'I'm not a witch'

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'I'm not a witch'

13:50, October 14, 2010      

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By Luis Vega

America for hundreds of years has had a love-hate relationship with the occult and witchcraft. This is in contrast with its origins as the promised land of Puritans, who felt their native country disrespected conservative religious values.

Since then, the land of the "American Dream" has celebrated and hidden its secret obsession. Now, in an atypical election cycle during an atypical presidency, the fascination has become incarnate in the political career of Republican Senatorial candidate Christine O'Donnell, who must assure voters she is not a witch to win an election taking place only a few days after Halloween. Trick or treat?

This political development is fascinating to Asians and Latinos. Lacking Puritanical origins, we have long embraced mysticism and magic as part of life. Indigenous ancestors, our real roots, continue to exert a big effect on who we are today. This influence still defines our modern identity. In spite of colonization, our cultures never totally succumbed to foreign influences and reemerge strong every generation to reassert themselves in the world. Feng Shui, the Dia de los Muertos, I Ching and Santeria all here almost intact thousands of years later.

O'Donnell spooked America into facing their love-hate relationship with the occult. She has been publicly humiliated and ridiculed just as witches were in Salem, Massachusetts circa 1692, albeit without the deadly results. This is character assassination — not a physical one. The debate about religion in politics in America has been going on for a long time on and under the radar. Whether we want to admit it or not, this current talk of witchcraft is really about religion in the public sphere. It is a debate about American values and principles; a debate about us.

On April 2007, the Bush administration agreed to allow Wiccan pentacles on graves in military cemeteries, joining 38 other religions recognized by the Pentagon to adorn tombstones of those who sacrificed their lives to protect the freedoms of others. In 2004, when the United States Supreme Court decided to continue to allow "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, nine out of 10 Americans favored it. In 2005, a California atheist sued to block President Bush from participating in prayer during his second inauguration ceremony. Religious tolerance was a hot topic long before the mosque in Ground Zero became a controversy.

But what is a witch anyways? Is it an insult? Why? A look into the etymology of the word illuminates its origin as a term used to demonize women who did not conform to socially acceptable conventions created by men. "The close Germanic relatives of ‘witch’ have died out, but it seems that it may be related to German weihen 'consecrate' and even distantly to English victim (etymologically 'someone killed in a religious ritual'), so the word's underlying signification is of a 'priestess,'" Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto.

In the United States, religion has always been linked to female empowerment. It comes as no surprise religious values again resurface to the front of political discourse. It was women like Emma Willard who in the early 1800s opened their own schools and seminaries to promote advancement through education and traditional values. These female leaders joined other social movements, such as the Abolition Movement, to increase numbers and influence.

In the 1830s, thousands of them joined the moral reform societies created to end licentiousness and prostitution. Women then were seen as mere sex objects and property rather than equals. Linking themselves to religion, they avoided accusations of witchcraft women suffered in the 1690s.

Most political pundits today prefer to see O'Donnell's dilemma not as an opportunity to educate voters but instead a chance to mock the candidate in foreign and domestic media. Indirectly mocking the voters who chose her, the long political tradition she represents and her gender. Her critics have chosen not to raise the political bar but rather to lower it for an easy laugh at her expense.

"I'm you, dear readers. Well, actually, I'm not. But I'm also not a witch, so at least I've got that going for me. The above is of course a reference to Delaware's favorite Wiccan of Wilmington, Republican Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell, who began her most recent television advertisement by assuring viewers that she, indeed, is 'not a witch.' In past political years this might have been considered a bit low brow," wrote Cliff Schecter on Al Jazeera Online. "But the larger truth these days is that a run for political office is a surefire way for those seeking a moment in the spotlight, but lacking any discernible talent or a handle on the truth, to have their hour in the headlines. It's show business for crazy people."

The question is how did O'Donnell, who won the primary by a healthy margin — the final vote tally was 53 percent to 47 percent out of 57, 500 votes — end up cast as the wicked witch from the East? Some blame the 'not-crazy' world of show business for it but not me. God knows O'Donnell provided enough media ammunition to support the attacks on herself using her own words. Yet it is rational to think she has been taken advantage of by powerful forces with a political agenda.

In contrast to her male political opponents, O'Donnell comes from a working-class Catholic family of Irish and Italian heritage. She worked as a marketing consultant and did public relations for conservative organizations.

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