The Salem Witch Trials in the 21st Century

     People say that the Salem witch trials were a psychological event in our history books, mob mentality. But how true is that statement? Are the Salem witch trials really the best example? Probably not.

     The Salem witch trials started when girls in the area started “acting strange” and blaming their neighbors calling them witches who spelled the girls. Many of the parents thought it best to inform their government of what was happening to their adolescent kids. This resulted in politicians taking these claims seriously.

     A law was passed to take these young ladies at their word, the witches were guilty until proven innocent, although not many outside the witch’s family ever tried to prove otherwise. What happened here was that pre-teen or adolescent girls gave themselves something by being a witch’s victim, and this trend turned into something politicians could weaponize.

     This point in history is particularly important to our current day and age because it is happening again. With the transgender movement.

     In general, women have a tendency to be more neurotic, but also more agreeable than men, which is why girls are more susceptible to this sort of issue, as both in the witch trials, and with transgenderism, girls seem to be the most influenced by it. There is a psychological component to the girls in the 1690s and to the transgender movement. Being more neurotic, women are more worried about threats and dangers in their life and the position of their life. Females want more things, tools, and a better status.

     Young women don’t have a mature time preference, so when a twelve year old sees someone online who seemingly has everything all figured out, girls want that status, they want to have something to latch onto too, they want a social position.

     Anything to get a sense of identity out of young women latch onto. Just like everyone does eventually, but there is a right and wrong way to have a sense of identity from something. The right way to get a sense of identity is by finding meaning in your life working across a nested system of goals. You get a dopaminergic surge from accomplishing something, or having something to identify with. It’s a micro dose of meaning. If you see many positive iterations across a range by having many nested goals leading to something bigger, you get a better, more meaningful dopaminergic burst.

     The witch trials are girls getting social reward for being crazy, righteous, and victims. They get power, a sense of identity, victimhood, and self righteous position. Unfortunately, this trend tends to spread. Girls are more agreeable, meaning girls will be sympathetic to “victimized” girls. They have more compassion so they are more susceptible to becoming “victims” themselves. Girls empathise with friends and that turns into a drama of their lives and a sense of identity. It’s all very shallow because it doesn’t become long term useful in their lives.

     This has always been true, but there’s not always an obvious social contagion. In both historical artifacts, the girls came up with something and then politicians use it for massive political gain. Politicians like excuses for everyone to have a controversy. Body dysphoria always existed, usually in young preteen boys, in a nearly nonexistent percentage of the population. You leave the young boys alone, and as they mature they often get over it. Give them a little support while they integrate parts of themselves and they mature out of it. This is what is rooted in human nature.

     The demographic shift is a different age and different gender, this is not historically rooted in human nature. This is people sincerely believing in the social contagion that the government pushes.

     Organizations do this too. Like with the feminist movement. That idea was rooted in truth and came from a place of trying to do good. You get to the point of equal treatment under the law, and then the organization pushes for more and more with government favoritism. Once a movement has served it’s purpose, the organizations built in the process want to keep going, so they change into something else, something the government can push and weaponize in their favor. Just like when little girls started calling their neighbors witches and suddenly politicians’ opponents were witches too.

     What this shallow sense of identity turns into is always being the victim, and always demonizing whatever doesn't fit in with a girls’ clique, whatever doesn’t fit the new sense of identity, whatever threatens the new social status the girl wanted in the first place. Only, now they’re real victims, but you can’t just put that stuff back.

     People died when girls pointed their fingers and blamed their neighbors. Kids had surgery because just like the parents who went to the government about witches, now parents are failing to support their children while kids mature into themselves, but are having surgical operations performed. Now that these kids are older, they’re trapped. In a body they don’t want, or a head full of hate and clouded by self defence. This has psychological components, but it is not historically rooted in human nature. This is social contagion.