Witch Hunt

Recently, I often hear the word, “witch hunt”, through a media. Especially, because of the development of the internet, a modern edition of witch-hunt frequently happens on the internet. We use the word, when we condemn a person by judging an incident with fragmentary evidence. Where does the phase witch-hunt come from? 

The witch hunt started in the 15^th century in earnest. Europeans at that time believed in devilish magic power. In the beginning, a spiritual court took complete charge of witchcraft trials and there was not a lot of the number of victims. However, witch hunt came to a climax from late in the 16^th century to 17^th century, after witchcraft trials was moved to a common court from a spiritual. The meaning of Witch hunt changed from hunting heretics to preserving a ruling class.

What caused the witch hunt to increase explosively? It was a chaotic age in the history of Europe: the Reformation, infectious diseases, unstable economy and droughts. The establishment of the society imputed the reason of troubles to magic of witch. This thought is well displayed in the book, Bull Summis Desiderantes, Dec. 5^th, 1484 by innocent VIII.

many persons of both sexes, heedless of their own salvation and forsaking the catholic faith, give themselves over to devils male and female, and by their incantations, charms, and conjurings, and by other abominable superstitions and sortileges, offences, crimes, and misdeeds, ruin and cause to perish the offspring of women, the foal of animals, the products of the earth, the grapes of vines, and the fruits of trees, as well as men and women, cattle and flocks and herds and animals of every kind, vineyards also and orchards, meadows, pastures, harvests, grains and other fruits of the earth; that they afflict and torture with dire pains and anguish, both internal and external, these men, women, cattle, flocks, herds, and animals, and hinder men from begetting and women from conceiving, and prevent all consummation of marriage; that, moreover, they deny with sacrilegious lips the faith they . received in holy baptism; and that, at the instigation of the enemy of mankind, they do not fear to commit and perpetrate many other abominable offences and crimes, at the risk of their own souls, to the insult of the divine majesty and to the pernicious example and scandal of multitudes.

Also, there is another reason. People who were killed because of a false accusation as the witch were forfeited all of their assets. Even the cost of torture and firewood for being burnt alive were up to them.

People started witch hunt to solve the situation. The main victims were widows who were poor and old, so most of the victims were women. Maybe the reason why we think that the witch is as a woman is because of this history.The witch hunt disappeared after World War I, after leaving a lot of the innocent victims.

We already know that the witch hunt has a negative connotation, and the history like the witch hunt never happens again. However, the things are happening now as a little different form.  People easily focus on more an accident than the authenticity of the accident.  When a person goes to the guillotine, people fiercely criticize the man with missing the important points. Particularly, people are apt to criticize easily other people on the internet, because anonymity is guaranteed. We remember that we would be a victim of witch hunt at some day. We should have an eye for an accident as a whole. Don’t be stupid by being not able to see the forest for the tree.