----- Original Message ----- From: Julie Jirout Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 5:44 PM To: CICS Subject: Re: History Belongs to Everyone Tom, The Salem Witch Trials is a moment in history for me. I do not feel personally involved in history, and searching out mysteries associated with it is - dare I say - fun. But anyway, I don't mean to offend you, and I am sincerely interested in understanding your point of view. There are others that have expressed a similar - if not slightly less - type of personal involvement in the trials, and I cannot for the life of me understand it. If you feel justified in taking a somewhat moral highground as a distant relative of a victim, then you must feel that it is appropriate for a distant relative of a perpetrator to feel responsible for the executions. Can you understand the dangerous repercussions of this? How many distant relatives of slave owners are now responsible for the state of the inner cities? How many successful businessmen are now responsible for property that had been seized from grieving widows? By being offended by the use of the term "fun" you seem to share in the injustice suffered by your distant relative. But, you are not and did not suffer through this injustice any more or less than I did. How do you have more of a right to say how their stories should or should not be presented than, say, I do? Julie ----- Original Message ----- From: CICS Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 4:41 PM To: Julie Jirout Subject: Re: History Belongs to Everyone At 12:51 PM 8/20/02 -0400, you wrote: Tom, You don't believe that innocent men and women were harassed, persecuted, tortured, and murdered during the Civil War? YOU don't believe it is "fun" stuff to read about, do you? Tom ----- Original Message ----- From: CICS Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 12:39 PM To: Julie Jirout Subject: History Belongs to Everyone At 12:06 PM 8/20/02 -0400, you wrote: >Tom, > >You wrote "I struggle to form fun associations concerning the Salem Witch Trials - even 300 years later". > >But without the turn of events that occured during the Salem Witch Trials, it's possible to say that you may not even be here. > >It's wonderful that you have a personal relationship with your heritage, but history belongs to everyone. > >Civil War Enactments are fun. Sorry. (And the history suffering involved is not even comparable.) > >The Salem Witch Trials are fun in the sense that they are still a mystery. Mysteries are fun. > >Tough luck, Julie, "Tough luck"? Who writes that? I am sure our accused ancestors had some of your "tough luck" as well. Yours was the only negative response I received. About 15 list members thanked me for echoing their sentiments. My only point was that this person specifically found "fun" in reading the accusations of her ancestor directed toward mine. I merely suggested she find a better word than "fun". I would be careful when comparing reenactments of military battles with the harassment, persecution, torture and murder of innocent women (and men). T Tom Tom Towle - Computer and Internet Consulting Services towle@sbcics.com - http://www.sbcics.com (805) 969-4517 - P.O. Box 5448, Montecito, CA 93150 Corporate Member - HTML Writers Guild Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com Tom Towle - Computer and Internet Consulting Services towle@sbcics.com - http://www.sbcics.com (805) 969-4517 - P.O. Box 5448, Montecito, CA 93150 Corporate Member - HTML Writers Guild Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.comGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com