激情年代

青春不经事的时候也看过不少琼瑶阿姨的电视剧，里面除了有俊男美女有眼泪，有死去活来的爱情，还有愚昧的封建家族势力，强大到逼人走投无路，又感觉不真实；

于是真实的愚昧找上来了，一个疯女人从口蜜腹剑演变到满口谎言和污秽，谣言居然可以惑众，成功地摧毁了一个家庭和两代人；等所有的妖言和谎言被戳穿，居然无法可施，只能眼睁睁看悲剧延续；悲剧，它还在进行，会一直持续到她去下地狱……

这部影片很难得的讲述了欧洲国家的一个愚昧的历史事件——“猎巫”(Witch Hunt)，它发生在1692年北美殖民时期，持续了15个月，波及24个地区，156人被起诉犯有行巫罪，其中28人遭定罪，共处死20人。

有人说这些比小说更荒谬，其实生活就是这样荒谬，那可是“群体的智慧”，哪里可以是一个小说作家能想象的。然后，参与这些愚昧事件的人们真的只是“愚昧”吗？愚昧的制造者都是为了实现自己的利益或者为了达不到自己的私利故意而为之；那些愚昧的从众者是为了避免自己遭罪避免自己卷入而跟从。所以，愚昧来自于人性中的自私自利，让灵魂颤栗。

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

当他们囚禁社会民主主义者的时候，我保持沉默；我不是社会民主主义者。

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

当他们来抓工会会员的时候，我没有抗议；我不是工会会员。

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

当他们来抓犹太人的时候，我保持沉默；我不是犹太人。

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

当他们来抓我的时候，已经没有人能替我说话了。

—Martin Niemöller

德国新教牧师马丁.尼莫拉

As we know, there is a famous saying: “Tragedy is to tear up something valuable in front of people.” The Crucible is no doubt a tragedy like this, those villagers who are kindhearted and honest are all finally condemned to death while those dishonest and selfish villagers are still alive. The symbol of morality, conscience and faith is destroyed at last. The ironic ending of the story makes me think about what has caused the tragedy.

Obviously, we may blame on the rumors. There is an idiom in Chinese which goes “three men may become a tiger”, it means a rumor may seems real if many people believe in it. Without the rumor about the witch, there would not exist panic in Salem, and people may focus on finding the treatment for the illness rather than finding the fictitious “witch”.

On the other hand, what has caused Proctor and other people’s death is the conscience and moral principles themselves. “To be or not to be, that is the question.” In fact, Proctor is facing the same problem as Socrates: if he insist on his conscience and morality, death is the only choice. At last, Proctor have made the same choice as Socrates too. Hemingway’s sentence: “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” is exactly describing this kind of confliction.

Of course, we can also blame on the lack of science or those outworn ideas in people: if people in Salem have a good education of science, they would not believe in the existence of witch, then the ridiculous witch trail would not happen at all.

However, even though people are all equipped with science, won’t the “Salem Witch Trail” happen again?

If the answer is “yes”, we may find it difficult to explain the following phenomena. In Nazi Germany, those scientists who are knowledgeable were using their science to make all kinds of machines to kill people, which is legal in Nazi Germany. During “The Culture Revolution” in China, many scholars and professors were making up all kinds of lies and slanders. When Stalin was in control of the Soviet Union, it is common that people usually applaud for 15 minutes or more because no body is brave enough to become the first to stop……

Yes, as you can see, the real problem is the Mass Irrationality. In this kind of situation, people may easily tend to not take the responsibility of their behaviors, what they are chasing for is not the satisfaction of their conscience but the identity in the mass. Obviously, this may easily cause a danger consequence.

Therefore, The Crucible is not only a parable of McCarthyism, it’s a alarm bell to all eras.How to deal with the Mass Irrationality? I think only keep moral principles can’t solve the problem.Everyone should be suspicious of the surroundings,we should always introspect. Skepticism is a useful weapon against the Mass Irrationality.