Once upon a time, before the age of enlightenment, when we had no other resources, we invented stories that explained floods and droughts and bad luck in general. Along with those stories came all sorts of ways to deal with them.
Throw a pinch of salt over your left shoulder, cover your mouth when you sneeze so your soul can’t escape, throw a virgin in the volcano!
Sometimes these things appeared to work and because we had nothing else, they became gospel.
Our search for control continued and we began to look for scapegoats. The masses believed it helped to persecute these creatures and even if it didn’t, it felt good to have a dog to kick when times were bad.
The scapegoats changed over time. Women were bad luck on ships and in mines and during that time of the month when they were “unclean.” Old women living alone with only a cat for company became witches. Foreigners were suspect because we didn’t speak their language, or understand their customs. People with disabilities were being punished by vengeful gods and could bring that wrath down upon the rest of us. Anyone who differed from our own personal understanding of normal was fair game.
“First class citizens,” were always quick to designate those who were “second class ones” so there would be a constant supply of dogs to kick. It’s a hold over from the dark ages.
And it’s still pretty dark out there.
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