The Ten Stupidest Utopias!

[zengrifter]

The Ten Stupidest Utopias!

By Jeremy Adam Smith
5 September 2005 | Strange Horizons

If utopia is supposed to be the ideal and perfect place, where everyone lives in harmony, then why do so many of them turn out to suck? To get an answer, let's go to the source: Thomas More, whose 1516 travelogue Utopia gave us the word, a pun meaning "no place" and "perfect place." More's Utopia describes an island where everyone is happy and smiling and living in divinely inspired synchronization. Told with verve and a sly wit, Utopia is one of the foundational texts of contemporary science fiction as well as utopian thought.

But More wasn't just a writer of fantastic tales. He was also a politician and one-time Undersheriff of London. As such, More was not only an enthusiastic upholder of a radically unequal and oppressive social order, but also an advocate for burning 16th century heretics. Live by the sword, die by the sword: in 1535 Henry VIII beheaded More and anyone else who didn't support his accession to Supreme Head of the Church of England. The violence of More's historical period is never far from the surface of More's island Utopia, where a single act of adultery is punishable by slavery and serial adulterers are punished with death. If More's narrator had looked past the happy smiling faces of Utopia, what fear and violence might he have seen?

...continued here - http://www.strangehorizons.com/2005/...topias-a.shtml

[Automatic Monkey]

Interesting article, but the guy obviously hasn't studied that much. Witch burnings in Salem? Anyone who stayed awake in high school history class knows that witches weren't burned in Salem.

[zengrifter]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

Interesting article, but the guy obviously hasn't studied that much. Witch burnings in Salem? Anyone who stayed awake in high school history class knows that witches weren't burned in Salem.

No witches were burned? zg

FROM Salem Witch Trials FAQ
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html

Were the victims of the Salem witch trials burned at the stake?

With the exception of Giles Corey--who was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, the executed were hanged, not burned. In Colonial America, witchcraft was a felony punishable by death by hanging. However, in Europe witchcraft was considered heresy and punishable by burning at the stake.

[Automatic Monkey]

Not in Salem.

The odd thing about it was the Puritans were Calvinists and they didn't believe in witchcraft or any supernatural thing happening on earth. It's been theorized they were suffering from ergot (LSD) poisoning after eating contaminated grain and after hearing some witchcraft stories from a Haitian child, started freaking out.

[ranran]

Originally Posted by zengrifter

No witches were burned? zg

FROM Salem Witch Trials FAQ
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html

Were the victims of the Salem witch trials burned at the stake?

With the exception of Giles Corey--who was crushed to death for refusing to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, the executed were hanged, not burned. In Colonial America, witchcraft was a felony punishable by death by hanging. However, in Europe witchcraft was considered heresy and punishable by burning at the stake.

The fact is that EVERYONE accused of the craft, had in some way or other pissed of one particular family. All those accused were in fact innocent people and any who confessed did so to escape death.

This is where the term witch huntcomes from. It implies looking to accuse folks without any good reason in the name of a cause.

PS - I am a witch (wizard)

[ScottH]

Originally Posted by ranran

PS - I am a witch (wizard)

We'll try not to burn you at the stake...

[jimbiggs]

Originally Posted by ranran

The fact is that EVERYONE accused of the craft, had in some way or other pissed of one particular family. All those accused were in fact innocent people and any who confessed did so to escape death.

This is where the term witch huntcomes from. It implies looking to accuse folks without any good reason in the name of a cause.

PS - I am a witch (wizard)

OK. Now I'd like an article about what exactly a modern day witch/wizard is.

Thank you.

[ranran]

Originally Posted by jimbiggs

OK. Now I'd like an article about what exactly a modern day witch/wizard is.

Thank you.

Witch
The practice of witchcraft is not associated with any religion, therefore you can be a witch and yet also be a member of any number of religions (or none). Using the natural energies within yourself, along with the energies of herbs, stones or other elements to make changes around you is considered witchcraft. Though the skills and gifts that are part of witchcraft can be inherited from parents or grandparents, you aren't automatically a witch just because your grandmother may have been one. The use of magick takes practice, experience and learning. On a side note, a male witch is called a witch/wizard not a warlock.

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by ranran

Witch
The practice of witchcraft is not associated with any religion, therefore you can be a witch and yet also be a member of any number of religions (or none). Using the natural energies within yourself, along with the energies of herbs, stones or other elements to make changes around you is considered witchcraft. Though the skills and gifts that are part of witchcraft can be inherited from parents or grandparents, you aren't automatically a witch just because your grandmother may have been one. The use of magick takes practice, experience and learning. On a side note, a male witch is called a witch/wizard not a warlock.

OK so can you turn me into a newt?

[ranran]

not yet. Why do you want to be a newt?