Written by Helen Berger, author of Teenage Witches:Magical Youth and the Search for Self
Edited by Ruth Nemzoff
Hillary is the devil. Uhm, sounds like we have traveled back to Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Think this is silly or is just a metaphor? But you don't trust Hillary? Well then think again you are part of the mob that helped to hang those witches on a roadside hill. Not bad people then or now, just those who are blinded by their own labels.
During the witch craze, certain women became labeled as witches because they made their neighbors uncomfortable by begging for food or because they were slightly wealthier than those around them. Once a few neighbors started to question these women's character, all their behaviors became filtered through this lens. If they said "hello" it was with ill intent, if they didn't talk it was clearly because they were doing evil. In hindsight, the Witch trials were a sin against the accused. They were victims of fear and hate. But labeling continues. If we think someone is a thief we think everything they do is nefarious. If they say what a pretty ring, we wonder if they are planning to steal it.
Hillary has been labeled dishonest. And now we filter her behavior through this interpretation. While the news agencies show with data that she is more honest than her rivals, the facts have no effect. She is seen as calculating in every word she says.
Labels serve a social purpose. They provide us with an easy way to process social data, and there is just so much of it every day that we need short cuts. It is helpful to realize that most of what our "crazy uncle" says is meaningless so that we don't waste too much time listening. But, labels may also come to rule our thinking and our actions. They may stop us from hearing what that uncle has to say that is of import. They may result in our discounting a person who should not be discounted. They may result in our labeling someone a witch to be hanged on a hillside only to carry the burden of that action in our collective guilt. Labels and those we label need to be reviewed and revised. For me the label I attach to Hillary is hard working and conscientious. Those aren't exciting, but life is exciting enough, what I want is competent. And she is very competent.
How did Hillary get those negative labels if she doesn't deserve them? There have been endless hearings about one thing or another, and conspiracy theories that go from the improbable to the absurd. Millions have been spent on trying to nail Hillary but there's never been anything there. She is not perfect but honestly who is--certainly no one I really know. Heck, even Harry Potter was not perfect. Hillary has spent most of her life in public service, she has fought for families, for women, for minorities. She tried to get universal health care for all Americans. She failed, but since when do we pillory those who give it good try even if they don't fully make it. She has made some errors too, but again who hasn't. And we don't seem to hold other politicians to the same standards as her. Why is that?
Some have suggested sexism, showing that women in general are liked less when they put themselves forward. Others have suggested that it is that she is very private, she says she is not a natural politician. Certainly both of these are true. But, I want to suggest that all the time and effort the Republicans have spent defining Hillary as unsavory has paid off for them. She is stuck with a label, and now is even being called the Devil himself. Don't let your thinking get caught in the maze of nasty labels. We don't need another witch trial and none of us wants to be part of the mob.