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The total number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe was approximately four million (Long, 1893). Today, the absurdity of this craze seems self-evident. Yet that was certainly not the case at the time.
Mass delusions are usually promulgated by some social or psychological expediency. Prosecution of the Witch Mania in Medieval Europe reinforced the authority of the Christian Church and provided a means whereby undesirables could be eliminated from society. The Inquisition was also doubtless invigorated by the practice of confiscating the property of the convicted. It is a historical fact that witches and heretics tended to be less numerous in poor districts. Papal bulls urging the suppression of witchcraft and sorcery had the opposite effect of lending credence to the practice. People reasoned that if the Pope himself denounced witchcraft, it must be real.
Originally posted by jtma508
In a current thread discussing the odd and as yet unexplanied 'sounds in the sky', ujustneverknow linked to a paper on the subject from 2004 www.scientificexploration.org...
While reading through that paper I stumbled on a section discussing mass delusion and found this:
The total number of people executed for witchcraft in Europe was approximately four million (Long, 1893). Today, the absurdity of this craze seems self-evident. Yet that was certainly not the case at the time.
Mass delusions are usually promulgated by some social or psychological expediency. Prosecution of the Witch Mania in Medieval Europe reinforced the authority of the Christian Church and provided a means whereby undesirables could be eliminated from society. The Inquisition was also doubtless invigorated by the practice of confiscating the property of the convicted. It is a historical fact that witches and heretics tended to be less numerous in poor districts. Papal bulls urging the suppression of witchcraft and sorcery had the opposite effect of lending credence to the practice. People reasoned that if the Pope himself denounced witchcraft, it must be real.
The central authority (or TPTB) back then was The Church. Given that they have used this technique with such stubnning success does it not stand to reason that the tactic would be used still? The Church was able to recruit local officials and common folks as their minions to carry out their agenda. Is 'terrorism' today's witchcraft? Is the government using that (terrorism) to wage yet another war against common folk by pitting us one against the other in the interest of combating terrorism --- modern day witchcraft??
The Malleus Maleficarum[2] (Latin for "Hammer of the Witches", or "Der Hexenhammer" in German) is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487.[3] Jacob Sprenger is also often attributed as an author, but some scholars now believe that he became associated with the Malleus Maleficarum largely as a result of Kramer's wish to lend his book as much official authority as possible.[4]
The main purpose of the Malleus was to attempt to systematically refute arguments claiming that witchcraft does not exist, discredit those who expressed skepticism about its reality, to claim that witches were more often women than men, and to educate magistrates on the procedures that could find them out and convict them.[5]
Originally posted by TupacShakur
reply to post by jtma508
I wouldn't trust the government to go to the store and buy me some milk. They lie to us so often, what reasons do we have to trust them? They lied about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, they lied about not being warned about a potential terrorist attack leading up to 9/11, they lied about WMDs in Iraq, they lied about the death of Pat Tillman, the list goes on and on.
Not only do they pathologically lie and treat the American people like suckers, but they also don't do what they're supposed to do. Every government official takes an oath to protect the Constitution, yet the government constantly passes things that grossly violate the Bill of Rights and Constitution. The NDAA, Patriot Act, allowing the TSA to grab your genitals/breasts, all of these things pass in the name of protecting us from terrorist boogeymen.
But it gets even deeper than that. They don't just lie excessively and violate the Constitution which they are sworn to protect, they are also corrupt. They get bribed by lobbyists, bought out by bankers and CEOs, and vote how they are told to vote. The people don't come first, making some cash even though it might mean turning America into a bankrupt oppressive police state is what's important to those scumbags.
That's not just in Congress, that goes all the way to the top. Just ask Obama, whose top campaign contributor was Goldman Sachs. I'm sure that had something to do with him appointing 11 Goldman Sachs employees to his administration. There are very few people within the government that I do trust.edit on 10-1-2012 by TupacShakur because: (no reason given)