nPostednon October 12, 2013
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Therenwas a terrible, horrible, unimaginable thing going on in Salem,nMassachusetts, back in 1692. People had been accused of witchcraft,nand there had been trials, and more accusations, and executions, andnmore accusations. n
Therenwas a terrible, horrible, unimaginable thing going on in Salem,nMassachusetts, back in 1692. People had been accused of witchcraft,nand there had been trials, and more accusations, and executions, andnmore accusations. nn
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nInnall, about 25 people died horrible deaths because of the Salem WitchnTrials—and more than 150 additional people were arrested and imprisoned—andnwhy?
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nAsnyou know, it turned out that nobody was a witch. Everybody arrested,nimprisoned, and tried—and everybody killed—was innocent.
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nItnturned out to be a case of conspiracy and lying and/or mass hysteria. People had been hateful, worried,nupset, fearful—and wrong, wrong, wrong. It was a case of religionntaken to a very horrible extreme—and extremism is pretty much neverna good thing.
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nMorenthan anything, it was a case of not using the best ideas thatnwe humans had, even at the time. People were not using logic andnreason, and they were not using due process rules of fairness,nnotice, and an open hearing.
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nOnnthis date in 1692, the governor of Massachusetts, William Phips,nwrote to the Privy Council of the British king and queen, and henoutlined the ways in which the trials had gone so terribly astray. Henwrote that the court was relying on non-evidence. Like an accusernsaying that she saw a devil and other phantasms hanging out with thenaccused.
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nPhips’snletter basically ended the trials, and someone decided to honor thentriumph of reason over unreason every year on this date.
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nFreethoughtnis a philosophy that says that opinions should be formed on the basisnof logic, reason, and empirical evidence (you know, things we cannobserve, measure, test, and replicate). When all your friends arensaying that the world will end on a certain date, or that stepping onna crack means bad luck, or that Facebook is removing all privacynsettings—well, when you hear stuff like that, you should thinkntwice before believing it, and check the facts before passing it onnto others, and think three or four times AND check the facts beforenacting on it! n
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nDon’tnbe the victim of urban legends! Check them out at Snopes.
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nDon’tnbe superstitious! Check out what Mythbusters found when thensuperstition was tested.
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| Looks like logic. But it’s not. |
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nDon’tnbe gullible! How likely is it, really, that a Nigerian prince needsnYOU to send him money, and that he wants to give you tons and tons ofnmoney? If it sounds too good to be true…it probably is!
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nDon’tnbe trapped by common logical fallacies. Check out this handy logical fallacy website! You can roll over the various icons to see what logical fallacy eachnrepresents; then click the icon to see some great examples. n
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nAlsonon this date:
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nColumbusnDay,naka DiscoverynDay
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n(officially observed in 2013 on Monday, October 14)
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nNationalnDay of Mourning, aka
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nIndigenousnPeople’s Day,naka
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nDia de la Raza
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n(officially observed in 2013 on Monday, October 14)
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nBirthday of claymation pioneer Art Clokey
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Anniversarynof the death of nurse and heroine Edith Cavell
Anniversarynof the death of nurse and heroine Edith Cavelln
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nPlannAhead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nOctobern holidays
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nOctobern birthdays
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- Historicaln anniversaries in October
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nNovembern holidays
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nNovembern birthdays
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- Historicaln anniversaries in November
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