One of the more interesting things to come out of the selection of Sarah Palin was the You Tube clip showing her being prayed over by Thomas Muthee, the Kenyan Witch Hunter.
(details here at HuffPo)
While this provided hours of harmless entertainment for all the Democratic family, and almost certainly stopped McCain from using any of the material from Wright against Obama, the true nature of the witch hunters has not been fully explored.
Until last night, when Dispatches on Channel 4 in the UK aired this: 'Saving Africa's Witch Children'
In some of the poorest parts of Nigeria, where evangelical religious fervour is combined with a belief in sorcery and black magic, many thousands of children are being blamed for catastrophes, death and famine - and branded witches by powerful pastors. These children are then abandoned, tortured, starved and murdered - all in the name of Jesus Christ.
Those familiar with the death of Victoria Climbie in the UK know that adults torturing girl children to death because they are 'witches' is not confined only to sub saharan Africa.
Victoria was sent by her parents to Britain from the Ivory Coast seeking a better life and was tortured to death by her great aunt and the aunt's boyfriend on the grounds she was a witch.
That they were not stopped before the child's death remains a source of grief and enormous shame, but the notable distinction is that the perpetrators were jailed - not hailed as visiting heroes by international churches.
The Channel 4 film was made in Nigeria, not Kenya, from which Thomas Muthee hails, but the practises are common throughout the region - the victimisation of (mostly) young, (mostly) women by adult men - in ways that would lead to long term gaol in any civilised society.
You can read the full details and watch the program here: 'Saving Africa's Witch Children'
This from the program outline
This Dispatches Special follows the work of one Englishman, 29-year-old Gary Foxcroft, who has devoted his life to helping these desperate and vulnerable children. Gary's charity, Stepping Stones Nigeria, raises funds to help Sam Itauma, who five years ago, rescued four children accused of witchcraft. He now struggles to care for over 150 in a makeshift shelter and school in the Niger Delta region called CRARN (Child Rights and Rehabilitation Network).
Gary and Sam introduce Dispatches to some of the rescued children who have been through unimaginable horrors, such as Ekemeni, aged 13, who was tied up with chicken wire and starved and beaten for two weeks, and Mary, aged 14, who was burnt with acid before her mother attempted to bury her alive. Other children display the hallmarks of witch-branding - acid burns and machete scars. Uma Eke, aged 17, has been left brain-damaged after having a three-inch nail driven into her skull.
Hospitals refuse to treat children associated with sorcery, so Sam's centre does its best to provide medical aid. As well as the physical scars, the children arrive at the shelter badly traumatised by their experiences, with many of them brain-washed into accepting they are possessed by the devil.
The parents or siblings of children torture them in an attempt to kill them or force confessions from them to admit that they are witches. As Gary remarks, the children at CRARN are the lucky ones - they're still alive.
Influential preachers from the more extreme churches brand the children witches or wizards and exploit their desperate parents by charging them exorbitant amounts of money in return for exorcising the spirits. The film features extraordinary access to some of the preachers who openly discuss their work. One preacher who calls himself 'The Bishop,' says he has made a fortune by carrying out 'deliverances' on children. He admits having killed 110 people in the past. Dispatches films him as he administers a mixture of pure alcohol, a substance known as 'African mercury' and his own blood to one child accused of witchcraft.
This comes as recommended watching only because it will help push Palin back into the obscurity she so richly deserves.
Any mainstream network serious about dealing with her as if she were a politician and not a game-show bimbo who strayed into politics, could readily air this, followed by the Muthee video from YouTube and have Palin in the studio to watch - and then comment.
Given her ability to produce semi-meaningless word salad,and her aparent belief in the bigotry in which she has been steeped, given half an hour in which to explain why witch hunting is, in her view, a useful, viable, laudable act, should finish her in national politics.
Just a thought