Propaganda Works.

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

― George Orwell

Take any moment throughout history and you’ll find the best tool to manipulate the masses to further an agenda is propaganda. During the Renaissance era, a period in history regarded as the age of enlightenment and reason, the old established order felt threatened, especially the main religious orders. Medieval society had been relatively stable, but the collapse of the feudal system, coupled with famines, warfare and splits within the Roman Catholic church signalled a fundamental change happening all at once, not just in Britain, but across Europe, too.

 On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg Image via Wikimedia Commons, painted by Ferdinand Pauwels, public domain)

The medieval mind was not unduly troubled by the activities of natural healers who practiced folk magic, or Old Wives’ lore. These early herbalists passed on the knowledge of plants from mother to daughter and down the generations. This was also the time when our modern-day medicine was still in its infancy, and every community relied on its wise women. After all, wasn’t it women who held the power of life and death? Women brought men into the world, nursed them through sickness, and dressed and cleaned the body at the end of life.

The English Reformation took place when Henry VIII created the Church of England, wanting to break away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. This led to the Catholic Church losing its grip as the leading world religion. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Puritans were English Protestants who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices. They maintained that the Church of England had not been fully reformed, and should become more Protestant. Originally, the word reformation (from the Latin reformare, “to renew”) suggested the removal of impurities and corruption from church institutions and people, rather than separation from the unified Roman Catholic Church (the word catholic meaning “universal”). The reformers were not initially called Protestants, but the term later was applied to all groups opposed to the orthodoxy of the Catholic Church.

How Witches have been depicted.Puritan Lady’s dress

This brings me to the point where I can explain to you, why witches are always depicted with pointy hats and where the propaganda comes into play, too. Propaganda being by dehumanising certain group of people by creating caricatures of them.

Take the way the Puritans dressed, along with the fact most elderly women wore black widow’s weed (from the old English word ‘Waed’ meaning garment) as they mourned the loss of their husbands. Clothes were expensive (no fast fashion in that day) Money was short so they continued to wear widow’s weed. It was said that witches’ bodies were marked by the devil, so any mole, wart or scar singled you out as a witch. Propaganda added a wart to a witch’s nose and a point to the Puritan’s hat. The Roman Catholic church circulated propaganda about witches by quoting a passage from the bible.

Witch:

Occurs only in Exodus 22:18, as the rendering of mekhashshepheh, the feminine form of the word, meaning “enchantress” (R.V., “sorceress”), and in Deuteronomy 18:10, as the rendering of mekhashshepheth, the masculine form of the word, meaning “enchanter.”

Now you can see how a language change alters your perception from a witch wearing a pointy hat with a wart on her hooked nose to an enchantress who is a fascinating, beautiful woman. Doesn’t that create a different picture in your mind? You can’t imagine some aged, poverty-stricken old crone, living apart from normal civilised society with only a cat for company.

The power of propaganda relies on no one questioning the behaviour of the mob rule, even when the courts were caught up in the hysteria. Accusations were born out of petty jealousy or trivial quarrels. Suspects had little hope of escaping once they were denounced as a witch.

In the past, no one was free from superstition and lived in fear of even their own shadow. The wrath of God haunted them day and night. It’s easy for us to question their behaviour in our more enlightened times, we have the power of electricity to light up the darkness and help in storing food. Our knowledge and understanding of illnesses, viruses and medicine allows us to live long, healthy lives. Modern farming and a better understanding of how to predict the weather allow us to plan ahead when feeding the country.

It’s a sad fact thousands of innocent people died at the hands of the witch hunters in the name of God, but in fact, it wasn’t the word of God at all. The truth is, it was the interpretation of the bible by men. Men who feared their loss of power, and control over the masses.

I hope you find this interesting. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.