Ep 119: Steije Hofhuis | What 16th Century witchcraft panic can teach us about human behavior today

Rethinking Communication

What in the world do witchcraft panics and witch trials have to do with communication?

I assure you, after hearing this episode, there will be little doubt of the linkage.

My guest is Steije Hofhuis, a Dutch university lecturer and historian and an expert on the early modern witchcraft panics that swept across Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, not unlike those that occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, in the late 1600s here in the United States.

As Steije explains, the ways in which witchcraft panics spread very much mimicked how a virus might sweep through a population — a notion with which we are, unfortunately, all too familiar these days.

And, as we’ve also seen, the hysteria and fear that comes with these outbreaks — so to speak — can cause humans to do and believe some pretty incredible things.

The no-win situations we twist ourselves into just to be “right” and “certain,” that we’re the ones who are healthy and “they” are the afflicted ones, not only look foolish when seen through the 20/20 perspective of hindsight, but in real-time affect peoples’ lives in some extremely damaging and destructive ways.

Check out more of Steije's work at https://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/STHofhuis, and connect with Steije on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/steije-hofhuis-1aa88363/.

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