Interrogated for Nothing: Difference between revisions

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* There's one story about a man tortured by the Khmer Rouge who told interrogators that he was [[The Pope]], a [[Hermaphrodite]], and an American spy. As some have said, presumably the interrogators were feeling bored that day.

* Up until the Nineteenth Century, people in Europe were often accused of witchcraft. The vast majority of the accused, believe it or not, were not witches. This did not stop the interrogators from torturing them in an attempt to gain a confession of witchcraft. In the event that the accused made no confessions, they were deemed to be obstinate and the level of torture was escalated until they either did confess or expired.<br /><br />It's a pretty fair bet that in this case, they weren't just looking for an admission that yes, you were practicing dark magic; they were after a recantation, too. [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|After which they'd probably kill you anyway, although in a much less harsh fashion than burning,]] in order to [[From a Certain Point of View|safeguard your soul]] from future temptations.

* Up until the Nineteenth Century, people in Europe were often accused of witchcraft. The vast majority of the accused, believe it or not, were not witches. This did not stop the interrogators from torturing them in an attempt to gain a confession of witchcraft. In the event that the accused made no confessions, they were deemed to be obstinate and the level of torture was escalated until they either did confess or expired.

It's a pretty fair bet that in this case, they weren't just looking for an admission that yes, you were practicing dark magic; they were after a recantation, too. [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|After which they'd probably kill you anyway, although in a much less harsh fashion than burning,]] in order to [[From a Certain Point of View|safeguard your soul]] from future temptations.

** Not to mention that, if you were convicted, all your worldly possessions and wealth would become the property of the witch hunters, so there wasn't a lot of incentive to find you not guilty...

*** This was ironically enough one of the reasons why many Catholic clergymen turned ''against'' the [[Witch Hunt~~|Witch Hunts~~]], as they often gave final confessions to accused 'witches' who tearfully admitted that they'd lied, even know they faced a horrible death, just to end the torture. Unfortunately the mostly-secular witch hunters ignored this with a "Just goes to show you, those bloody priests don't know how to handle these witches."

*** This was ironically enough one of the reasons why many Catholic clergymen turned ''against'' the [[Witch Hunt]]s, as they often gave final confessions to accused 'witches' who tearfully admitted that they'd lied, even know they faced a horrible death, just to end the torture. Unfortunately the mostly-secular witch hunters ignored this with a "Just goes to show you, those bloody priests don't know how to handle these witches."

** This is still done today in [[Witch Hunt~~|Witch Hunts~~]] throughout the Third World, except when they go straight from accusation to the 'incredibly brutal execution' phase. Oh, and they very often kill most of your relatives too, just in case the witchcraft is [[In the Blood]].

** This is still done today in [[Witch Hunt]]s throughout the Third World, except when they go straight from accusation to the 'incredibly brutal execution' phase. Oh, and they very often kill most of your relatives too, just in case the witchcraft is [[In the Blood]].

*** There is again a profit motive, the victims are often poor people (e.g. old single women) killed when the family is too poor to afford their keep. It's a way to provide moral justification for putting your elders out in the snow, in the absence of snow. Shamans who claim to be able to cure witches do so by taking them in and paying for their keep until things get better and the person is 'cured' (rituals are involved, as well as paying for their keep).