The numbers aren’t really the issue. As WF Tomba says the Spanish inquisition is more notorious for the methods it employed. Add to that the fact that it was carried out to persecute witches (i.e. women, most of whom had done absolutely nothing) and the massively detrimental effect it had on the intellectual progress of Spain. Whilst I’ve never seen this theorised by a historian I wouldn’t be surprised if the inquisition contributed either directly or indirectly to the eventual collapse of the Spanish empire - as everyone else was racing ahead, Spain was trying to stay in the past.
Also the Spanish inquisition was only the one we hear the most about, there were inquisitions in every Catholic country (and I’m willing to be that figure you quoted didn’t include all the people killed by the church in that period alone for heresy, other crimes against the church or in the auto de fes).
Why is Average not so great? Because purely bell-shaped-curve speaking, it’s the most common level of skill, and not a measure of actual ability.
It’s not saying they only follow half the rules, or do everything half-assed. In fact it’s saying they are part of the majority group and follow the rules at the same level most other people do.
Well, except for those witches and heretics (the latter was more important to the Inquisition AIUI, and presumably had done something) who were male, of course…
Yes, yes it is. Learned that the hard way.
An eye opener for me is that we can not even begin to explain sleep or consciousness with any definite certainty or even an inkling as to what either might be.
That many Jordanians have as much of a beef with the Palestinians as with the Israelis – they believe/understand that both groups (generally speaking) have tried to grab power and/or land in Jordan in the last 50 years. For this and other reasons, Jordanian Jordanians sometimes (or often, depending on who you ask) discriminate against Palestinian Jordanians.
That many kids in many places grow up just fine without diapers.
That in Vietnam, my dad didn’t fly a helicopter just to take bigwigs from here to there as I somehow remember him telling me when I was younger. He flew combat missions. People shot at my daddy. I’m lucky to have him.
The Spanish Inquisition had a great deal more to do with “blood purity” in Spain than it did with killing innocent women. The real “problem” they were trying to “solve” was the sheer number of Jews and Muslims in the country. The Inquisition either killed them, converted them, or drove them underground. While I’m sure people took advantage of the turbulent times to turn some woman over to the Inquisitors, I hardly think that “the fact it was carried out to persecute witches” is really a fact at all.
I think that too - I’ll be walking around in a crowded area looking at the people and being a bit in my own world and suddenly think “everyone is someone”. Each person has their own life, history, thoughts, dreams, beliefs… it’s like there are 6 billion worlds on this planet.
I remember thinking about the nervous system and how incredibly fast it was. I mean, you have little membrane-bound vesicles drifting over to the cell membrane, fusing, and blobbing out neurotransmitters into a synapse, which then drift over and bind to receptors, causing them to open up and let in ions until the voltage changes a certain amount, triggering another set of ion channels , et cetera et cetera, and it all happens thousands of times per second. Amazingly fast.
Then I realized that we were all sensing and thinking ata speed limited by all of these molecules drifting around and bumping into each other, so of course it seemed fast. :smack:
I always thought this saying was so dumb, “No matter where you go, there you are.” But it’s true!
I always pictured visiting foreign places as exciting and almost magical. Like my whole self would be different if I were in Paris or Moscow or Cairo.
But then you are in Paris or Moscow or Cairo and you have to go to the bathroom and you little toe hurts from where you stubbed it and you aren’t sure where to go go to buy a strap to replace the one that broke on your backpack. You’re in Paris or Moscow or Cairo and you still are just you, dealing with everyday problems and feelings.
I’m not sure that’s true - I hold plenty of opinions that I’m not convinced are right per se just the one that I hold. I have lots of conversations where I’m open to persuasion or being convinced of an alternative way of thinking if the reasoning/evidence is good enough.
But yes, some people go through life convinced that everything they think (no matter how ridiculous or lacking in any grounding in logic) is right.
It looks like some more eye-opening facts are in order. It is true that the idea of the Inquisition set up to deal with women is a myth. The idea of the Inquisition set up to deal with Jews and Muslims is also a myth. The facts are:
The Spanish Inquisition was set up protect persons accused of heresy from unwarranted and cruel punishment. Back in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church had difficulty enforcing its rule in remote regions. Many local rulers ran their own courts and basically made up their own rules. One goal of the inquisition was to ensure uniformity of process.
There was no particular focus on witchcraft or on women, nor on Jews. Most people tried by first Inquisition were Cathars. The Spanish Inquisition tried members from a variety of sects and cults dubbed heretics for a variety of reasons. Later it also tried a substantial number of Protestants. As a matter of fact, the Spanish Inquisition worked to prevent the spread of hysteria about witchcraft.
People were not tortured as a means of forcing confessions. In fact, the Spanish Inquisition was widley praised in its time for its fairness. There are records of people who went out of their way to be tried by the Spanish Inquisition, rather than by secular authorities.
Execution was rare. Torture was rare. Burning at the stake did not happen. Most forms of torture supposedly performed by the inquisition were fictional.
The common view of the Spanish Inquisition was a myth created by Protestants for purposes of anti-Catholic propaganda. (And hence atheists who repeat those myths are actually parroting Protestant fables. Oh, the irony!) Professional historians have known the truth for many generations, but popular culture tends to lag behind.
(Also, I’d be interested in seeing a cite for the claims that “there were inquisitions in every Catholic country”. When exactly was the Irish Inquisition active? How about the Finnish inquisition?)
I believe the word should not be average, which can easily be skewed by one value being much higher/lower than the others. It should be median - meaning that half of a group are higher and half are lower.