In the Spring of 2015, a post-modern version of the Salem witchcraft trials took place at Connecticut College on the Thames River.
Only this time instead of sorcery it was Zionism; instead of punishing in the name of God's law it was in the name of anti-hate speech and inclusive excellence; instead of young teenage girls leading the hysteria it was college-aged social warriors stampeding 200 professors into sacrificing one of their colleagues, and thereby contributing to a wave of administration-promoted hate-speech at their college.
The Pessin affair offers us a case study in a tendency towards public shaming that not only deeply compromises the integrity of academia, but increasingly spreads to many aspects of our society, so susceptible to media-driven feeding frenzies.
About the Author Richard Landes trained as a medieval historian.
He specializes in messianic and apocalyptic movements, as well as honor-shame cultures and the impact of literacy on their dynamics.
He has recently completed a history of the opening years of the twenty-first century, as a turning point in relations between two millennial movements: global Jihad and post-modern progressivism.
Movements | Global |
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