Sipsey Street Irregulars: Probably interesting only to me, but I find it fascinating.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Probably interesting only to me, but I find it fascinating.

One of hobbies earlier in my life was (and remains so, although I have no time for it) historical archaeology, especially that related to the Revolutionary War and Civil War periods. I once located a long-forgotten steamboat in the old bed of the Mississippi, even enlisting the help of a professional marine archaeologist from Louisiana with an underwater magnetometer. Unfortunately she lies in federally-protected wetlands and nothing beyond locating it could be accomplished. It remains where it came to rest, beneath 40 plus feet of muck and water. I also have assisted archaeologists with historical research backing up their field work, most notably at old Fort Pickering in Memphis. So, in looking for something else, I ran across "bellarmines," also known in some contexts as "witch bottles," and I found this fascinating: An American Witch Bottle.

5 comments:

Chiu ChunLing said...: The practice and social position of sympathetic magic, which generally operates on the well-attested and measured "placebo effect", is a fascinating commentary on the historical development of societies and the timeless problem of separating "mind" from "matter" in human existence.

While modern medicine attempts to make a firm distinction between 'quackery', which depends mostly on the patients credulity and belief in the cure for efficacy, and scientifically tested treatments which are effective regardless of what the patient believes, the progress of developing controlled studies which distinguish between the two has revealed that, in general, it is the placebo effect that is more powerful in creating positive health outcomes. And, somewhat paradoxically, as modern medicine has developed and enhanced its reputation as a rigorous applied science, the placebo effect has been widening its lead. In other words, the better the reputation of modern medicine has for effective treatments, the more of the effectiveness of the treatment is due to the patients' belief in the rigorous science behind it.

On the other hand, our society is seeing a reversion to belief in the potentially harmful effects of 'intangible' (and even completely imaginary) acts of hostile intent. "Anti-bullying" and "hate crime" laws are fundamentally justified by credence of the old idea that ill will, even absent any act producing overt physical harm, needs to be legally punishable. We may feel more 'scientific' when we talk about inducing harm through 'bullying' and 'emotional abuse', but in the end this is merely a change of verbiage from accusing people of engaging in 'witchcraft'.

The resurgence of alternative medicine (some based on sound medical principles, some less so) has further blurred the distinction, as has the attempt to leverage the benefits of "placebo effects" to improve patient outcomes in conventional healthcare.

All of which leads back to one of the greatest paradoxes of human health, the medical efficacy of belief in an ultimate purpose in one's life. It turns out that, good as it is, laughter isn't the best medicine. Faith is. And not just any faith, but faith in a just and loving God, who rewards people according to their efforts to spend their lives doing what is right. This faith is more effective, against more different illnesses, than any other treatment available.

The problem is that you can't have faith because you want better health outcomes. The very nature of such faith is that you prioritize doing what is right over your own life, both in whole and in part. You can only gain a longer, healthier life through the medical effect of faith by committing to expend your life as required in the service of God.; September 1, 2015 at 4:32 AM
Anonymous said...: The mention of efforts to ban such "white magic" suggests that the authorities' impulse to render innocent people defenceless in the face of evil was as prevalent then as now?; September 1, 2015 at 9:35 AM
Chiu ChunLing said...: Well, white magic would probably have been seen as an indication of a lack of faith in God (hence immoral), since such faith is (according to both Christian teaching and the best current scientific evidence) more effective in defending against the ill effects of sympathetic magic than any other method.

Of course, there is something of an irony in making it illegal for people to not have enough faith in God, since (as mentioned) the whole point of faith in God is prioritizing service to God above your own life, and the whole mechanism of legality is to threaten people with death for failing to comply.; September 1, 2015 at 3:22 PM
Anonymous said...: "Please, Spock, don't say it's fascinating!"

"No, Doctor, but it is interesting."; September 2, 2015 at 7:16 AM
Josh said...: Wychecraft is wychecraft wether "black" or "white" and are forbidden the faithful, prayer and faith are the antidote to wyches, warlocks, demons, and their idiot god, satan.

Also, this historic relic is fascinating and likely an example of what Mike would have found in his riverboat;
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/Desoto/wildlife_and_habitat/steamboat_bertrand.html

You've got to see it in person to appreciate it.; September 2, 2015 at 11:07 AM

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.

Sipsey Street Irregulars

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Probably interesting only to me, but I find it fascinating.

5 comments:

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