You call it "Hate Speech," I call it Censorship

In the lengthy period from the 15th to the 18th centuries, Witches, Wizards, Sorcerers, Conjurers, and Seers were seen as a serious threat to Christianity in Europe and the lands which later became the United States. Over those three centuries it has been estimated that 40,000 to 60,000 people were executed for what was then considered a high crime. These estimates are tame figures; many people claim the numbers are much higher. Some of the infamous persecutions were the Salem Witch trials near Boston, the Würzburg and the Bamberg witch trials in Germany, and the Scottish, North Berwick witch trials. The sociological cause of nearly every witch hunt, has raised questions with multiple answers. Mainstream historians place causality on religious sectarianism, plus economic and cultural factors. Non-religious individuals believe that the church would stop at nothing, including outright murder, in its lust for control. Many modern feminists and women believe that men were trying to establish a dominance over women who were respected at a higher level than they were. Each explanation is logical and can be easily defended when challenged using the facts and profiling the leaders of the persecutions.

The process of a Witch hunt and the following Witch trial was full of intrigue and innuendo. The educated class of people or elitists as they are often referred to were the first sub-segment of the people to abandon their old beliefs in witchcraft and the perceived benefits or punishments it could produce. These elites would often provoke and “lead” the rest of the population to identify Witches, and many people who sought to gain favor or influence were easily led down the road. What most-often happened were rumors about someone being in league with demons or the devil quickly spread until a fevered mob formed to take the accused into custody to be remanded for trial. Initially the targets were opponents of the elite; people who spoke too loudly about certain things or didn’t attend church services enough. Soon the people saw the benefits of ridding themselves of those who they felt weren’t part of their group, and thus the machine was set into perpetual motion. When a wife was unable to conceive, someone was blamed for “cursing” her, or when crops failed, it had to have been because of witches, or the death of a child, or any of the many other unfortunate incidents which surfaced; they were all blamed on witches.

These efforts to “root out the spawns of Satan” were motivated by those who felt they possessed the moral high ground and it was their duty to make sure they were protecting the public welfare; after all, a town could not afford to have crops damaged or children slain by a Witch. With leaders of both the church and local governments insuring these accused Witches had a “fair trial,” the community at large was programmed to endorse those same jaded opinions. It’s no surprise that the majority of those accused were from the lower classes except in rare instances when one noble wanted the land of another or a group wanted a royal removed from the throne. The typical Witch was a single woman, perhaps a widower with a strong will who refused to be subjected to any man, often aggressive, stubborn, and argumentative. And once accused, the Witch was subject to interrogation in which various forms of torture were used to coerce a confession. There were a few who refused confession under duress and were actually released, but those numbers are quite small. This torture served a dual purpose with a confession by the accused with being the lesser. Keeping the citizens in line by the fear of being subjected to torture was the real value.

Once confessed, the Witch was put in front of a court which was overly biased and often had a rowdy audience of locals who would shout and cheer during the proceedings. Once found guilty, the Witch would be either banished, flogged heavily, sent to prison, or faced capital punishment by hanging, beheading, or burning on a stake. Countless thousands of people lost their lives because of greed, jealousy, or not by playing by the rules. Studies have shown us that accusations of witchcraft and forced confessions played a role in greatly limiting the power of one class while strengthening that of another. Members of the community who were deemed as anti-social by the community leaders were silenced and the example was made to the rest of the community to avoid this behavior. Of course it cannot be overlooked that misogyny was indeed part of the overall equation as most of the accused were women. With early society having a belief that women were less intelligent then men and therefore more easily lured to commit sinful acts, this theory has some real weight behind it. Oddly enough, this misogynistic persecution can be tied to old pagan practices of midwifery. Midwives were the main resource for assisting women through childbirth, but not just that; they were the source of natural herbs and other methods to prevent unwanted conception. The Catholic Church and its stance against birth control would be likely to want to rid their world of anyone who possessed the skills and knowledge about how to do this.

The opinions by feminists since the great Witch trials have varied, with prominent ladies theorizing that the male-dominated medical practice sanctioned the elimination of female pagan women for fear they would interfere with their practices. Others held the misogynistic belief that it was just a pure hatred for women and anything women held sacred. Today many feminists still hold onto pieces and parts of these century old events and use them for inspiration. Holding on to events that took place centuries ago seems to be more common than some people realize. Blacks have held onto the injustices of slavery for 150 years; despite the fact that there are no living individuals in America who were slaves here, it’s a very important part of black culture that won’t be easily forgotten. Although still young in the big scheme of things, September 11th, 2001 appears to be firmly anchored in the minds of many people and should stand the test of time as another cultural compass. The Witch Hunt and the Witch Trial both aged practices too are alive and well in modern society.

At this point, readers may be asking themselves exactly why all the talk about witches in an article that’s supposed to be about free speech, and when if ever, the answer is going to be revealed. The witch back-history was to demonstrate how the different players interacted in the process. A very similar process still exists but the actors have been updated. The elites who were the wealthy and educated people in the past are now, well the wealthy and educated but their web of control is much larger than a simple community. From the universities to the local school houses and every house of education in between, the elites spread their indoctrination messages to our youth. Their message becomes the message of the youth; their causes become the war cries, their anger the fuel that feeds the foot soldiers. The modern day Social Justice Movement has replaced the angry mob of old, and of course different factions like Black Lives Matters, The New Black Panthers, Code Pink, and the Young Socialists form the battalions standing at the ready to be ordered to the front whenever their assigned opponent dares to rise up from a defended position. The Liberal machine, through government has become the de-facto judge at the trial, with doctrine smudging out the clarity of fact and truth. And lest we not forget about the media; the prosecutorial branch of these modern proceedings. With headlines proudly and boldly proclaiming the guilt of the accused, they mercilessly lob shell after shell into the foray until nothing remains but the burnt out husk of the target; guilty or not, they will leverage payment for the perceived crimes. Once the “crime” has been identified, usually with the help of the Social Justice Warriors; those bloggers, activists, and commentators who prowl internet chatrooms, forums, and news sites to find previously unidentified wrongdoings and bring attention to them. They feed like vampires from engaging in lengthy and hostile debates against others on a range of issues concerning social injustice, identity politics and political correctness using overzealous and self-righteous rhetoric and emotion over logic and reason.

One thing that must be added is the practice of a double standard. Basically it means that one side can do things while the other side cannot. It's a complex set of rules, but it boils down tot he fact that the Liberal side of the equation has this belief that they hold the moral high ground; even when it's on immoral subjects or using immorality to spread the word. How many half naked women have we seen protesting for women's rights or gay rights over the years, even though by definition, public acts of nudity are against local laws. If that example isn't enough to solidify the point, then think about when President Clinton had an affair while serving as President and then lied about it compared to allegations made against President-elect Trump about the exact same thing - how is one bad and the other OK? How about making special accommodations for Muslims to pray in public buildings but not allowing Christians to pray in public schools? Liberals can say every nasty thing, and believe me they are, about a Republican but if the Right fires back, then they get labeled as fascists, misogynistic, racist, anti-gay, anti-everything or worse?

By now, its pretty easy to see that the actions taken today by the Liberals are similar to the witch hunts and trials of the past, and that free speech is really what it all boils down to. As long as no one rocks the boat, they are left alone. If you are still skeptical, then check out the number of people arrested this election season for destruction of campaign signs or the theft of such signs; clearly those leftists involved think its OK to trample on political free speech. Watch how Oprah Winfrey, a legendary individual with an ironclad Liberal card, gets shredded on social media for saying she was optimistic about a Trump presidency after President Obama and President-elect Trump met in the Oval Office. Or how Peter Thiel, an openly gay man and successful tech mogul, is labeled as "not a real gay person" for supporting Donald Trump. This one is hard for anyone to even fathom - not a real gay person? How is it even measured? And if you are still even a tiny bit unsure, then shift your viewpoint to any college campus in America. When professors won't accept papers with opinions that differ from theirs, or classroom materials are obviously biased against conservatives, or when speakers are banned from public events because they offer differing opinions, and the list goes on and on. Colleges used to be places where everything was fair game and no subject was taboo. Free speech is no longer valued by the youth of America. Instead, they are lined up ready to go into battle to support causes which are usually so far removed from their lives that it seems unworthy. And religion, there is another topic which could be covered in great detail, but not today.

The Liberal community wants a government that has the same authority and power as the Christian church had in the days of the witch trials. The power to arrest and imprison anyone who went against their doctrines. The power to torture and execute those who disagree with them. The ability to keep people in line using mob tactics, a mob they control and fund. The ability to riot without being checked by law enforcement. The control of all media sources and messages; only allowing state sponsored terminology to be used and having some terms banned outright. Things like "illegal alien," "Muslim Terrorist," "Islamic Extremist," any racially charged word, or word that might be a "trigger" are all on the short list of being deleted from history. These terms are classified as "hate speech" but in reality, they are just other Americans exercising their rights to free speech. In short, the Democrats are Political Correctness on steroids. What's hardest to understand is that they are willingly going into this sheltered world on purpose. No one has forced them to give up their freedoms to follow this doctrine. As long as they are making the decision on what is considered "hate speech," censorship will continue, much to the detriment of our nation and our personal freedoms.

I believe that people should be allowed to express themselves as openly as they wish to without any fear of retribution. I also believe that for true freedom to continue then no man, woman, or child should be told what they can say or can't say, even if it's perceived as hurtful to someone else. Banning words won't fix any of the problems we have in this world; it's never been a successful strategy and never will. Pretending history happened in a different way so it supports a failed agenda item won't change actual history. Neither will only teaching the parts of history deemed politically correct. The youth might be easily swayed while they are still young, but once they are forced to be adults and can truly see how they have been duped, maybe then they'll finally realize the real value of the freedoms they so readily surrender today.