1) Is there an economic benefit to irrational distrust?
2) Does anyone benefit from witchcraft panics?
3) In particular, what group of people benefit from the belief in witchcraft in Africa RIGHT NOW?
Magical witchcraft is nonsense. I have no belief in magic. However, I am very interested in the belief of magic. In particular, I don't understand why the fear of magical witches and sorcerers was so prominent in the past and is so common in the present.
When I say fear of witchcraft, I mean the fear of people who cast magical spells. I don't mean gangsters who use supernatural symbolism when using rather natural weaponry. I don't obvious crazies who commit physical crimes because 'the devil forced them'.
It can't be mere ignorance. Some of the people driving the European witchcraft panic were well educated.
The European witchcraft panic in peaked during the Enlightenment. The last woman burned for witchcraft in Germany was executed in 1775. Just one year before the Revolutionary War in North America. started! For that matter, the Salem hangings occurred a few decades before that.
The recent outbreak of witchcraft panic in Africa seems to be tied to ignorant folk beliefs. It is slowing economic development down because no one trusts each other. Yet, one would think the leaders in these underI think there developed countries would try to stop it because THEIR economic well-being is being challenged. I don't see that anyone benefits economically from superstition.
The belief in witchcraft is superstition. By witchcraft, I mean people believed to hurt others remotely by thought and ritual. I mean the fear of sympathetic magic and magic symbols, independent of any physical action. I don't mean people who catch an infectious disease, which is as least falsifiable. So what is the reason people persecuted or killed for a fantasy threat?
I have read explanations given for the witch persecutions in the middle ages and enlightenment.
Some left leaning groups blame it on the rich and powerful. <Of course!>Supposedly, the rich and powerful benefitted by having poorer people distrust each other. Supposedly, women were the most persecuted because they were being subjugated. Some of this makes sense. The poor and female were the most persecuted in Europe. However, witchcraft persecutions in other lands don't always follow this pattern.
Yet, the persecution often started with common people. Very often, there would be a lynching that took place outside of legal jurisprudence.
I think there must be an economic benefit to the majority of people who believe in witchcraft. I hypothesize there must be some financial or biological benefit to the distrust associated with superstition.
There must be some benefit to the common man or he wouldn't go along with it for any length of time. It seems to me that the mere benfits to one narrow segment of society would not drive the whole society nuts. It looks to me that there is some type of benefit shared by people who believe in witchcraft.
Since this sort of persecution is coming back, I would be interested in knowing.
What general benefit is the mistrust generated by the fear of witches and warlocks?
2) Does anyone benefit from witchcraft panics?
3) In particular, what group of people benefit from the belief in witchcraft in Africa RIGHT NOW?
Magical witchcraft is nonsense. I have no belief in magic. However, I am very interested in the belief of magic. In particular, I don't understand why the fear of magical witches and sorcerers was so prominent in the past and is so common in the present.
When I say fear of witchcraft, I mean the fear of people who cast magical spells. I don't mean gangsters who use supernatural symbolism when using rather natural weaponry. I don't obvious crazies who commit physical crimes because 'the devil forced them'.
It can't be mere ignorance. Some of the people driving the European witchcraft panic were well educated.
The European witchcraft panic in peaked during the Enlightenment. The last woman burned for witchcraft in Germany was executed in 1775. Just one year before the Revolutionary War in North America. started! For that matter, the Salem hangings occurred a few decades before that.
The recent outbreak of witchcraft panic in Africa seems to be tied to ignorant folk beliefs. It is slowing economic development down because no one trusts each other. Yet, one would think the leaders in these underI think there developed countries would try to stop it because THEIR economic well-being is being challenged. I don't see that anyone benefits economically from superstition.
The belief in witchcraft is superstition. By witchcraft, I mean people believed to hurt others remotely by thought and ritual. I mean the fear of sympathetic magic and magic symbols, independent of any physical action. I don't mean people who catch an infectious disease, which is as least falsifiable. So what is the reason people persecuted or killed for a fantasy threat?
I have read explanations given for the witch persecutions in the middle ages and enlightenment.
Some left leaning groups blame it on the rich and powerful. <Of course!>Supposedly, the rich and powerful benefitted by having poorer people distrust each other. Supposedly, women were the most persecuted because they were being subjugated. Some of this makes sense. The poor and female were the most persecuted in Europe. However, witchcraft persecutions in other lands don't always follow this pattern.
Yet, the persecution often started with common people. Very often, there would be a lynching that took place outside of legal jurisprudence.
I think there must be an economic benefit to the majority of people who believe in witchcraft. I hypothesize there must be some financial or biological benefit to the distrust associated with superstition.
There must be some benefit to the common man or he wouldn't go along with it for any length of time. It seems to me that the mere benfits to one narrow segment of society would not drive the whole society nuts. It looks to me that there is some type of benefit shared by people who believe in witchcraft.
Since this sort of persecution is coming back, I would be interested in knowing.
What general benefit is the mistrust generated by the fear of witches and warlocks?
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/27tsdBS
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