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Fiction Review by The Drug Stuffed Corpse
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06.08.09
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Simon Whitechapel
Creation Books
Flesh inferno: Atrocities Of Torquemada and The Spanish Inquisition
In the 13th century the christian virus unleashed a systematic and brutal pogrom against heretics, suppressing the crimes of apostasy and witchcraft. The inquisition was deigned a proclamation from god himself and his edict was to be carried out to save the very souls of those who shunned him.
If only the inquisition were truly so altruistic. Simon Whitechapel takes a scholarly view of the roots of christianity and dissects the impetus and eventual enactment of the inquisition. His prose combine historical facts and bible quotations with speculation and opinion. With a didactic certainty Whitechapel obscures the border between the truth and HIS truth. Just as he twists Grand Inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada's surname into an act of providence ('Torque', to torture and 'Mada', to burn) Whitechapel (whom soon after notes that Torquemada's name is actually taken from the name of a village where he was born) twists words and events to suit his own personal agenda. He purports in the introduction to despise both catholicism and judaism, but has made it his mission in Flesh Inferno to disparage every facet of the catholic church while revering the nobility of judaism. While condemning the church on every level as perverse and faulty the iconoclastic author equates catholicism and christianity (C&C) as a virulent disease; which I will not argue that it is. Conversely he is of the opinion that while the torturers of the inquisition were sadists, there was a sincerity in their work; that they truly believed they were saving souls in the afterlife by crippling and destroying people in this lifetime. I disagree; when man is proffered absolute power - no matter how pious, cracks in their stoic devotion will eventually appear. His postulation is that the inquisitors assuaged the feeling of guilt through the belief in god and the notion that these souls would be lost if not for their actions. This is, of course, another personal conclusion and not documented proof. C&C are evil incarnate - of that there is no question. Those polluted minds of the church may have initially believed their own hubris, but looking from the outside in, they would eventually comprehend that they revelled in their duties as torturers Additionally, his analogy comparing the inquisition to nazism (and to a lesser extent, communism) uses questionable logic and vague generalities; the parallels are present, however they coexist with many other factions, groups, governments and regimes. He accuses the catholic's of casuistry yet is guilty of the same when discussing both groups' (catholics and nazis) need to protect their purity, but fails to relate his earlier statement that "Judaism is obsessed with purity quite enough for Judaism to be called a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder," from which catholics used a blueprint for their own regime. I despise all religions equally and hate people not for their religious affiliation, but for their need for religious affiliation. Conversely Whitechapel's psychological inferences of conditioning and prayer astutely reveal the dark undercurrent of mental anguish created not only by torture, or fear of torture, but by a conditioned response manifested by prayers recited at the onset of torture. While I disagree with most of his opinions, Flesh Inferno nonetheless is a compelling read rife with ecclesiastic contempt and lurid details of atrocities and suffering. And if it proves anything, it's that religion is fundamentally depraved and rules through fear and intimidation and not peace and love.
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Rating: nan out of 10.0 - votes cast total
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