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Popular Culture: What Makes A Martyr?

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What makes a martyr? Martyr, stemming from the Greek word for witness has long been a part of human history, tracing its origins through much of the history of the three principle Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Throughout much of history, a running definition of the concept of martyrdom and martyrology has been developed, often taking the shape of that of the dominant beliefs of an era and morphing to suit historical context. Martyrdom has been primarily a religious or philosophically driven concept as it has strong ties to the concept of suicide discussed so frequently in those types of circles. However, the rate of secularization in leading societal values has pushed the concept of martyrdom to be considered more broadly …show more content…

Death generally plays a big part in the development of a martyrology and, often, these deaths are very gruesome and detailed, though it is not an unfair argument to say that some martyrologies just seem completely unrealistic in terms of the suffering that was involved. There are many examples of martyrs who were subjected to incredibly high amounts of torture that it seems as if a martyr’s death is emphasized to elevate a martyr and almost deify them, so that they may be considered separate from the ranks of people. Such examples include some of the earliest examples of Martyrdom (that from which a definition of martyrdom is derived), as the martyrdom of a mother, Hannah, and her seven sons, described in excruciating detail in 2 Maccabees in the Old Testament. Torturous actions such as cutting out tongues and dismembering the bodies of each son in succession were noticeably dramatic and gruesome (“2 Maccabees 7 GNT”). It is highly unlikely that any human could physically endure that kind of torture and still be conscious or alive for that matter. This family provides the basis for much of the current definition of martyrdom. Incidentally, while this story makes a compelling argument in support of preserving faith, it plays heavily into the polemic of the dominant Jewish tradition and religion of the era. Consequently, the few accounts that are available regarding …show more content…

The reason for this is that his experience within the American Juvenile Justice system was Manson’s version of the suffering that is so important to developing a martyrology. Born a bastard to an uncaring teenage mother in 1934, Charles Manson seemed destined for a difficult life from the start. Kathleen Maddox refused to even remember her son’s birthday, leading him to feel unwanted, detested and utterly alone. “In 1947 she [Manson’s mother] tried to have him [Manson] put in a foster home, but, none being available, the court sent him to the Gibault School for Boys, a caretaking institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. He was twelve years old,” (Bugliosi and Gentry, 190). Manson ran away from Gibault, and lived with his mother for a short time; eventually falling into a bad crowd and robbing a few stores, he committed his first armed robbery at the young age of 13

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