The main quote that struck me from my notes on our discussion on Cotton Mather's On Witchcraft is "anything that we didn't have a scientific explanation for, we blow it out of proportion entirely" (Class Notes 1/5). This has been the reason for the development of all religious thought in human history. Anything that there is no earthly explanation for according to the knowledge of the time, must be explained by supernatural or godly forces. All unexplainable things need a reason. Fear of the unknown motivates the intelligent in the society to create explanations for the things they, and others around them, fear.
Unexplainable positive things in life are attributed to God or a god, while negative things in life are explained by the devil or by a vindictive god. Humanity has problem taking credit or taking the blame for things that happen in life. While the belief that God has a hand in every part of daily life, this belief also provides an excuse not to take responsibility for one's actions and the results of actions.
I thank Jacqlyn for giving me the idea of thinking of Tudor England. The "sweating sickness" was a violent fever that spread quickly throughout England in the warm weather months. The illness was similar to the plague, malaria, and scarlet fever. No one at the time knew the cause of the illness, why certain people did not contract it, or how to treat or prevent the disease. King Henry VIII, a king unsteady on his throne and without a male heir to leave the kingdom to, was terrified of dying early. He frantically tries any pill, elixer, or potion promised to keep the sickness away from him. He took to running from any city, after being told that the sickness manifested in the slums. Henry even left his lover, Anne Boleyn, after she became ill. While she fought off the illness at the family castle of Hever, he ran far away into the country with Catherine of Aragon, his legal wife and their daughter Mary. This absolute terror at the unknown was fueled by the deadly precision of the disease and Henry's fear of dying with no heir to the throne.
While in Henry VIII's time, disease was unknown and therefore terrifying, medical science today has come a long way, making it easier for us as humans to understand why disease happens and how to prevent it. Now other things are unknown and terrifying. Homosexuality is a hot button issue in today's society, one that particularly affects my life. One of the main arguments from anti-gay people is that gay people either choose to be gay, or are recruiting others to be gay. Instead of being an illness like the sweating sickness, the "gay" is the new unknown disease to be afraid of. Clearly because gay relationships are not able to reproduce, they aren't natural.
In my time being out as a lesbian, I've heard some of the most ridiculous things being cited as causes for homosexuality. From molestation as a child or rape as an adult to watching the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, anti-gay media will use anything as the scapegoat for why people are gay. The television show Spongebob was almost taken off the air, because Spongebob holds hand with his male best friend Patrick, blows bubbles, and skips while attempting to catch jellyfish, the undersea version of butterflies. Why is it not ok that Spongebob does these things? And how on earth could watching a cartoon sponge skip make a child experience attractions to members of the same sex? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't think that any human being would choose to be gay if they had the option. I didn't wake up one day in seventh grade and decide "Hmm.. I think I'm going to like girls. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I really want my classmates to pick on me, refuse to talk to me, and bully me. Sounds like a blast!" No. It just doesn't work that way.
If it did, I think it would look something like this:
I thank Jacqlyn for giving me the idea of thinking of Tudor England. The "sweating sickness" was a violent fever that spread quickly throughout England in the warm weather months. The illness was similar to the plague, malaria, and scarlet fever. No one at the time knew the cause of the illness, why certain people did not contract it, or how to treat or prevent the disease. King Henry VIII, a king unsteady on his throne and without a male heir to leave the kingdom to, was terrified of dying early. He frantically tries any pill, elixer, or potion promised to keep the sickness away from him. He took to running from any city, after being told that the sickness manifested in the slums. Henry even left his lover, Anne Boleyn, after she became ill. While she fought off the illness at the family castle of Hever, he ran far away into the country with Catherine of Aragon, his legal wife and their daughter Mary. This absolute terror at the unknown was fueled by the deadly precision of the disease and Henry's fear of dying with no heir to the throne.
While in Henry VIII's time, disease was unknown and therefore terrifying, medical science today has come a long way, making it easier for us as humans to understand why disease happens and how to prevent it. Now other things are unknown and terrifying. Homosexuality is a hot button issue in today's society, one that particularly affects my life. One of the main arguments from anti-gay people is that gay people either choose to be gay, or are recruiting others to be gay. Instead of being an illness like the sweating sickness, the "gay" is the new unknown disease to be afraid of. Clearly because gay relationships are not able to reproduce, they aren't natural.
In my time being out as a lesbian, I've heard some of the most ridiculous things being cited as causes for homosexuality. From molestation as a child or rape as an adult to watching the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants, anti-gay media will use anything as the scapegoat for why people are gay. The television show Spongebob was almost taken off the air, because Spongebob holds hand with his male best friend Patrick, blows bubbles, and skips while attempting to catch jellyfish, the undersea version of butterflies. Why is it not ok that Spongebob does these things? And how on earth could watching a cartoon sponge skip make a child experience attractions to members of the same sex? It just doesn't make any sense to me. I don't think that any human being would choose to be gay if they had the option. I didn't wake up one day in seventh grade and decide "Hmm.. I think I'm going to like girls. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I really want my classmates to pick on me, refuse to talk to me, and bully me. Sounds like a blast!" No. It just doesn't work that way.
If it did, I think it would look something like this:
There might be some Lady Gaga lightning bolts in there as well. Gotta update for the new generation, don't ya know.
Oh and we also all get toasters if we convert someone. It goes up to a blender when we get to three converted!
I look forward to seeing where this blog post is going. For I also agree that the quote you chose is a very powerful one and very apropos to today's society. Society throughout time, actually. Especially in the world and realm of religion.
ReplyDeleteOne example I can think of where something unexplainable is blown out of proportion is the Sweating Sickness in the Tudor time period. Yes, this does come from me watching it currently lol. Anyway, because there is no known cure or cause, the sweating sickness is completely blown out of proportion and one would think the world is ending. Granted, a lot of people died from it, but that is beside the point. The point is that, in the show version of The Tudors and most likely in real life as well, Henry goes apeshit. Not the angry kind of apeshit but the "OMGOMGOMG" apeshit haha. He frantically tries out any and all elixirs, pills, and cures to keep the disease at bay. The physicians even resort to bleeding people because they believe it releases some of the toxins. In short? They truly blow it out of proportion because it is unknown and unexplainable and resort to extreme measures, that do not make any sense whatsoever, to combat it.
What other examples can you think of aside from the Salem Witch Trials?