vestal Virgins in honor of Tellus Mater, an Italian Earth-mother, to insure plenty during the year. To ensure a productive year and the continued health of the world, farmers sacrificed a pregnant cow and cremated the unborn calf. Tellus is the matron goddess of all environmentalists.

    This is the New Year in Bangladesh.

    The Festival of the Iron Phallus, Kanamara Matsuri, is celebrated annually in Kawasaki City, Japan. The ancient Japanese deities associated with sexuality and human reproduction give their sacred blessings and encouragement, especially to couples who wed late in life or to men who suffer from declining potency. Originally the shrine existed to honor the gods of iron, but historically, the area was also the site of lots of brothels. The workers used the temple to pray not to get syphilis and from that this festival started.

    The Pi-Puppids meteor shower begins today and ends on the twenty-eighth, peaking on the twenty-third. This is a relatively young stream, only been detected since 1972, and produced by the Comet P/Grigg-Skjellerup. It is best viewed from the southern hemisphere.

    The first day of Payni is a Festival of Horus and also for Bast.

Comments (5)

  • We live in an age where apologies are merely formalities.

    While I think as institutions, the Vatican and Governments have much to apologize for, an apology by proxy means little.  It does not ressurrect the dead nor eliminate their suffering for having died so horribly.  Although I think the sentiment noble to apologize for grievous acts committed by the cruel ignorance of yesterday, there are more things to be done in the present moment by the living to fight injustice than insist on an apology for a shadowed yesterday.  Awareness of those cruelties is more conducive, I think, in preventing a repetition of them.  This is why a moment of silence for victims of the holocaust during WWII is still observed, lest we forget.

    But if one wishes to apologize, that is ok too.

    Blessings~

  •   I really couldn't have said it any better than madmorrigan above.  I do wonder what kind of woman I would have been in those times.  That's what I want the history to bring out in me.  What would I do different?  Yes, I think it's awful that senseless harm was brought to others. It has repeated itself throughout time.  So who are we going to be tomorrow?  As a humanity and as an American..."we the people".

  • The problem here is that you are trying to get the government to admit that it's actions -- even if they were centuries ago -- were wrong.  And let's face it, that is something that is notoriously difficult to do.

  • @madmorrigan - @Jaynebug - @janusfiles - My point isn't that an apology should be forthcoming. It should, since it's easier to give it than not, but that's not my point. My point is that this kind of thing still goes on. People are still discriminated agaist for being different. This case and others like it serve to increase public awareness, both of past transgressions and current ones. Things like Guantanamo Bay should not be allowed to exist. The Japanese interment camps should not have been permitted to exist. To me, the attitude that cost many people their lives 300 years ago is still alive and well in the US and abroad. Cases like this will hopefully make people think. I doubt anyone's going to have a a-ha! moment because of this case, but even if it lingers in someone's subconscious, it may deter them from making derrogatory statements about people who are different or stop their ignorance from going from words to deeds. In a way, it's good that the governing body of Connecticut is kicking up a fuss because it brings the case more into the public eye than if they just agreed to apologize. In my eyes, it makes them look like the fools for not giving in. The waste of taxpayer money is on their heads since giving in would simplify everything. Formality or not, there's no harm in giving an apology when asked for one. If it makes the descendants of the alleged witches feel better, where's the problem? People died. They died for nothing. They died to alleviate a hysteria. They died because of mob mentality. Isn't it time to apologize for killing innocent people?

  • Isn't it time to stop killing innocent people?  I would agree with you on that one.  To apologize...is asking for something that a government just might not ever do.  The important outcome is what we learn from the outrage of it all.  WHose to blame?  Should the decendants of the witch hunters be the ones who apoligize?  It's in the past.  Let's now, today, starting with us, be the examples of a people willing to let others be different and not to react when we encounter difference with fear based judgement.  I'm sorry but we need to move forward with now, today.  Yesterday is gone.

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