Missing Morals
Society is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. People are responsible for how society functions and they decide the difference between right and wrong. Society in the 1600’s is a lot different from what it is today based on how the puritans acted in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller. In The Scarlet Letter, Hester was punished for a crime she did commit and if anything they were more moral for her punishment. The crime of adultery is usually punishable by death but they let her and her newborn live. In The Crucible everyone had reason to believe witchcraft was real. The girls and Abigail made it seem like they were witches and since witchcraft was against there religion people had to react. Society now reacts to a lot of things without reason. For example, peaceful protests often turn violent and get out of hand because people have less morals. Society will never be what it was and although it had its flaws, it was still better than what it is today. The difference between then and now is people are over concerned and want to find conflict in everything that happens without reason.
In The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible society reacted to the basic crimes of adultery and witchcraft reasonably. A crime is a crime and it shouldn’t go unpunished, “to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom” (Hawthorne 56). Hester should be looked at as a burden to society for her crime of adultery and she stood out wherever she was because she wore the letter on her chest. All in all, society reacted the way they should have back then. Now, society reacts unreasonably to different circumstances and there are any instances that prove it. For example, the oppression of African Americans in this country is sad, but the way people protest it is wrong and they should react to it differently. Colin Kaepernick made his mark by kneeling for the national anthem. While he took a peaceful stance against this country a lot of people looked at him differently. He divided america into two sides, one who agrees with his actions vs. people who disagree with what he did. Just by kneeling for a national anthem he sparked a nationwide conflict. People who disagree with him think he’s a coward who has no respect for our country. His protest disrespects our military and everyone who has fought to make our country a better place. Society in the 1600’s took Hester’s crime of adultery and punished her while society now took Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protest and hated him for it. Back then, people found conflict where there was actually conflict as opposed to now where a little protest could spark a nation outrage. A peaceful protester should be punished the same way as someone committing an actual crime. This needs to change or the violence and hatred that fulfils America is going to become a constant that we are going to have to keep living with.
Another example of how we are less moral is the way we accuse people of crimes they did not commit. In The Scarlet Letter, Mr. Dimmesdale committed adultery which put his life in danger. If people found out it was him to begin with instead of not knowing who the father was he would have been killed. Now, police lives are in danger for crimes they did not commit. There are multiple occasions where a police officer murders an African American citizen without reason. This caused people to protest and these protests often turned violent. This caused people to target police officers who had nothing to do with the killings of innocent African Americans. On July 7, 2016 five police officers were shot and killed in Dallas. This was the outcome of angry civilian over the recent shooting of innocent African Americans. These shootings shows how people found conflict and reacted to it poorly. This is an extreme scenario of a protest turning violent but it isn’t a one time thing. More and more often Police officers are being gunned down for no reason other than belief that it will stop or avenge the people who have lost their lives. People have lost morals over the years if they think murdering police officers solves any problems at all. Mr. Dimmesdale had a reason to be killed even though he wasn’t, he feared for his life everyday hoping someone doesn’t find out his secret. He had total control of his fate because he held on to his secret but he eventually could not take it. Police officers did not have a reason to die. People thought every police officer is racist and target black people. This is a complete false accusation and America would be a much better place if officers were safe and could serve without fearing for their life.
In The Crucible, John Proctor had the right to protest the court for convicting his wife of witchcraft. He admits to a crime he didn’t commit in order to spare Elizabeth’s life. John had to hand in a written confession but he ripped it up so his name isn’t scared in the town. He protests the government by ripping up the confession to make them look like fools. That protest is considered peaceful because it did not do any direct harm to anyone. Now, protest often end in violence in the streets. The riots in Baltimore which put the city in absolute chaos was unnecessary and a lot of people were affected by it. It had a ripple effect on the community as a whole in terms of all the damage that was done to the city. We had more tolerance and self control back then and people knew better than to overreact and cause harm to others.
America now is less moral because the people search for conflict and overreact to it once its found. In the 1600’s they didn’t go out of there way to find it and didn’t cause harm unless it was necessary. Different movements such as Black Lives Matter were the direct result of people in search of a reason to protest. They have many reasons why they should be protesting in search of change with the world but nobody is ever going to get rid of racism entirely. A violent protest is going to make people angry and is unnecessary. Society needs to take a step back and find different ways to solve problems because violent protests have never worked.
Works Cited
“Log in to NewsBank.” Log in to NewsBank. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016. http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15FE2ED5773C2EB8?p=AWNB
“Log in to NewsBank.” Log in to NewsBank. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15F40BF09A38A198?p=AWNB