Islam is in its 15th century. When Christianity entered its 15C, it began burning 70,000 witches and warlocks over the next two hundred years (Hus was a devout Christian priest, not a warlock, nor was his wife a witch, but they were both tortured and burned anyway, which greatly impressed Copernicus, Galileo and Descartes). The carnage only stopped when physicians (science) told the ecclesiastical courts that there is no physical proof whatsoever, despite the sworn testimony by expert body cavity inspectors, called ‘prickers,’ that these many thousands of women were penetrated by Satan through miniscule holes (always hidden, guess where?).
Somehow, a quick beheading seems to be an Islamic improvement upon Christianity’s more slow, sadistic practice.
An interesting point, but I was not saying that “Islam” is responsible for this crazy witch trial, any more than “Christianity” was responsible for the Holocaust or the burning of witches centuries go.
I should also add that I find the remarks about beheading as some kind of an advance truly repulsive.
The finger-pointing moralizer, whether from the socialist Left or from the religious Right, has a personal psychology which compulsively seeks to punish the miscreant. Essentially, the moral extremist is a sadist, flicking a whip in eager anticipation.
Burning at the stake is an especially savage and vicious torture; a sadist’s dream. Decapitation is no less savage but it is considerably more rapid. The quickness of punishment (whether by decapitation, firing squad, lethal injection or electrocution) is an attempt to remove the sadism out of the execution; hence, a rapid and less painful death is an “improvement.”
I am completely against any form of capital punishment. But if a people prefer to adopt it, then at least have it quick and private instead of slow and public. It is the sadism of an entire culture which is “repulsive,” Mr. Palmer, not the description of a quick death as an “improvement.”
BTW – As soon as Protestant John Calvin achieved theocratic power in Geneva, he too began burning non-believers at the stake, something Weber did not spend much time ellucidating when he attributed the freedom in capitalism to the development of Protestantism.
Islam is in its 15th century. When Christianity entered its 15C, it began burning 70,000 witches and warlocks over the next two hundred years (Hus was a devout Christian priest, not a warlock, nor was his wife a witch, but they were both tortured and burned anyway, which greatly impressed Copernicus, Galileo and Descartes). The carnage only stopped when physicians (science) told the ecclesiastical courts that there is no physical proof whatsoever, despite the sworn testimony by expert body cavity inspectors, called ‘prickers,’ that these many thousands of women were penetrated by Satan through miniscule holes (always hidden, guess where?).
Somehow, a quick beheading seems to be an Islamic improvement upon Christianity’s more slow, sadistic practice.
‘Be free,’ Mr. Palmer.
An interesting point, but I was not saying that “Islam” is responsible for this crazy witch trial, any more than “Christianity” was responsible for the Holocaust or the burning of witches centuries go.
I should also add that I find the remarks about beheading as some kind of an advance truly repulsive.
The finger-pointing moralizer, whether from the socialist Left or from the religious Right, has a personal psychology which compulsively seeks to punish the miscreant. Essentially, the moral extremist is a sadist, flicking a whip in eager anticipation.
Burning at the stake is an especially savage and vicious torture; a sadist’s dream. Decapitation is no less savage but it is considerably more rapid. The quickness of punishment (whether by decapitation, firing squad, lethal injection or electrocution) is an attempt to remove the sadism out of the execution; hence, a rapid and less painful death is an “improvement.”
I am completely against any form of capital punishment. But if a people prefer to adopt it, then at least have it quick and private instead of slow and public. It is the sadism of an entire culture which is “repulsive,” Mr. Palmer, not the description of a quick death as an “improvement.”
BTW – As soon as Protestant John Calvin achieved theocratic power in Geneva, he too began burning non-believers at the stake, something Weber did not spend much time ellucidating when he attributed the freedom in capitalism to the development of Protestantism.