Witch Hunts

The term "witch hunt," and the act itself has been something that has been a significant part in U.S. history for quite a long time and continues to be till this day.

Although witch hunts were originally quite literally about hunting witches, the term has come to mean something not so literal but still has almost the exact same meaning, just with an ironic twist.

If you were to look up the phrase in the dictionary you would find two examples of things that are pretty closely related if you are able to use your imagination.

1. (Historical definition) A search for and subsequent persecution of a supposed witch
2. (Modern definition) A campaign directed against a person or group holding unorthodox or unpopular views

Back in the time of the Salem witch hunts, the people who were being accused of witchcraft weren't necessarily always witches but were still having fingers pointed at them without proof. This is a good example of what that term means in this century. The term witch hunt has come to be somewhat ironic.

In the reading ‘The Enemy Within,’ author John Demos writes about a handful of interesting examples throughout history of situations that could be considered “witch hunts,” and how most of the time the people being accused of fraternizing with the devil most likely weren’t, and the accusations in many cases were simply caused by mass hysteria brought on by mis-information and the strong sense that anything bad that happened without clear explanation had to have at least a few ties with demonic activity or witchcraft.

I found it interesting how Demos alludes to a thought  that although it does not erase the fact that witchcraft, evil/bad activity,  and demonic interference is real, most of the worlds witch hunts ended with historians coming to the conclusion that most events had nothing to do with any of that.

In today’s society, the word witch hunt is still very relevant and in the way it is used, it can be said that the meaning of the term didn’t change too much. Although sometimes used very flagrantly by politicians and people in the wrong who deserved to be called out for their mistakes, it is important to note that even without demons  or witchcraft being involved like in the old days, a witch hunt is simply a term for when the public creates a hysteria around something that wasn’t necessarily evil at all in the first place, due to the need to blame misfortune on something or someone.