Organorama 5/5 [antikvár]

Witches don't exist. In this age of neon enlightenment we can hardly imagine ourselves accusing the woman next door of witchcraft simply because our trusty dog Caesar suddenly died last week of an unknown disease. We could scarcely suspect her of flying on a broomstick, having intercourse with the devil or dancing at night in a forest clearing, because we know better. Nor would we ever take it into our heads to accuse her of black magic, although she's been in such an irritating mood in recent months that there are times when we wish we were still living in the Middle Ages. A little while ago she brought us a bottle of wine by way of thanking us for somé odd job we did at her house. "That old hag", we said to each other, "we'd better watch out that she doesn't put a spell on us with her magic potion". Of course, that was only a joke because witches don't exist, we're convinced of that. In one way it's rather a pity; we shall never again enjoy the satisfaction of seeing an old witch smouldering at the stake. Fortunately, we have our television which brings to our living room our daily quota of broadshouldered heroes bent on the extermination of feathered and warpainted Indians, authentic shots of race riots and political controversies, which seem almost like old friends. Indeed, we can never be thankful enough for this "indoor service" which enables us to declare without reserve that tolerance is the basic philosophy of our modern society. A sixteen-year-old girl was recently molested by a gang of contemporaries. We saw as a sign of the times the announcement that the culprits had first over-indulged in psychedelic drugs. Earlier, the witches themselves were considered to be "high". It is precisely these subtle differences between past and present which convince us that the mentái evolution of mankind has not been in vain. Somé well-meant advice: read the article in this edition "Johann Wier and the Witches" and compare the abuses which people practised upon each other as outlined there with our social structures of today. Then, perhaps, you will see how far our modern culture differs from that of the Middle Ages!