Inquisition
Explanation:
The term ‘Inquisition’ in modern parlance is often used to refer to the persecution of any group that is unpopular or which the writer feels is being oppressed. In the medieval period, inquisitio (inquisition) was a legal term that referred to a particular legal process, consisting of the interrogation of a suspect by an officer of the court. This process, derived from Roman law, became common in the thirteenth century. The term inquisitio was used to distinguish it from earlier legal practice, pursuant to which plaintiffs were required to prove the criminal behavior they complained of. Thus, the term ‘inquisition’ in the Middle Ages simply referred to a particular kind of legal process. There did exist a subset of ‘inquisition’, called the ‘inquisition into heretical depravity’, used to prosecute alleged heretics, but this existed alongside the general criminal process of inquisition. During the Middle Ages, inquisition was a local process; in the case of heresy, there were individual inquisitors appointed by the pope in specific locations. There was no centralized office of ‘The Inquisition’ in the medieval period – until the sixteenth century Spanish Inquisition (later expanding to other places such as Portugal, Rome, and Venice) – largely in order to ferret out converted Jews who practiced Judaism in secret.
Examples:
1. "Letter to the editor: Conservative students deserve an apology". Rocky Mountain Collegian: Colorado State University. April 1, 2018 Sunday.
“Dear editor, in response to the article "Thousands take to CSU campus in demonstration against hate, 'bias-motivated incidents'" published on March 29: CSU sponsored the "No Place for H8" event, an event that sought to unify the entire campus against hate. Conservative and Libertarian students do not feel the "unity" recently celebrated at our campus. In fact, our community sees Colorado State as a university of hostility. "Students Against White Supremacy" falsely accused conservative individuals of white supremacy in a neo-Chavista fashion. The word "racist" has become the new message of the inquisition.”
2. Baron Bodissey. "Who is Responsible?". Gates of Vienna. July 6, 2015 Monday.
Jul 06, 2015 (Gates of Vienna: http://gatesofvienna.net/ Delivered by Newstex) Our Israeli correspondent MC sends this essay on personal integrity vs. collective rights, and the larger questions raised by these issues in the ongoing battles of the Culture Wars. Who is Responsible?
MC: “The ISIS infiltration of Hamas-controlled Gaza and the Sinai is significant. It means that the people there want more Islam, not less. More violence, and even more gruesome epics that tell the world that Muslims are macho. We must therefore understand what incites males to the butchery of their fellow beings. It is something that is there in all of us, and we have seen it erupting wherever and whenever Judeo-Christianity is under pressure. The Inquisition was one such event, as were the politico-religious purges of the 18th and 20th centuries.”
3. Zero Hedge. "Germany Unleashes New 'Ministry Of Truth'". Phil's Stock World. January 25, 2017 Wednesday.
“A witch hunt was already under way against the American website Breitbart, due to the closeness of its former executive chair, Steve Bannon, to Donald Trump. Without providing any kind of proof, countless German newspapers and broadcasters claimed[18] that Breitbart was 'racist', 'sexist', 'xenophobic', 'anti-Semitic' and 'Islamophobic', and a 'hate site'. The state-owned German television station ARD described Breitbart as an 'ultra right-wing' platform for 'white supremacy'. Other journalists followed suit. Those Not Reading Newspapers are Suspect. Hensel went one step farther. In the style of a prosecutor during the Inquisition, he called to break the 'dominance of right-wing micro media'.”
4. “The Mountain View Inquisition.” Editorial. The National Review. August 8, 2017. (accessed 7/12/19)
“Alphabet, the parent company of Google, probably broke state and federal laws in its firing of engineer James Damore, who questioned the value and efficacy of the company’s diversity programs in an in-house forum intended for such discussion…. But Google here is guilty of more than cowardly accommodation: It has become the inquisitor, the persecutor, the enforcer of dogma, the suppressor.”
5. “FordHenry”, Letter to the Editor, The Daily Stormer. March 24, 2019. (Letter responding to New Zealand’s ban on Brenton Tarrant’s manifesto in the wake of the Christchurch shooting.) https://bbs.thegoyimknow.to/t/new-zealand-bans-brenton-tarrants-self-defense-manifesto-citizens-told-to-destroy-copies/319070 (accessed 7/12/19)
“They’ve initiated an Inquisition against freedom of both thought and speech in N.Z. It is the first strike of Communist Totalitarianism. They are now at war with their own citizens’ right to self-govern. They are essentially declaring all subjects to be slaves of state.”
References/Further Reading:
Kelly, Henry Ansgar. “Inquisition and the Prosecution of Heresy: Misconceptions and Abuses.” Church History 58, no. 4 (1989), pp. 439-451.
Kieckhefer, Richard. “The Office of Inquisition and Medieval Heresy: The Transition from Personal to Institutional Jurisdiction.” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 46, no. 1 (1995), pp. 36-61.
Peters, Edward. Inquisition. New York and London: Macmillan, 1998.