Salem to Cuba, Then and Now

In most circumstances where panic has led to the oppresion of certain people, it takes an outside opinion to truly get a handle on what is actually happening. In Salem, it was Reverend Hale, and in the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp it was the U.N.. Reverend Hale was an expert specializing in witchery sent in from Beverly to examine Betty and determine if witchcraft was the cause of her condition. At first, Hale was in full support of the witch trials, but as time went by his mind started to change as he watched the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Reverend Hale was allowed to fully examine the happenings in Salem and it took a fair amount of investigation on his part to uncover the wrong that was done. Once he was completely convinced that Abagail was lying, he publicly denounced the persecution of innocent people, yet the trials resumed despite his qualifications.The U.N. had an invitation extended by the American Department of defense to visit the camp and examine the living conditions, but the U.N. rejected as they were told they weren’t going to be permitted to conduct private interviews with the prisoners. Even though they are strongly against terrorism, a U.N. panel has determined that holding the prisoners indefinitely in the camp was in violation of the world ban on torture and that it should be shut down, but the American government has yet to do anything. Outside, expert opinions may reveal what is actually happening, but evidently doesn’t do very much to fix the problem.

With the Crucible, Miller was showing the world that unjustified persecution could happen to anyone at any time. When fear reigns, things will start slipping towards chaos, time has proven that consistently throughout history, and we are still clearly dealing with the same sort of situation today with detainment camps much like the ones in Guantanamo Bay.