@naturalmedicine posed a question for a contest, asking what a "witch" means to the steem community.

I'm not sure what a witch is, but, being an "American," witches bring up an interesting past for us that may easily and conceivably re-present itself in the future. I will be using this time before the contest is up to learn about witches, but here are my initial thoughts:

Here, the term "witch" reminds me of the extreme lengths our nation has gone to in an attempt to silence what was considered a threat to the state. Early on, before we were even a nation, the persecution and murder of witches was a huge thing in the US.

Governing bodies do irrational things when they're threatened. These things have been termed witch hunts.

A good name too. As in the late 17th and early 18th century, witch hunting led to such things as burnings and drownings when the early Puritan church (the governing body in the early American colonies) perceived a threat from "witches."

They did such things as force largely illiterate people to recite long prayers and scriptures. Any mistakes would be proof of being in bed with the devil himself. A perfect recital could also be translated as having strength from Satan himself in the endeavor. They also publicly searched people's skin for blemishes, scars, freckles, birthmarks, moles, and extra nipples; all of which would prove a person's evil guilt and doom them to death. Another particularly sick way to test a witch was by throwing them in a lake, river, or pond. If the person floated they were a witch. You know what happens to witches. If they drowned, that was sufficient proof of innocence. Too bad drowning often includes not continuing to be alive...

I don't know what a witch is. I know I've dated some wild women before that claimed to be witches, but as for spells and such, I don't know anything. Are witches the same as shamans? Or voodoo practitioners? Or even satanists? I don't know, but they teach us a lesson...

It's often not healthy to threaten the powers that be...

Who's the next "witch?"

Permies? The ones that want Independence from government food production models that fuel big pharma and the military industrial complex? What about people that make their own medicines and medical decisions? That want freedom from medical debt slavery and the system of disease creation? How close are you to being the next witch?

How will they test the next witches? Will it be the people with passwords on their phones because they simply must be hiding something? Will they test you by how many social media accounts you have? Or by asking if you use crypto currencies that usurp their sovreign right to dictate the world's money supply?

Maybe we're all witches...