being frank

The expression witch hunt has several definitions. The more popular (or foundational meaning) refers to the search for and subsequent persecution of a supposed witch. This prosecutorial nightmare ran around the world unabated for close to 400 years. In England, the Witchcraft Act of 1735¹ abolished this practice and make it a crime to claim that a person had supernatural powers or was accused of practicing witchcraft. By the 18^th century,² witch trials pretty much came to an end with the last documented trial held in Poland. In the 19^th century, that law went through a metamorphosis of sorts. The political elite of the day began using it to expose “ignorance, superstition, criminality and insurrection” amongst the general populace. By 1950, these practices were abandoned and the old law was repealed in favor of the Fraudulent Mediums Act of 1951³ which made it illegal to claim, “to be a psychic, medium, or other spiritualist while attempting to deceive and to make money from the deception.” I wonder if that’s how honorariums came into existence. But I digress.

Today, witch hunt is more of a referential term than a literal one. The Oxford English Dictionary⁴ defines witch hunt as, a campaign of persecution by a group or person in a position of power against a person or group considered to be undesirable by virtue of their views or activities; a campaign to identify and persecute particular members of a group, organization, or society. Yet it’s the 19^th century’s crooked variation on a theme from England’s 1735 Witchcraft Act that caught my eye: A law used by the political elite to expose ignorance, superstition, criminality and insurrection amongst the general populace.

That’s all well and good, except for one thing: Regardless of whether someone was hunting witches or mediums or flim-flam artists, the general idea was to seek out the truth. The fly (or perhaps the eye of newt) in the ointment was that from the very beginning, there was no true intention for seeking the truth. Witch hunts were about dominance and suppression; they were a gruesome form of subterfuge.

Recently, an event occurred involving some of the highest echelons from the US intelligence community (intelligence used as a descriptor, not an ability.) It reminded me of an article I wrote about a pendulum. As I read the details of that event, I pictured a pendulum being put into motion. The faction on the other side of the pendulum’s swing responded to the initial issue by calling for an investigation. In essence, they added mass to the pendulum by manifesting the gravity of the situation. The faction that initiated the event added further mass to the pendulum by referring to that reaction as a witch hunt. And that’s what got me to write this posting.

My grandfather shared an observation with me when I was a child; he said: When you point your finger at someone, there are always three fingers pointing back at you. One of my grandfather’s many hobbies after he retired was to write maxims like that one. Its allegorical nature came to mind as I was thinking about the excessive amounts of finger-pointing that have been going on these past several years. So much so that people can no longer determine if all this finger pointing is happening to call out a wrong, or as a way to deflect the blame onto someone else to avoid facing the truth of the matter. So like a pendulum, this situation has been going back and forth for the better part of the week; swinging from one side to the other. One side hoping to shed some light on the truth, and the other presumably hoping to create more subterfuge or perhaps increase public frustration.

Whether you think of this whole debacle as a witch hunt, a hunt for the truth, or an underhanded way of hunting for a way out, the focus needs to remain on the truth. The world is at a stage right now where everyone’s mental faculties are being hammered by so many issues, problems, concerns, and fears that we’ve become either exceedingly angry, frustrated, confused, numbed, or just lost. Worse yet, many may have simply given up; that there’s too much going on and not enough room left to take in anything else. We need a resolution; we want things to stop. We want both sides of that pendulum to stop that incessant swinging between accusation and deceit, action and reaction, common sense and abject stupidity. You can see it, I can see it; the whole world can see it. And yeah; my grandfather had a maxim for that, too: Some people are like rocking chairs; they go back and forth all day long and never get anywhere.

Regardless of ideology, platform, beliefs, or sympathies, politics exist for the purpose of maintaining order and equanimity for the nation and the people it represents. It establishes relations with its neighbors; finds common ground for collaboration, commerce, growth, and defense. Politics create bonds and forge alliances. They instigate progress for all by capitalizing from the wealth it builds through commerce, investments, and collaborations for the benefit of all. None of us choose to elect politicians to be finger-pointers, to act like rocking chairs, or to stand on one side of the divide or the other and incite witch hunts. And most of all, we don’t elect politicians to make the country great. People make a country great. People give rise to greatness by how and what they learn about themselves and the world around them. People foster greatness through friendships, solidarity, and faith; through partnerships, hard work, understanding, fairness, and dogged determination.

Final Thoughts

A body politic is a powerful relationship that is only as good as its weakest link. And that tenuous link usually manifests itself in one person; one dominant personality with a relentless pursuit of power, wealth, and opportunistic glory that can threaten to extinguish the light of a nation. That one person who claims to be the only one who can make everything better. And more often than not, the actions of that one person never quite match the promises. That one person will make things great, but not for everyone. Maybe a select few, but certainly for the one. It’s the people, empowered with fair and informed elections coupled with the freedoms of expression and choice that choose a leadership that will write the stories of a nation’s greatness. It’s the people who realize that a nation’s legacy is tied to them, forged from the lessons they’ve learned through their flaws, successes, or misguided actions or ambitions. Greatness comes from the tapestry of a nation’s rich history and global roots; from its multiplicity of thought, beliefs, ingenuity, and passions.

So what’s there to do? Well for one, we can stop with the witch hunts and the finger pointing. If your elected officials aren’t speaking up on your behalf; if they’re representing someone else’s views instead of your own, then use your voice at the ballot box. When that time comes, use your vote wisely to determine which public servants will work for the people and commit to stand by the people in order to help place the greatness of this country back in the hands of the people to ensure that its strength and legacy is assured for all.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft_Act_1735 ↩︎
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch_hunt#:~:text=The%20last%20known%20official%20witch,trial%20in%20Poland%20in%201783. ↩︎
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraudulent_Mediums_Act_1951 ↩︎
4. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/witch-hunt_n?tab=meaning_and_use#14153918 ↩︎