Paranoia

In AIS class this past week, I've noticed a certain human flaw constantly presenting itself. Paranoia.
In The Crucible, Danforth reasoned, when speaking of witchcraft, that since only the witch and the victim witness an act of dark magic, and the witch wouldn't turn herself in,  "we must rely upon her victims" (93). This train of thought seemed pretty reasonable to me, but this relies on the goodhearted honesty of the people of this society. And in such a Christian society as was known in Salem, it would seem that nobody would lie for fear of going straight to Hell. However, in the book, even the most innocent and pure of people, such as Elizabeth Proctor, were being accused of witchcraft. The fact that only uncovering a supposed witch could take the public eye off of oneself, spun this system backwards. Suddenly, everyone was being accused, thus obviously causing widespread panic and paranoia. Seems realistic, right?
In class, we later discussed how a country declares war, and I learned that Congress finances a war and can therefore cut off finances. However, Congress doesn't often do this because they are concerned they will be accused of 'not supporting the troops'. Again, paranoia!
It is such a reasonable, human response. Throughout history, people have cowered in fear of accusations. I wonder what can stop this constant worry, which inevitably leads to rash, defensive decisions. Is a purely honest society the only  thing that can save humanity from its PARANOIA? AHHH!!!

Hiding What?

Ever since the very beginning of our reading of The Crucible, I've been haunted by the way this society worked. People were constantly being accused, and even worse, these accusations were being completely listened to. It seemed that the only way to keep all suspicious eyes off you was to point your finger at someone else.
This reminds me of how things were back in my third grade years. I once told my mom that my brother ate all the Halloween candy, trying to hide my sweet tooth. A different time, I convinced one of my friends that a different friend was badmouthing her, just to cover up my own backstabbing. Accusing someone else for something always seems to be a childish way of hiding something about yourself.

This brought me back to thinking about The Crucible. With the constant accusations, I began to wonder what it could be that everyone was so eagerly trying to cover about themselves. It's now obvious that no one was really practicing dark magic or witchcraft, so it couldn't be that that they were trying to hide. What could an innocent person have to lie about?

PURE luck?

When I first heard about the Puritan system of choosing 'God's elect' based on a certain experience that we are reading about in The Crucible, it was easy for me to call it ridiculous. It seemed to me that any creative person could make up a story, and only the best liars would be invited to be 'one with God'.
So just a few days ago, I was driving along Lake Street, which, trust me, get's extremely crowded around 4 in the afternoon. Out of nowhere, a Lexus to my right swerved right into my lane, coming what must have been centimeters to hitting the front of my car, which would've caused me to veer into oncoming traffic. Startled out of my mind, I turned into a parking lot to let myself calm down. I decided that God had to have been watching over me. That was just so close!
 It's not as if this was life changing enough for me to consider myself one with God, or decide to be a serious church goer, but this did make me feel a little bit more understanding for what the Puritans were saying. Perhaps when something happens that makes us feel the presence of God, we can't help but feel a little closer to Him. Could this perhaps be what they were getting at? Is it moments like these that get people to truly believe?