That's not how opinions are invalidated.... and that's not how debate works. Your opinion is invalidated because your name starts with an L. We can all play fuckabout word-things at a push.

Plus a cursory reading of the topic would throw up George Burroughs, Giles Corey, Thomas Doughty, George Jacobs - all executed for witchcraft.

But... you know, you're right. Those people were hanged, crushed and beheaded, which is far nicer than being burned alive. You win the argument - except I'm an argumentative penguin... so here's a historical witch trial where men were burned at the stake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkjuból_witch_trial

So I'm fine with my validated phrase 'witch hunt'. As a turn of phrase it conveys exactly what I think it needs to do - the compulsion to condemn without depth of thought or evidence on a spurious charge dreamed up and enforced by a wider society who have their own subjective concept of virtue.