During the time human beings have reigned on the face of the earth, they have tried to control all at their grasp. During their conquest for control, they started to greed for power over all there is, even over their own race. Over millennia, many changes have been made in the power structure and how it is exerted; however, with the history repeating itself, humans have always roared for more power. At the vertex of man’s greed for power, stands the witch-hunt that can justify battering one’s foes in any conceivable fashion. The play Crucible by Arthur Miller and the recent case of Maher Arar display the same tragic quality even though they are separated in time by three centuries. Once again proving human ignorance is not a thing of the past; there are shocking similarities between Maher Arar’s case and Miller’s Crucible.
Arthur Miller’s Crucible is about the witch-hunt and the subsequent trials in the late 17th century in the town of Salem. When Reverend Parris, the main religious and political authority of the town, catches a group of girls dancing in the forest, the accusations and fear of witch craft sweep through the small town. To safeguard themselves and to preserve their Puritan way of life, a small group of town’s people embarked on a witch hunt, fueled by false accusations from the young girls. However, some opportunists saw the chance to settle their personal scores with their neighbours or to seize land by sending the rightful owners to the gallows in the midst of the hysteria that swept the town. Similarly, in a modern-day witch-hunt, Maher Arar, a Canadian-Syrian engineer, was arrested in New York and deported to Syria in 2002. With the threat of terrorism in the every corner of US citizens’ lives, many feared that they might be the next target. With false accusations and with false evidence provided by the Canadian and American authorities, Maher Arar was tortured and brutalized in Syrian prisons. During the modern witch-hunt, he was forced to live in hoorendous conditions and was ignored in his plead for human rights. Finally, the Canadian government was forced to apologize to Arar and compensate him for his ordeal.
To begin with, one of the similarities in both cases is the mass hysteria. Firstly, some Salem citizens and Maher Arar were the victims of the mad fear that took hold of the society. In the Crucible, the Salem citizens were afraid of the Satan who is unknown as it does not take a corporal form. Satan may take any form it wishes to corrupt, threaten and dominate the city. Similarly, in the Maher Arar’s case, fear played its part in spreading mass hysteria. In his case, the Lucifer was Bin Laden, an unknown specter lurking in the dark ready to strike with his evil associates. Secondly, revenge is another factor contributing to ramification of the madness that devoured innocent souls. In The Crucible, more and more people saw the witch-hunt as an opportunity to settle their personal scores; for example, as Reverend Parris came to Salem, he showed his greed for power and abused his position in the theocratical society. As John proctor, a pious man, noticed it, he refused to take orders from Parris. As the Witch-hunt swept the city, Parris accused John of association with the devil. In the same way, the revenge wave that took hold of America, as Maher Arar became the face of Arab threat as all the 9/11 terrorists were of Arabic origin. Not only that, but also safety became another factor sparking mass hysteria. The Salem citizens, like most of the people in the 17th century thought that Devil was present in all aspects of their lives, biding his time to strike. They attributed such events as the death of children to the devil and strived to protect themselves from it by charging Nurse Rebecca with “the marvelous and supernatural murder of Goody Putnam’s babies”. Also in the Maher Arar’s case, as terrorists attacked the innocent, many people became paranoid about their safety with the over protectiveness as they began to view people of the Middle Eastern people with suspicion. Lastly, anxiety towards change became another building block in the wall of mass hysteria. In the Crucible, the theocratic government was being doubted by such people as John Proctor as is evident in the conflict between Parris and Proctor. As the Puritan ideas of the time were very strict and mostly based on religion, any frivolous activities like dancing were suppressed. Likewise, the 9/11 terror attack was a wake up call for the US citizens, ruffling them out of their comfort zone. As the sole superpower of the world, US was enjoying peaceful, rich, comfortable life, and when the 9/11 terror attack happened, the US citizens became aware of the fact that a new era was coming.
Moreover, another similarity is the wrongful accusations concerning false evidence and the inefficient judicial system. First, in both Crucible and the Maher Arar’s case, false evidence took a monumental part to create calamity. In the Crucible, for example, Abigail who started the problem spread it further by lying. She sticks a needle in a poppet and has Mary Warren take it to John Proctor’s home. Later that night, Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, is apprehended for witchcraft. Also in the Maher Arar’s case, he was suspected as a terrorist. Being from the Middle East, Maher Arar was easily suspected to have a relationship with the Al Qaeda, for he was a friend of suspected Al Qaeda member who later turned out to be innocent. Not only that but also, according to Arar, no one told him what the real charges were. Secondly, these two cases show how inefficient judicial systems can bring about disastrous results. In Salem witch trial, theocratic courts ignored all the material facts. Danforth and Hathorne, the government officials, had blur ideas about the situation. The fact that they were religiously following their beliefs made them easily ignore the witnesses and evidence opposing them. Also, many times the witnesses were accused. Not only that but also the suspects were pressured to confess or else they were hanged. Likewise, in the Maher Arar’s case, he was deported to Syria without any hearing. Moreover, his rights were ignored as he was pressured physically and mentally to sign documents, and was ultimately sent to Syria for torture.
Finally, another similarity that events shared was the unaccountable power of state. Firstly, in the Crucible, Danforth with all of the power given to him regarded any opposition bringing down of the court which was punishable by death. Also, in the late seventeenth century, there were no jury or any lawyer in Salem to protect the rights of the citizens. Moreover, the judicial system was very unstable with Reverend Parris, Hale, Hathorne and Putnam leading Danforth to decisions. Likewise in Arar’s case, the US government used USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 as a justification for its unlawful acts. According to the US PATRIOT Act, the US government has all of authority granted to them. This enables them to continue ignoring human rights by deporting the terrorism suspects without notice to the countries where torture is widely practiced. Not only that but also, with the US controlling every aspect of power in the world, USA PATRIOT Act proposed to protect people from terrorist’s acts over the world, even where the Al Qaeda surly will not attack. The racist act of USA PATRIOT Act suggests that only immigrants from the Middle East and some other parts of the world are likely to be terrorists.
As the saying goes, “History repeats itself.” Even though the Crucible and the Maher Arar’s case distance themselves by three centuries, they still share many similarities. Throughout the history, human beings have engaged in false accusations and victimizing others to protect their communities and their way of life from imagined threats for which they could not find an explanation. With one individual with all the power, is it morally right to sacrifice innocent people without clear evidence just because someone thinks they are guilty?
No comments:
Post a Comment