ABSTRACT
In the 1950s, socially inept teenagers went through a period of being described as “spastic.” Later dubbed “nerds,” these victims were mercilessly teased for a purported lack of sophistication. The penalties then imposed were none other than the ones they expected to be visited on themselves. This sort of mindless rejection was also embodied in ancient superstitions. By the early twentieth century, conventional wisdom has coalesced around the value of competent medical interventions. Medicine might celebrate empiricism, but for most of its history, its insights were faulty. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, medicalized theories about mental conditions cranked into high gear. As much a myth as the scientific accuracy of medicine is its superior humanity. Doctors are prone to reminding laypersons that the Hippocratic oath pledges them to do no harm and, therefore, that unlike spiritualists, they are constitutionally incapable of participating in persecutions such as witch hunts.
