Jimmy Higgins
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WASHINGTON DC -- President Donald Trump equated the impeachment inquiry to a "lynching" over the weekend. The inflammatory remark got many upset and has led to a fierce debate. Is a lynching worse than a witch hunt.
Bob McConnell, a historian at Boston University has concentrated his historical study on early New England colonial history, including the Salem Witch Trials. "Please keep in mind, this is not trying to minimize the abhorrent crime of lynching. I feel that the term "witch hunt" carries a worse connotation," noted the historian. "Twenty people were murdered by the courts due to the most outlandish of accusations, of being something that didn't even exist, a witch."
"It must be understood that many of these accusations were either personal or political. Some people made these accusations in order to gain property. In other words, they used the courts to commit murders so they would benefit."
Others, such as John Hughes at Howard University disagree. "While I don't want to call it laughable, the idea that the murders of 20 people in some way is worse than the lynchings of thousands of blacks merely because they are black is just ridiculous. While court sanction murders in the late 17th century are indeed an awful thing, it isn't as if the law wasn't 'looking the other way' with the senseless and violent murders of blacks in America. The Tulsa race riots stand alone in overshadowing the repugnance of Salem.
"Of course, all children know about Salem. How many were taught about what transpired in Tulsa. That, in its own right, could be a reason why we are even having this conversation."
Some arguments across the nation have gotten heated, and fights have reportedly broken out in many work offices. Many people have exhibited strong opinions regarding which term is more loaded. A term that represents a court sanctioned murder of people for being something that didn't exist or a term representing a white power mob mentality where being black was provocation enough to justify murder.
A solution is possible, noted Geoffrey Pulis, a historian at Georgetown University. "This is merely semantics. Calling a legitimate investigation a 'witch hunt' or a 'lynching' is unarguably an nonintellectual argument. It attempts to adopt the premeditated horrors of witch hunts and lynchings and vilify the President's investigators, much like how a rapist attacks their victim. To imagine a sitting US President making such an argument would have been unthinkable five years ago. Today it seems to many Americans that such obvious inauthentic hyperbole is not only appropriate, but convincing.
"Sad!"
Bob McConnell, a historian at Boston University has concentrated his historical study on early New England colonial history, including the Salem Witch Trials. "Please keep in mind, this is not trying to minimize the abhorrent crime of lynching. I feel that the term "witch hunt" carries a worse connotation," noted the historian. "Twenty people were murdered by the courts due to the most outlandish of accusations, of being something that didn't even exist, a witch."
"It must be understood that many of these accusations were either personal or political. Some people made these accusations in order to gain property. In other words, they used the courts to commit murders so they would benefit."
Others, such as John Hughes at Howard University disagree. "While I don't want to call it laughable, the idea that the murders of 20 people in some way is worse than the lynchings of thousands of blacks merely because they are black is just ridiculous. While court sanction murders in the late 17th century are indeed an awful thing, it isn't as if the law wasn't 'looking the other way' with the senseless and violent murders of blacks in America. The Tulsa race riots stand alone in overshadowing the repugnance of Salem.
"Of course, all children know about Salem. How many were taught about what transpired in Tulsa. That, in its own right, could be a reason why we are even having this conversation."
Some arguments across the nation have gotten heated, and fights have reportedly broken out in many work offices. Many people have exhibited strong opinions regarding which term is more loaded. A term that represents a court sanctioned murder of people for being something that didn't exist or a term representing a white power mob mentality where being black was provocation enough to justify murder.
A solution is possible, noted Geoffrey Pulis, a historian at Georgetown University. "This is merely semantics. Calling a legitimate investigation a 'witch hunt' or a 'lynching' is unarguably an nonintellectual argument. It attempts to adopt the premeditated horrors of witch hunts and lynchings and vilify the President's investigators, much like how a rapist attacks their victim. To imagine a sitting US President making such an argument would have been unthinkable five years ago. Today it seems to many Americans that such obvious inauthentic hyperbole is not only appropriate, but convincing.
"Sad!"
