Second, the Plotters were, to a man, dumb as a bag of rocks. Seeing the actions of the Plotters through a rosy modern glow, as "fighters for freedom of conscience" is just wrong. Sadly, that was the name of the game at the time: the Catholics tortured and executed the Protestants, the Protestants tortured and executed the Catholics, and the Inquisition tortured and executed the Protestants, Jews and free-thinkers. They weren't fighting for freedom from persecution, but for freedom TO persecute anyone who disagreed with them. Let's clarify a couple of things: the Gunpowder Plotters were NOT martyrs for religious freedom. Fifty pages from the end, and I've given up: the plot has been discovered, the main Plotters are dead, and there may only be the final details to tidy away, but I've finally had enough of Fraser's special pleading for these terrorists, and the Jesuits who enabled them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |