How The Salem Witch Trials Affected By Social Media

The Salem Witch Trials were a time of confusion, mistrust and hysteria. Neighbors and families would turn on one another for their own safety against a possible death sentence. Starting in June of 1962, the Salem Witch trials lead to the persecution of ____ men, women and children. Many people believe that witch hunts are a thing of the past when in reality they have become more common and __________. The term witch hunt is used today to describe cyber bullying and is often the result of the production of false news. Trials by social media is a common term used today to describe the process of identifying, targeting, judging and condoning a person for angering others. These trials by social media are related to the Salem Witch Trials in

In 1997, the popular store Pac Sun starting selling a new shirt in which the American flag was upside downs. A girl say this shirt, got offended, took a picture and posted it on social media. The photo goes viral and others join the trend of being offended too and saying someone must be held accountable. Relating this back to the Witch Trials is the two girls acting posses without the Doctor’s being able to give a reason why and the word of two girls being possessed being spread throughout the town until other girls begin acting possessed too. In the Pac Sun case the company was put on the sand in the social media world with little to no chance sine the general population was the executioner. Many women would end up being convicted in the Salem Witch trials and put on the stand also with little chance of being found not guilty. Just like the women had two choices; admit they were possessed and get executed or say they accept the Lord and theres no evidence and also get executed, Pac Sun could admit they were wrong and have people be mad at them for apologizing, or say they did nothing wrong and have people boycott. In both scenarios, people cause hysteria and act in irrational ways and continue to complain until something new comes along to outrage the general

It is because of people failing to learn about what they don’t know that they in turn fear it and label it as bad. The craze for finding a short term quick fix needs to be replaced with research and tolerance in order to find a long term solution that is beneficial to everyone. While researching this topic I came across an interesting point that explains how both people from the Salem Witch Trials and people on social media today act out in order to gain attention. It is because of this attention given to them that they continue to act out. For Salem, this attention, whether it be good or bad, brought tourists and publicity which made them a profit. In order to maintain making a profit, Salem went from an anti-witch, executing town to a pro-witch, embracing the culture