THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 8, 1995 TAG: 9501060186
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: On the Street
SOURCE: Bill Reed
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
We start the new year with hope for a kinder, gentler 12 months to come - or at least we should.
It's gotta improve.
An all-time low in human behavior took place last week when two women were killed in a hail of bullets at a Massachusetts abortion clinic.
The alleged gunman, John C. Salvi III, then apparently tried to repeat the deed at a Norfolk clinic on New Year's Eve, but was nabbed by police and tossed in the clink before more lives were lost.
To top it off, local anti-abortionist extremist Donald Spitz gloated over the slaughter of the women and hailed Salvi as a pro-life hero.
The justification, harumphed Spitz to any print or TV reporter who had the stomach to listen, is that the victims were responsible - one way or another - for killing thousands of unborn babies.
In that one defining moment, it became all too clear to anyone with any common sense or civility, that the kooks finally have decided to convince the unconvinced in America that abortion is reprehensible by murdering folks at high profile abortion clinics.
If rational discourse can't change minds, then Smith & Wesson can, the reasoning seems to be.
This mindset harks back to those glorious days of the Spanish Inquisition, when religious tenets were forged by a torturer's tongs or an executioner's ax.
In those days, some 500 years ago, that great humanitarian, Torquemada, was sanctioned by Pope Gregory IX to root out so-called heretics and convince 'em that there was only one true religion.
Bear in mind that this same religion - just as it is today - was based on love, forgiveness, charity and ultimate redemption.
Nevertheless, Gregory IX and Torquemada apparently didn't like the way many of their neighbors viewed love, forgiveness, charity and redemption.
A little too loosie-goosie with their interpretation of the language of prayer and their views of the authority of the religious hierarchy, church bigwigs decided. Not enough attention to detail, not enough awe and respect.
So, with his happy band of inquisitors in tow, Torquemada proceeded to try to change things, with a little iron, a little fire and a lot of muscle.
Now Torquemada and the boys didn't have the benefit of semi-automatic assault rifles or shotguns to persuade unbelievers.
They were saddled with slower, cruder, more exquisitely cruel means of behavior modification down in their dungeons - like racks, thumb screws, garrotes, iron masks rigged with spikes, toasty fires at the stake, slicing and dicing rituals.
Not very subtle, but these methods - primitive as they were - were effective in convincing folks of the error of their ways.
Yes sir, persuasion in those days was raised to a high art. Torture, terrorism, mayhem and murder became the preferred tools of the righteous and pious for marketing beliefs and establishing morals.
Of course, they didn't have the potential for killing off as many helpless, unarmed people as quickly and efficiently as we do now.
Gun powder and Plastique vastly improved the effectiveness of modern zealots. They can take out entire jet airliners and Marine garrisons in one fell swoop these days.
To accomplish the same thing back in the 1400s, Torquemada and his band of merry men would have had to have spent months, maybe years.
One thing hasn't really changed in all this time.
We still go about trying to alter opinions with the same ignorance, self-righteousness and brutishness that those jolly old inquisitors did.
And we still don't realize - after all these years - that the methods didn't work then and won't work now. by CNB