The Salem Witch Trials and the reading of Engai take place in two different places in the world, however, they share one similar aspect the belief in God. In the Salem Witch Trials the local village doctor, William Griggs, was religious and didn’t have much medical knowledge, since it didn’t really exist during this time, however, his diagnosis for the girls was bewitchment. Now how does bewitchment relate to God? It relates because it is believed in many religions, based off of my understanding, that those who do not have a connection with God can easily get into contact with evil or witchcraft. The community of Masaai believe in Engai who is the God of all, who s also known as “the Master”. These people believe that there God can come in two forms: the black god who brings rain which provides prosperity and the red and vengeful one that brings violence and devastation. In both instances, the belief in God is shown as a retreat from evil and the only way to achieve peace and blessings.
The contrast between the east and the west is very high because of the differences in beliefs and values. Western worldview comes from the European civilization that is stated to be the following: controlling or manipulative, constantly in competition and striving to grow and develop, desire personally freedom, and experience betterment through technology (Page 73, Lewing, Wigen). Now the eastern worldview is completely the opposite because they “manifest in communitarian, aesthetic, and other worldly values” (Page 73, Lewing, Wigen). Another way of stating the eastern worldview is that they focus and give importance to community as a whole and not each individual. The eastern world is considered to be the Middle East, in which, majority of the countries are Muslim countries, or countries that follow the religion of Islam, which I believe is a major contributor to the contrast between the east and west. When settlement began in the west is all based on personal freedom and creating a successful business for oneself, while the east was highly influenced by religion.
The video titled “American Psychosis” really added a different perspective. There were so many saying by Chris Hedges that really made me think about my worldly perspective. In the beginning of the clip this following saying really impacted me: “If hope becomes something that you express through illusion then its not hope its a fantasy”. The life that we are currently living its filled with problems not just in a single city or a country but all over the world. We are dealing with a real life pandemic. Our lives have completely changed, however, everyday we are given hope that things will get better. After listening to this I have started to think is the hope that we are searching for the one that will bring ease to us, is it slowly becoming a fantasy? Is “hope” just a word that people say to bring temporary happiness? Overall, I believe that this documentary provides a world view about our real life reality, not based off of an illusion or a fantasy.
I want focus on the aspect of hope. The year 2020 has been interesting in many ways because not many things have gone right. For example, we started with a worldwide pandemic that has caused majority of the world to be trapped in their homes, the plane that crashed into a residential area in Karachi, and the shockwave in Lebanon. These are just a few of many situations. However, out of all of this we have hope in the sense that a cure for Covid-19 is in the works and there are positive signs in the vaccine that is being developed and the antibodies from those who have recovered. It is stated within the chosen article by Global News that “Antibodies can block infectivity. That is a fact” which was said by Christos Kyratsous. This is hope that is being provided to almost the entire world, however, how long it will take this is not certain. With this unknown time frame is the hope that is being provided an illusion or a fantasy or is this real life hope?
Bibliography
Salem Witch Trials – Class lecture Notes
Ngai Reading from class
American Psychosis video from week 1
East and west reading from week 6
https://globalnews.ca/news/7250106/coronavirus-treatment-antibodies/
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