It wasn't the "Catholic Church" that got this banned, it was the Catholic League, a right-wing traditionalist Catholic organization that is pretty controversial, kind of like a Catholic Christian Coalition.

Most Catholics think the Catholic League is completely insane, but that doesn't stop Donahue from pretending that their reactionary, incendiary tactics are orders from God.

That being said, this really is a completely misleading portrayal of the Spanish Inquisition in light of what was happening all over Europe. It's a funny cartoon and everything, but it can be interpreted as being both anti-Catholic and anti-educational.

At least those persecuted under the Inquisition were given a trial, and the death tolls were much lower than in other places. Besides, heresy was something everyone believed in, and Spain during this time was the only place where, if you were accused of heresy, you could get a trial, and if you were a Jew (or a Muslim) your life could even be spared and your right to property ACKNOWLEDGED.

Living under the Inquisition was far more preferable than say, the Reformation, or Counter-Reformation, or anywhere where death was meted out on the whims of fickle rulers. Witch hunts were at their least brutal in places where the Inquisition was in effect. It was time of relative law, order and fairness in a period of immense suffering, poverty and pestilence. This is why prisoners all over Europe would blaspheme intentionally so that they could be transferred to prisons under the Inquisition.

@baleen: Either way, I'd rather not live under any kind of theocracy, thanks.

"At least those persecuted under the Inquisition were given a trial..."

Given that it was persecution in the first place, I don't see how that was that big of a plus.

You would see how it was a big plus... If you lived in the Middle Ages.

Still though, I get what you're saying. Because you hate religion you have no interest in historical accuracy. Fair enough.

I don't "hate religion" or dislike historical accuracy. For one, it's a cartoon. Secondly, do you condone either the inquisition or the acts of other zealots committing torture and homicide in the name of God?

I don't dispute what you're saying about thei Inquisition. What I do dispute is any thought of their acts as just because others did far worse. One does not excuse the other, especially from a group claiming to serve a peaceful and loving deity.

Apologetics do not aid history.

How am I apologizing? Of course it's only a cartoon, but it's completely wrong.

This is perpetuating the "Black Legend," Reformist propaganda meant to attack the Catholic Church, which I am not arguing deserved to be attacked as much as any religion at the time. It's being directed toward children, however, and under the guise of historical "edutainment," and is reaffirming that the Inquisition was the worst of religious persecution and that Catholics were somehow unique in this persecution, when in fact it was the opposite. The courts of the Spanish Inquisition, while guilty of persecution in today's egalitarian age, was considered the be the fairest and least corrupt court of its day, and most were able to escape it basically unscathed.

This Black Legend was used by our very own government to help perpetuate the Spanish American War, so indeed it is relevant for many reasons, especially when you're talking about educating children.

I have no problem reading the works of Thomas Jefferson and recognizing their importance, even though he probably raped black women and whipped slaves to blow off steam every once and a while. Why am I able to do this? Because I am able to embrace history as part of an organic constant and step into history as if it were still alive and relevant, as I'm sure you are too.

An enchiridion, as my word of the day calendar tells me!

Not really, Cog. It sounds mostly like decent voice actors working under poor direction.

ALL THE WAY FROM CASTILE, SPAIN

TORQUEMONDA! SI! SI!!

I used to really like this show when I was younger. It also managaed to get away with quoting general Sherman's "War is Hell" line. (General Sherman was portrayed as being Pee Wee Herman, by the way)

Sly Stallone as Julius Ceaser

Woody Allen as Brutus.


Jerry Seinfeld as Abe Lincoln

Wayne Knight as Jefferson Davis

Here was the upsetting bit about Histeria: It wasn't funny, but it also wasn't educational, because it would conflate actual history with little bits and bobs of untrue things that it thought were funny (see previous), so it was actually sort of a service of disinformation for kids who suffered through the thing in an effort to learn something and came away less informed than they came in. So it's kind of like Fox News in that regard.

how many kids saw history of the world?

me.

iradiated troglodytes aren't kids

Oh yeah I was like 11-12 years old when I saw it for the first time.

Me!

The show was fantastic. Sometimes children's cartoons are for children.

And sometimes, like in the case of this show, they are terrible.