Todd Akin Keeps The "Witch Hunt" Going

Following up yesterday's post, "Witch Hunts, Trinities of Sin and Triple Goddesses," we see more language evoking witch trials in the reaction to Missouri candidate Todd Akin's asinine remarks about "legitimate rape."

Writes The Nation in "The Danger of Laughing At Todd Akin" (emphasis mine):

"In his world view, the rape victim's body will be the ultimate judge of whether a crime has taken place. If she gets pregnant, by Akin's standard, her reproductive organs consented to the pregnancy, so she must have consented to the sex. This bizarre standard of innocence is reminiscent of medieval Europe, where the men in authority held the similarly scientific view that women guilty of witchcraft floated in water while innocent women would drown. Being cleared of witchcraft was of course not much consolation to the drowned women, though they at least got to skip being burned at the stake."

People also made the "witch trial" connection on Twitter:

"You guuuuys, chill. Todd Akin misspoke. He just meant to say pile stones on her chest and if she dies then she wasn't a witch after all!"

"This just in from Rep. Akin: if a woman is legitimately not a witch, her body won't allow her to float when tied to a rock."

"Todd Akin says the best home remedy for the common cold is to now do anything bad that would cause a witch to curse you."

The whole Akin thing reminds me of the old, "Throw her in the river. If she survives, she's a witch. If she drowns, she's innocent," trick.

And so on and on.

On the heels of Julian Assange asking the U.S. to stop their "witch hunt" yesterday, and the virtual witch trial of Pussy Riot, all this talk of witches is quite significant.

And let's not forget Geraldo Rivera a few days ago referring to the Department of Homeland Security as a "lesbian cabal" -- "cabal" from the word Kabbalah meaning occult doctrine or secret.

Oh, and that whole recent "eBay bans items of witchcraft thing."

And so on and so on.

If I had to guess, expect another "witch-related" (if only metaphorically) story dominating the media soon.

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Of Witch-Hunts, Trinities Of Sin, And Triple Goddesses

The "Trinity Of Sin" from DC Comics...

...and members from activist/punk band Pussy Riot on trial

Today exiled and "housebound" Julian Assange* gave an impassioned speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, urging President Obama and the United States to "stop the witch hunt against WikiLeaks."

I found his use of words quite interesting, considering that only a couple of days ago three members of the the punk rock band/social activism group Pussy Riot were convicted of "hooliganism" in a public circus of a court case that uncannily resembled the witch trials of old:

Part of the "evidence" against the three consisted of testimony on how their blend of "blasphemy" and feminism "infected" impressionable souls -- testimony that repeatedly referred to the young women as "demonic." Here is how one witness to Pussy Riot's brief performance inside a church described the event:

"I can’t describe it. In essence, it was some sort of demonic seizing."

To add some extra atmosphere, some anti-Pussy Riot protesters were actually heard to chant "burn the witches" outside the courthouse.

Apparently also missing the "good old days," members of Russian Orthodox groups have also taken to setting images of Pussy Riot on fire.** The New York Times quotes the leader of one religious sect as saying the following:

"We’re going to rip them up and burn them. Like in the Middle Ages."

You can't make this stuff up folks. We're in the middle of a goddamned Witch Craze. In 2012.

In the "triple goddess" aspect of the three women on trial -- their decision to evoke the Virgin Mary's more "pagan" (read: feminist, woman-positive) roots in an Orthodox church -- the "witch" connection couldn't be more explicit. This is why the focus of the world is so laser-like focused on this trinity of females -- because symbolically they are the embodiment of the global Divine Feminine energy taking on traditional "patriarchal" religions everywhere (reference also the Catholic nuns currently challenging the Vatican):

They've tapped into the zeitgeist.

Writing this, and being somewhat nerdy, I cannot help but think of another trinity -- the one in DC's New 52 comic book line. While the "offenders" on trial in that recent storyline -- leading up to the big "Trinity" event next year -- are not all female, the echoes are there:

Like Pandora in this story, Assange and the members of Pussy Riot have been accused of "opening a box," forcing uncomfortable dialogues on topics like politics and religion into the public spotlight.

In the DC Universe, the character of Pandora is supposed to "rearrange" and alter the world -- of the "nothing will ever be the same" variety. Will the international attention -- and protests -- sparked by the verdict in the Pussy Riot trial do the same to our world?

*Oh, I am well aware of the crimes Assange is accused of in Sweden -- and if he really let ego and personal frailty put into jeopardy all he did with WikiLeaks, he is a fucking idiot of the highest order and deserves to go to jail. But I highly doubt the U.S. seeks to throw him into the oubliette along with Bradley Manning just because they feel oh-so-strongly about rape charges, not when there's an epidemic of sexual assault going on (and swept under the rug) within their very own military. 

**Not like the civilized, post-religious, non-superstitious and sophisticated people in the West who restrain themselves and only send death and rape threats to outspoken females through the Internet. Oh, and make Flash games simulating beating women in the face. And that damned Bradley Manning thing again. Let's not sprain our hands giving ourselves too big a pat on the back.

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These Chinese Sun-Blocking "Face-Kinis" Look Strangely Familiar...

Following up on my post yesterday regarding the current social and political relevance of the mask (Anonymous, Pussy Riot, etc.), I bring you this recent slice-of-life story from the Daily Mail about the newest fashion craze hitting China:

The "Face-Kini," designed to protect the face from the sun's harmful rays at the beach. Compare with:

Pussy Riot mask or Face-Kini?

The zeitgeist always finds a way...

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Anonymous, Pussy Riot, And The Year Of The Mask

Despite "Cosmopolis" director David Cronenberg's recent assertion that superhero movies and themes are for kids, a look at the most provocative news stories of the day suggest otherwise.

Outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, protesters in Guy Fawkes (or, as some media refers to them, "V for Vendetta") masks decry the "persecution" of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (himself looking like someone from James Bond central casting):

And around the world people are donning ski masks in support of recently-convicted & sentenced Russian punk band Pussy Riot:

Globally, the iconography of the mask is being employed as one of rebellion, free-thinking, anarchy, and protest -- while at the same time co-opted by others as a symbol of darker things, a warning against this very same rebellious impulse in society:

At any rate, the idea that superhero and "comic book" themes do not deserve serious study or treatment is pointedly ridiculous. From political activists to the much-underestimated phenomenon of "real-life superheroes" to mass killers, the imagery of Comics is all around us -- sometimes used to inspire, sometimes used to terrify...and sometimes used as an inscrutable mirror of our own ever-mutating, ever-contradictory selves:

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