More weight

On Monday we went to Salem and were shown around by Heather's friend M.L. and her partner Heather, who live there. We ate luch at a kind of diner called Red's where all the waitresses are funny, know all the customers by name, and talk with thick Boston accents. I ordered a roast beef sandwich with fries. When my food arrived, I thought I must've mumbled, for there was no sandwich to be found, just mounds of roast beef and chips. I didn't want to say "but I ordered a roast beef sandwich", so I began moving the slices of roast beef around, hoping that some bread might appear. Finally, deep beneath the layers of meat, I found a couple of very thin slices of white bread. Sandwiches are different here.

After lunch, M.L and Heather took us to the Salem Witch Museum. The town is famous, or infamous, for its witch trials of 1692, as described by Arthur Miller in The Crucible. Nineteen people were hanged after being falsely accused of practising witchcraft. Another was crushed to death when he refused to admit his guilt. Stones were placed on his chest to try to force him to confess. He wouldn't confess, but simply said: "More weight." His accusers added more weight until he was crushed to death.

We watched a retelling of the events and then wandered out into a display called something like "Witches through the Ages", which talked about changing attitudes to witchcraft. Finally there was a wall with the words "Fear + Trigger = Scapegoat" painted in really large letters. Underneath there were examples of how, using this equation, fear leads to persecution. For example, Japanese Americans (fear), plus Pearl Harbor (trigger) equals war camps for Japanese Americans (scapegoats).

Today the morning news reported that a group in Massachusetts is lobbying to have gay marriage banned again. It is currently legal here, and has been for two years. The conservative lobby group is collecting names on a petition, because they strongly believe that marriage should be between men and women only.