There has been a lot of hoopla this week over the image on a bottle of beer portraying a witch being burned at the stake. The label is on the Witch's Wit beer produced by The Lost Abbey brewery. It's a label that has been in place since 2008 and comes complete with a story depicting witches being persecuted for being evil.
This story apparently starts with a prominent member of the Pagan community coming across the label, then sharing her outrage over it with the online community. A community that promptly took up the cause and brought an email letter campaign against the brewery. Unfortunately, many of these emails contained insults, intolerance and hate themselves. At The Lost Abbey Brewery website, they quote one such letter: " “Screw you, you fat ass beer slugging alcoholic Christian Ass Hole.” Surely this is not the way to get anyone to listen to us?
To tell the truth, I obviously dislike the horrible portrayal depicted in the art work. It's completely not appropriate in this day and age.
I also have a problem with how some Pagans are handling this situation. Names and religious statements are being called, threats made - it's really disgusting to me - not to mention how behavior like that is likely to get the breweries backs up more than convince them to change anything. At this point, it would almost be like giving in to a terroristic threat for them to change a thing. Emailing a company and telling the owner he's a "fat, stupid Christian" makes us look bad, not him. We come off looking as ignorant and intolerant as we are accusing the company of being.
It's also disturbing to me how websites have been created and a huge buzz has been made about a beer label, while people out there in the world are still being regularly persecuted for witchcraft, and most of us barely know what's going on, much less do anything about it. Where is the outrage for the men buried alive for witchcraft a few weeks ago? Where are all the facebook pages for the woman killed in Gaza for witchcraft? Search in Facebook for "Witch's Wit" and you find dozens of comments, full of rage and disgust. Where is that passion over the babies being driven out of their homes and/or killed in Africa, thought to be witches? Where is the outrage for the 80 women in Malawi who sit in prison over witchcraft charges? Are all those witches who are now "boycotting" a beer that they many very likely never had access or the taste for boycotting all the products that come out of Africa? While I really do see and share the disgust over the image, it's just an image. Out there in the world, there are real people being accused of witchcraft - beaten, jailed, raped, banished and killed. Where is our outrage for that?
And while the New York Times and many websites are reporting that The Lost Abbey has agreed to change the name of the beer and the label, the company has stated on their site that no decisions have been made, but that they will discuss the label and issues surrounding it at their next meeting in November. Should this label be addressed? Yes, of course. However it should be addressed in the same way we, as Pagans, would like to be addressed. With politeness, tolerance and in a non-confrontational way. We should show that we are educated, well spoken members of the religious community
Comments
Thank you for an excellent article. Too often we can take things like this label/beer personally and become so offended and outraged that we forget the importance of the teaching moment that it offers us. I truly hope that more people will take a balanced and tolerant view of such instances and take them for what they are: A moment to teach others what paganism and witchcraft really are. Be Blessed!
I think your article was well-stated and mindful of all parties. Well done.
and then there's the free publicity for this beverage as the outrage spreads throughout the internet x
Thanks, Kris, for showing a balanced and thoughtful attitude to this. As a pagan I would have to say that the pagan community is sometimes its own worst enemy. I very strongly believe - as offensive as some might find it - that we actually go out of our way to be offended and we seek out 'persecution' where really there's just ignorance and lack of consideration. We can, frankly, be a bunch of complete drama queens.
This, as you say, is a label on a bottle. Nothing more. Yes, it might be inappropriate; but it doesn't hurt us. It's not saying "go out and burn witches"; at most, it's picturing one of the things most people know about witches: they got burnt by the Church in centuries past.
And, in addition, it's worth pointing out that modern witches aren't the same thing as the 'witches' spoken on in the Middle Ages. As a community, we need to stop trying to re-write history and accept that in times past, 'witches' simply were something evil. 'Witch' now refers to a different sort of being entirely, and we should accept that this will still cause confusion in a lot of people's minds. *If* anything akin to modern religious witchcraft was ever practised in pre-Christian Europe - and that's a big if right there - it almost certainly was never referred to as 'witchcraft'. If we can accept this, and stop trying to out-ancient the Christians all the time, we might start sounding a little more convincing.
If you don't like it, don't buy it! Stop trying to rewrite or erase history or read more into something that doesn't exist.
You pagans are opportunists and are using this meaningless label for your own publicity. Stop trying to be the thought police and go about your business. What's next, are you going to send hate mail to the little trick-or-treat children on Halloween for dressing up like ugly witches green skin a long nose and warts?
How many of these accused "witches" are actually practitioners of Wicca or something like that, as opposed to just being someone out of the mainstream who managed to piss off someone with the power to be cruel to them?
How much of the victim role of "witches" is actually based on people singling out and intentionally persecuting Wiccans, etc., versus intentionally taking on the victim role in order to add some sort of twisted romanticism to a putative religion that most people don't even know actually exists?
Freedom321, did you actually *read* this article? How about the part where I address how "We come off looking as ignorant and intolerant as we are accusing the company of being."?
Or perhaps my statement the question about "Are all those witches who are now "boycotting" a beer that they many very likely never had access or the taste for"?
Commenters who don't read an article before posting their knee-jerk reaction to it are by far worse than "opportunistic" Pagans.
Testy, Testy. I did read your article and you made some very good points. But I wasn't addressing you personally, but the situation at hand. The knee jerk reactions were the individuals that attacked the brewery.
Everyone can research their own lineage and beliefs and find cruelty and injustice in the past. They then play the victim to something that happened from another place and time. They use that platform to censor others to fit their own agenda. This is my point.
I apologize and didn't mean to offend you personally. Your article was with good intent and I'm sure you are a wonderful person!
Keep the damn label, just because it offends does not mean it should be removed. Everything offends someone, are we going to remove anything that someone does not like? Grow up people, don't buy the beer if it offends you. As for me I'm TRYING to buy the beer, I want to taste it (and save the bottle with the great artwork).
So if the label showed a black man being lynched or was of an oven from the Nazi regime on the label it should just be accepted as freedom of speech and left alone?
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!