Marc Andreessen Profile picture
Feb 7 12 tweets 2 min read
"An auto-da-fé was the ritual of public penance carried out of condemned heretics and apostates imposed by the Spanish, Portuguese, or Mexican Inquisition as punishment and enforced by civil authorities. Its most extreme form was death by burning."
"Ferdinand II and Isabella I received permission from Pope Sixtus IV to name inquisitors throughout their domains. Autos-da-fé became quite popular throughout the Spanish realm, competing with bullfights for the public's attention and attended by royalty."
"Once granted permission from the Pope to conduct inquisitions, the monarchs began establishing permanent trials and developing bureaucracies to carry out investigations in most of the cities and communities in their empire."
"Later, Franciscan missionaries brought the Inquisition to the New World."
"Juan Antonio Llorente, the ex-secretary of the Holy Office, gave the following numbers for the Inquisition excluding the American colonies, Sicily and Sardinia: 31,912 burnt, 17,696 burned in effigy, and 291,450 reconciled de vehementi (i.e., following an act of penance)."
"Anyone who was guilty or knew of someone who was guilty was urged to confess. If the accused were charged, they were presumed guilty. Officials could apply torture during the trial. Proceedings were to be kept secret, and the identity of witnesses was not known to the accused."
"The auto-da-fé was not an impromptu event, but thoroughly orchestrated. The ritual took place in public squares or esplanades and lasted several hours with ecclesiastical and civil authorities in attendance."
"The ceremony of public penitence then began with a procession of prisoners, whose identities were kept secret until the very last moment. In addition, the prisoners usually had no idea what the outcome of their trial had been or their sentencing."
"The prisoners were taken outside the city walls to a place called the quemadero or burning place. There the sentences were read. Artistic representations of the auto-da-fé usually depict physical punishment such as whipping, torture, and burning at the stake."
"The auto-da-fé was also a form of penitence for the public viewers, because they too were engaging in a process of reconciliation and by being involved were given the chance to confront their sins and be forgiven by the Church."

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More from @pmarca

Feb 9
"Ressentiment is a sense of hostility directed toward an object or person that one identifies as the cause of one's frustration, that is, an assignment of blame for one's frustration."
"The sense of weakness, inferiority complex, and jealousy in the face of the 'cause' generates a rejecting/justifying value system, or morality, which attacks or denies the perceived source of one's frustration."
"This value system is then used as a means of justifying one's own weaknesses by identifying the source of envy as objectively inferior, serving as a defense mechanism that prevents the resentful individual from addressing and overcoming their insecurities and flaws."
Read 24 tweets
Feb 7
"A moral entrepreneur is an individual, group, or formal organization that seeks to influence a group to adopt or maintain a norm; altering the boundaries of altruism, deviance, duty or compassion."
"The moral entrepreneur may press for the creation or enforcement of a norm for any number of reasons, altruistic or selfish. Such individuals or groups also hold the power to generate moral panic."
"He is interested in the content of rules. The existing rules do not satisfy him because there is some evil which profoundly disturbs him. He feels that nothing can be right in the world until rules are made to correct it."
Read 12 tweets
Feb 7
"A moral panic is a widespread feeling of fear, often an irrational one, that some evil person or thing threatens the values, interests, or well-being of a community or society."
"It is 'the process of arousing social concern over an issue,' usually perpetuated by moral entrepreneurs and the mass media, and exacerbated by politicians and lawmakers."
"Moral panic happens when 'a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values & interests.'  While the issues identified may be real, the claims 'exaggerate the seriousness, extent, typicality and/or inevitability of harm.'"
Read 25 tweets
Feb 7
"Salem witch trials: a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. More 200 people accused. 30 found guilty, 19 executed by hanging (14 women and 5 men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead."
"The episode is one of Colonial America's most notorious cases of mass hysteria. It has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations, and lapses in due process."
"It was not unique, but a Colonial American example of the much broader phenomenon of witch trials in the early modern period, which took place also in Europe."
Read 21 tweets
Feb 7
"Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors."
"Human sacrifice has been practiced in many different cultures. The various rationales behind human sacrifice are the same that motivate religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice is typically intended to bring good fortune and to pacify the gods."
"Human sacrifice may be practiced in a stable society, may even be conducive to enhance societal unity, creating a bond unifying the community -- and combining human sacrifice and capital punishment, removing individuals that have a negative effect on societal stability."
Read 6 tweets
Feb 7
"A witch hunt is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft."
"In current language, 'witch hunt' metaphorically means an investigation that is usually conducted with much publicity, supposedly to uncover subversive activity, disloyalty, and so on, but with the real purpose of intimidating political opponents."
"Witch hunts can also involve elements of moral panic and mass hysteria."
Read 9 tweets

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