Dan McHugh
Mrs.Waterman
November 7 2018
Morality Essay
From Twenty to Millions
From 1692 until now all over the world, morality has been a trending topic. Death is inevitable, but over time, death has become more prominent. Not because there are more people in the world, but because there have been more murders. When viewed through the lens of the end of life, morality from then to now has declined overtime. From The Salem Witch Trials, to the Holocaust, to the ongoing crisis of the War on Terrorism are prime examples of how the morality of our societies today has gotten declined.
The Salem Witch Trials occurred in 1692 and at that time were the most immoral actions to happen back during pre revolutionary war times throughout what is now the US During the Salem Witch Trials “More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted”(smithsonian). Twenty people executed is bad and there was a possibility for 200 more dead. Murdering people for no reason, but because a psychopath wanted them dead is as immoral as it gets. Even back then people knew that it was wrong, and did nothing about it because they wanted to save themselves. Being scared to stand up for others will lead to an accusation on you, which will land you in trial and accused of being a witch unjustified is extremely immoral. According to The Crucible by Arthur Miller Danforth states that an ordinary crime, “how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims—and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions. Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out? I think I have made my point. Have I not?”(Miller 93). This shows that people during this time were even scared to testify because they believed if the did, they would be accused of also being a witch, then most likely hung too. Being scared to do what is right, because you would most likely be on the hit list, and also twenty people being killed, and 200 accused because of someone’s hidden agenda is immoral. Twenty people dead is bad, but overtime other world events have happened which are actually less moral than the Salem Witch Trials.
From September 1, 1939 – September 2, 1945 World War II occurred, and was one of the most tragic events to ever occur on Earth. “Hoettl recalled how “Eichmann … told me that, according to his information, some 6,000,000 Jews had perished until then — 4,000,000 in extermination camps and the remaining 2,000,000 through shooting by the Operations Units and other causes, such as disease, etc.”(Haaretz), Six million people dead, for no reason, besides the fact that Adolf hitler wanted them dead. Sadly this six million people killed were not the only ones during this war, The Holocaust accounts for only a percentage of those that were killed during WWII. There were others killed trying to save those Jews, and other killed trying to preserve the concentration camp in which the Jews were being killed. This entire Holocaust started because Hitler believed Jews were the worst thing in the world. He rounded up as many Jews as he could and killed them. Not only did he kill random people, he specifically chose a group of people, who ultimately had no choice to be, and killed them, which happened to be the Jewish people. When they were in the concentration camps they would be mocked, but also tortured. Imagine working everyday having no control on what you do, people telling you what to do, and if they feel you are doing something wrong, or the just feel an urge they can just kill you and believe that there is nothing wrong with it. Having your lives messed up getting scooped up by random “murders” knowing that you are most likely going to die and being tortured before being killed is extremely immoral for it to happen to one person. But this happened to six million people, six… MILLION killed because one group of people felt like killing them. Not only were there six million people killed, there was most likely around one million others in these concentration camps before they were liberated and the remaining people were saved. Going from twenty people killed and 200 unjustly accused to six million people killed and one million that were on the path of being killed shows that morality in society has decreased. The Holocaust is one of the most immoral things to ever happen, but in today’s society there is something that is causing thousands of people, to die and by the looks of it there is no chance that it will stop anytime soon.
Terrorism has been an ongoing issue since mankind has been around. In fact, the first terror attack recorded occurred in the Roman Empire, which means it happened between 27 BCE-14 CE. Over the past decade or two terrorism around the world has had a larger impact on society today than it did back during Puritan times. The most known terrorist attack is the attacks on the World Trade Centers in 2001. In this one attack which took place in less than a day A total of 2,977 people were killed in New York City, Washington, DC and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania” (CNN). This happened because a group of people felt as if it was right to murder innocent people because they believe their god, Allah, said they should. Using god for reason to murder 2,977 people is immoral as it gets. The attacks in 2001 may be the most well; known terrorist attacks, but from 2006 until today terrorism has been an ongoing problem around the world. Terrorists are killing innocent people because they believe they should, and that it is the right thing to do. About 235,769(statista) innocent people have been killed from 2006- till now because of terrorism. That is not including soldiers or terrorists fighting a war. Just civilians. Killing random people because they believe they should is significantly more morally wrong than having 17 innocent people killed.
Overtime the morality in the World has severely decreased, from having 200 accused and twenty murdered to over six million killed. In both of these cases these acts were carried out by one main person for the Salem Witch Trials it was because of Abigail, and for the Holocaust is was because of Adolf Hitler. Then to know terrorism, today terrorism is getting bigger and there has been more acts of violence, and is still an ongoing issue today, and will most likely continue for a long time so there is no answer for how many people will die because of acts of terrorism. That is why overtime throughout the entire World mortality has decreased.
Citations:
CNN. “September 11 Terror Attacks Fast Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 4 Sept. 2018,
www.cnn.com/2013/07/27/us/september-11-anniversary-fast-facts/index.html.
DeMaiolo, James F., and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The Scarlet Letter. Applause, 1996.
Haaretz. “Holocaust Facts: Where Does the Figure of 6 Million Victims Come from?”
Haaretz.com, Haaretz Com, 10
Apr. 2018, www.haaretz.com/jewish/holocaust-remembrance-day/.premium-6-million-where-is-the-figure-from-1.5319546.
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible: a Play in Four Acts. Penguin Books, 2016.
Smithsonian. “A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian
Institution, 23 Oct. 2007,
“Terrorism: Death Toll Worldwide 2006-2017 | Statistic.” Statista,
www.statista.com/statistics/202871/number-of-fatalities-by-terrorist-attacks-worldwide/.