Witch Hunt

 Do you remember the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when they are trying to determine whether the woman the angry mob has brought before Sir Bedevere is a witch or not? After some strenuous logical gymnastics, it is determined that since wood floats in water and a duck floats in water if she weighs the same as a duck...She's a witch. 

Once the pylons beneath the scales are removed and the duck and the woman balance, it is determined by the witch's own admission that the mob was correct. "It's a fair cop," she sighs, resigned to her fate of being burned at the stake. 

I bring this little whiff of comic nostalgia your way because I can't help but reflect on all this talk about Witch Hunts. Once upon a time, people (mostly women) were put to death when they were found to be acting outside of some prescribed mode. That "normal" was what a male hierarchy put in place to keep things (women) from getting out of hand. It would be cool if there was some ongoing record of the varied and few instances in which there was a real witch. Which would make all this fuss seem worthwhile. As it did for Monty Python back in the day. 

Donald Trump and his minions like to place themselves in the victicm's role when they holler about how they are being oppressed by The Deep State Woke Radical Liberal Antifa Mob. He might also want to insinuate himself with the place of those who were blacklisted in the late forties and fifties. Unjustly accused! Weaponized  Prosecution Persecution! Two-tiered justice system! The most innocent man in history!

Except he's a witch. 

He turned me into a newt.

I got better. 

But he is a witch.

Burn him.