Witch Hunts. They still happen today.
First, a little history.
The witch hunts that took place from 1480 to 1700 were in part facilitated by the negative perceptions of women during the time period of their occurrence. Statistics reveal that females typically comprised about 80% of the total amount of “witches” executed, implying that, for every male victim (and how many of them were homosexuals?), four females lost their lives.
Writing ‘The Hammer of Witches (Malleus Maleficarum)’,the monks Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger entrenched this misogynist bent into official witch-hunting doctrine. Kramer and Sprenger describe a woman as inherently more fallible than her male counterpart, and from her very nature, as one originating from an improperly bent rib, prone to evil. However, Kramer and Sprenger also write that, though women are susceptible to evil influences, they can also be “very good” when they use their impressionable qualities in a certain manner.
Given the heavily patriarchal nature of their time period, the monks may have been suggesting that the proper place of a woman is to obey male influences, so that her imperfections may be compensated for by the males’ lack of such fallibilities. The threat of being branded a witch more readily than a male would be might have served as a deterrent for women from defying the commonplace expectations imposed on them by the social and religious paradigms surrounding them.
Women like Alice Prabury, who diverged from the expected role of a woman as a mundane housekeeper and instead obtained uncommon skills to cure people and animals of diseases, were targets for persecution. The Churchwardens of Gloucestershire may have filed their accusation of witchcraft against Prabury due to their disapproval of the excessive independence that the woman manifested, as exemplified in her refusal to tell others, including the representatives of the dominant paradigm, the unique means by which she went about performing her work.
Thus creative, individualistic, and independent women were most often the targets of the two-century-long spree of witch hunts. Such persecution unfortunately destroyed many talented individuals who could have lived fulfilling lives and made tremendous advances in the arts and sciences.
Now, cast your minds back to the campaign of vilification that was unleashed by the Liberal Party against Julia Gillard, the lawful Prime Minister of Australia.
I think you can see where I am going with this.
How well-read is our own Mad Monk in the Catholic Canon? How have his perceptions of women in contemporary society been informed by what he has learnt during his years of education as a Jesuit, both at school and in the Seminary, while he was there? How has his own misogynist bent been used to inform the campaign of abuse, humiliation and vilification against Prime Minister Julia Gillard? An openly proud Atheist and Non-Conformist to the social doctrines that Tony Abbott is steeped in?
Now, of course, when Tony Abbott is accused of being a misogynist towards the Prime Minister, people spring to his defence by saying, “Look how well he gets on with his wife and daughters. Look at his Chief-Of-Staff. She is a woman! They are powerful women. He’s obviously OK with powerful women. Your accusations have no substance!” However, I put that down to a differential perspective. In Abbott’s eyes, as quoted above from ‘The Hammer of Witches’, ‘good women’ are those who behave in ways that receive approval from men, conform to the ‘Male as Dominant’ paradigm and the social and religious conformity expected of them by religious males. That is, these women are married, or single young women on the pathway to marriage, and thus conform to Tony Abbott’s idea of what a good woman is. Hence he is happy to treat them favourably. Why wouldn’t he? As people say about him, he is basically a decent person when around the people in his social milieu. Who get the tick of approval from him.
Of course, I must single out Julie Bishop for special mention here. She may not be married to her partner Peter Nattrass, or have produced any children. Also has been as career-driven as the Prime Minister was; however, she conforms in as much as she knows her place in the Tony Abbott Coalition hierarchy, and that place is as a submissive woman to ‘The Leader’. Also, how can we know what Tony Abbott’s innermost thoughts are about her? Nevertheless, Ms Bishop has not become dominant over Mr Abbott, so is not in the same category as the Prime Minister.
So, the woman who does not conform and has broken the mould, is thought to have succumbed to evil influences. Therefore is a witch and a justifiable target for persecution, in the mind of a devoutly religious man.
It certainly serves as a philosophical justification, if nothing else, and a salve to any sort of a guilty conscience Tony Abbott might have felt, if only initially and long since passed, as he began his public attacks on a woman with verbal violence of a ferocity never before witnessed in Australian politics. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of any other female leader of a country or political party who has been so publicly demeaned by her male political opponent, as has Julia Gillard. Without remorse and relentlessly.
Finally, let me leave you with some more history about Witch Hunts(as supplied by G. Stolyarov II), to reflect upon and as it pertains to the ‘Carbon Tax Lie’ vendetta against the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard:
Political rivalries, too, were motives for accusations of witchcraft. Among the victims of such ploys was Mayor Johannes Junius, who, though entirely innocent, was confronted with a trial whose proceedings were clearly not aimed toward an objective determination of guilt or innocence, but rather at causing Junius to “confess something, whether it be true or not.” The trial was rigged against Junius, and there was to be no possible outcome but his death. Such a case could not have existed had Junius not possessed rivals who wanted him eliminated at all costs. A vacancy in the post of mayor could, after all, assist someone’s political ambitions, either to occupy the position or place into it a man acceptable to some religious or political faction with the means to carry out witch hunts.
Junius = Julia? It’s not as ridiculous a proposition as it may at first seem. Of course, an actual death is not possible. However, a political death is an eminently desirable outcome for the protagonists in our political game. And not beyond the realms of possibility, as a perfectly justifiable game plan, for our own Mad Monk.
THE PUB 
Those ‘doubts’ about the Egyptian so-called ‘convicted jihadist terrorist’ were floating around on Monday but, of course, were never mentioned by the OM. Instead we has wall-to-wall ‘government cops a beating over failed asylum seeker policy’ crap and ‘terrorists are coming to jump over your pool fence’ garbage. All aimed at winning seats in Sydney’s western subusrbs, of course. Will the OM now admit they got it wrong? Of course not. They have ‘moved on’ and are now busy reporting every word Kevin Rudd utters.
bruce hawker @brucehawker2010 4h
An Abbott Govt: a PM with mid-20th century views on women, a split Cabinet on workplace laws and a new tax to pay for paid parental leave.
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Mike Carlton Mike Carlton @MikeCarlton01 4h
@brucehawker2010 PLus 20,000 public servants sacked ;cash shovelled into pvt schools ; WorkChoices again And still the boats keep coming.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/conviction-egyptian-asylum-seeker?CMP=twt_gu
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/conviction-egyptian-asylum-seeker?CMP=twt_gu
But court documents seen by Guardian Australia, which appear to detail the convictions used to issue Interpol’s red notice, make no record
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this is the bit that jumped out at me it says the guardian are doing some home work
soon they will be showing up old media for her for what they are
hopefully the guardian will keep this type of invesigative journalism up
with all stories
bushfire bill
sometimes I want to give these people a good kick up the arse as they continually fail to realise that:
a) their words will always be twisted and misrepresented by the MSM and
b) a big dose of pontification will always be added to make it look worse than it actually is such as this howler from the ABC
billie 11, I was interested in what you had to say about Lenore Taylor and the Guardian. I wonder who moderates comments on articles there – does the author have any control? I ask this because I too wrote a strongly critical comment about her take on QT and for the first time ever my comment was not printed. Let’s hope I wasn’t wasting words and my time. I hope it really is because mine was just one was amongst a howl of protest from many. Whatever the reason let’s hope management there still get the message that we expect better reporting from the MG Aus. not more of the same old Murdoch messaging.
p://billshorten.com.au/doorstop_cakery_bakery_erindal
read this interview and see how reporters twist and turn and try to make u say things,
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so what bill said to day will check later to see that’s up
the only thing I believe in old media are the death notices,
but I am seeing a change at the guardian
patricia I saw a post from you on the guardian
it was near Ian`s letter to the pm
that he posted here
brianmcisme
June 7, 2013 at 12:32 pm
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we certainly are,
If you want to know the dynamics between Julia and Tony you only have to watch Question Time.
Julia almost never takes her eyes off Tony. Mostly it’s a steely, contemptuous stare. At other times she outright laughs at him.
Tony can’t take the eye contact and rarely looks at Julia. His body language is that of a coward: hunched and can’t sit up straight.
Rudd could have said something along the lines of “there were mistakes made on both sides, but that’s now water under the bridge”.
Instead he chose the “don’t blame me for others’ mistakes” approach, absolving himself of any error. I distrust the man greatly, and I think his messiah complex is there for all to see as he imagines himself riding in on a golden chariot to save the Labor party.
I’m not buying it. As always, he is doing something for one reason only… himself.
Mark Latham gives Rudd a lashing and likens The Gibbon to a “giggling schoolkid effectively peeing on his foot”.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/mark-latham-lays-into-onceinacentury-egomaniac-kevin-rudd-20130607-2nuj4.html#ixzz2VUtI2xC3
PatriciaWA – Actually my comment remains as does your comment with your pome attached.
Yeah, I hope Lenore isn’t moderating her own comments, but I think she is because she admitted she wasn’t watching QT because she was watching the debates on the passage of the water bill. I felt so sorry for her having to catch up on water policy that I almost flicked her a heads up on useful people to question on Murray Darling Basin water policy. It’s a complex issue to absorb in 2 hours.
Her comment indicates that The Guardian might spend more time analysing policy differences – here’s hoping.
The Guardian has a RECOMMENDS button where you can agree with the comment.
Couldn’t agree more with that Latham spray.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due. So this is my email to premier Napthine imploring him to sign up for Gonski:
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Dear Premier,
I was very proud that you and your government have recognised the benefits of both NDIS and Murray Darling Basin (MDB) reforms proposed by the federal government. In signing to those reforms you have both shown to the electorate that you care for the wellbeing of those most at need, but that you are also aware of the dangers that ignoring the current problems with MDB could have dire consequence for the environment and future of our new generations. So heartfelt congratulations for making those important and brave decisions.
With forward thinking like that I implore you that you negotiate with federal government and sign up to Gonski reform for education before the end of this month. No kid deserves to fall behind in education because they happen to be enrolled in a school that receives less funding than other schools in Victoria or Australia. No kid deserves to fall behind in education because they have a learning disability that would be ameliorated if we invest a bit more money and effort in working with kids like that.
I don’t want my future children to grow up in a world where some kids are getting better education only because they are in schools that receive more government funding, and as a result have more resources, than schools attended by other children.
I believe you and your education minister do have the best interest of our children at heart, same way you cared for the people with disabilities in Victoria and beyond. With having said that, I implore you again that you sign up to this important education reform so that both current and future Victorians can thank you for making another great and brave decision in joining federal government in forward thinking reforms.
BB,
On Shorten and bad polls.
I think it’s a good thing for the govt to start saying that if the election replicates what’s in the polls then ALP will be wiped out.
The next step is Abbott will win by such a big margin he’ll get control of the Senate.
So voters: there’s no insurance policy. The greens won’t be able to keep the bastard honest.
Choose wisely when you actually vote
A la Keating and fightback 1993
patriciawa, I posted a comment on her article from yesterday, the one where she says Labor is doing disservice to the electorate if it gives up now. I was very critical of that notion, as well of press gallery that she is a member of. I was polite, I’d like to think so anyway, but I was certainly letting her know that it is them, the journalists, that are letting the electorate down and not ALP. Comment was published immediately (I post there under ‘titoija’)
Remember what happened the last time the Coalition got control of the Senate? I think that thought is still fresh enough in people’s minds that it will scare a few of them away from the Coalition in the Senate.
slav g,
That was a very pro-active and thoughtful thing for you to do. I hope your letter to Premier Napthine gets read by him and gives him pause for thought. I would have added something about his Disabled child and how could he not sign up for better educational resources for all our disabled kids?
The reason Rudd can “harvest” media attention the way Tabbott “harvests” media att’n and the Pm. has to “recruit” the same media to make serious policy announcements is because the OM. is still geared toward the patriarchial leadership presumption.
Why must the Prime Minister of the nation and her policy delivery be held in reserve at prime news time while the journalist “doyens of the dunny” press-corp pontificate on male egos?
What are these poncing, pontificating, peacock parades if not a vehicle for the male preening of shiny-coats!?……weak as piss media!
I didn’t want to specifically mention his child, and instead wanted to point out that what he did with NDIS was for greater good. Same should be with education reform. I did mention learning disabilities and he would know more about that than most pollies. I hope he reads it too. This is the first time ever I did something like this. Coming out of my shell slowly 🙂
brianmcisme
You could be correct. What I see, is a woman, who does not let grudges rule her judgment or decision making.
I have seen many photos of the PM and those who have done her wrong, with the PM giving them her lovely smile.
Yes, you are right, when it comes to the likes of Abbott, she is willing to wait her time, before she springs the trap. But I would say, that is more than holding a grudge, that is pay back for one who has treated her badly.
In fact, when it comes to the likes of Abbott, the PM has no choice but to lob the abuse back.
Yes, I do believe this PM does not hold fools in high regard.
It appears that Tassie has signed up on Gonski. No surprise, as it was strongly hinted at on their budget day by the premier.
I doubt that Napthine will sign Victoria up for Gonski, after all he is a Catholic and the Catholic system has signed up so bugger the poor protestants who persist in sending their kids to state school
Interesting feedback today. They expect a Labor loss, but are worried about the size of the loss. Wtte that the are scared of the coalition having a huge majority in the HOR as well as control of the senate.
I am starting to think that some within Labor are emphasisng the dire polls to get people thinking about the repercussions.
that’s exactly what I said about bill shortens remarks
denese
The feedback I got was from my mum and her friends. I had not thought about the fact that it has made them “scared”.
slav g I guessed it was you so I backed you up
C@T.. ” Doubts about convictions of Egyptian asylum seeker at heart of political storm http://gu.com/p/3gd6z/tw via @guardian
*cough*
How long ago did I point that out?”
*cough, cough…splutter!!*…..about a week after I just happened to mention it in passing!
(just joking)
Bananaby takes the bait: Barnaby Joyce defies Tony Abbott to predict Coalition election win
Whilst I concur with Latham, some of what he says is very damaging to the party. He really needs to ease up on the rhetoric that the party is stuffed.
vicy lets hope it makes them scared and they all tell their friedns to vote in the lower house, is mum aware of abbott saying there is no indexing of pensions with the cost of llving, I find that pensioners do not know this
I tell them to tell their friends, and then their friends.
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if the abc news and others persist in following the line re stories like the the one to day about the refugee from Egypt they should have it pointed out to them by twitter to see what the guardian is saying .
I think they will ignore the guardian new on the abc lets see
mark scott should be hauled over the coals if he does that.
I wonder what afp are reporting about that case
denese
My mum and her friends, once again said today that they have never had it so good with respect to their pensions and services. Hopefully retirees in general will have this view when election day rolls around, and support Labor
have abc 24 now picked up on what the guardian are saying re the
eygption story,
if not why not,,,if not TWEETERS should go after scott and ask that question
BB is always complaining about Press Gallery group think.
Well over at the Guardian Lenore Taylor admitted that she didn’t actually watch the particular Question Time she commented on
or is it unfair to do gotchas or are they reserved for churnalists
yes Vicky but do they understand that abbott said NO more increments in line with the gdp,, we get on an average now about 16 dollars every couple of months, and other rises have been forth coming through the budget
with the compensation,,, going back about three years it was about 395
now it is around 525 a fortnight for two and 700 plus for single
a big difference,, they may not understand about the automatic rises
that come ,, some may not even notice,
I know my oh didn’t till I pointed it out, we are new to the age pension,
but watch my bank account very closely, and read my on line letters from
centre link.
so point that out just in case.
denese
Oh i see. Dont know if they are aware. Will mention it to mum to pass it on
denese
I am not sure where I saw it on the ABC but earlier in week, they interviewed refugee advocate, who raised these issues about this Egyptian man
the smart move by the pm and her staff , was to announce the election date
can u imagine if we where have this conversation,, one month out from the election,,, I realy doubt most mps are down and out and not bothering
I would say there is no one like that except the ones leaving,
may be and I hope they are off their back side helping the new person wanting to sit in their seat,
ive spoken to my member and they are not like that,, I ve spoken to a lady I know who works for for a top ministre and they are really up beat.
yes all concerned of course even if you are in front in ( their polls and I stress their polls} you would be still concerned.
there is a difference
Rob Oakeshott has sent Chroistopher Pyne a reply to that letter demanding he support a motion of no confidence.
Second link at the bottom of this –
http://www.roboakeshott.com/node/1693
have any of you read over the road I am interested to hear what the rudd
trolls are tyring to convince people to believe,
whom I have always said are liberals most of them
when the polls improve and they will , I may do a bit back there
but I am fed up with being threatened by liberals trolls,
Thanks denese 🙂
u have to like mr oakshott don’t you,, he sees their little games
and exposes them
this should be on the front page,es
all the stress ,, I do wish her well,, I really like anna.
some posted this at the guardian, ive had similar thoughts, as tcomma and I talked about the mother of argentina
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/conviction-egyptian-asylum-seeker?CMP=twt_gu#start-of-comments
Recommend
2
===========================================================this post on the guardian
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Keep Calm Abbott is not PM Can you imagine how he’ll run the country accusing people without evidence of being terrorists?
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I also noticed that the story has over 800 face book clicks so imagine 800 people with 100 friends,, and they have 100 friends and more, so imagine how many now are seeing this
I used to check out the old media clicks and it was nothing like the above,
I think labor people are more savvy on the net I really do
leonetwo,
Rob Oakeshott determined to go out with all guns blazing. Not that I think he’s going anywhere. 🙂
Interesting also to note that Barnaby Joyce is trying to heavy the voters of New England. I wonder how they will take to that?
denese,
The Opposition and the Murdoch media are thugs. So are the people who support the Opposition in the Liberal and National Parties. Thugs and bullies and Mean Girls the lot of them.
The latest trick from them is the old force majeure one of putting it out in public that resistance is useless.
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