The Middle Ages burned its heretics and the modern age threatens them with atom bombs.
Interpretation
The quote critiques society's treatment of dissenters throughout history, contrasting past and modern methods of repression.
Harold Innis highlights a grim evolution in how society deals with those who hold opposing views. While the Middle Ages resorted to physical violence by burning heretics, the modern age metaphorically threatens them with the destructive power of atom bombs, suggesting that contemporary society continues to suppress dissent, albeit in more technologically advanced and devastating ways.
In practice
During a debate on free speech, this quote could illustrate the consequences of societal intolerance.
The overwhelming pressure of mechanization evident in the newspaper and the magazine, has led to the creation of vast monopolies of communication. Their entrenched positions involve a continuous, systematic, ruthless destruction of elements of permanence essential to cultural activity.
And you know what it is? San Francisco a golden handcuff with the key thrown away.
The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession.
The search for a life-style involves a journey to the interior. This is not altogether a pleasant experience, because you not only have to take stock of what you consider your assets but you also have to take a long look at what your friends call βthe trouble with you.β Nevertheless, the journey is worth making.
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the proneness of the human mind to take miracles as evidence, and to seek for miracles as evidence.
As Christ was born of the Virgin's womb, so must He be spiritually formed in our hearts. As He died for sin, so must we die to sin. And as He rose again from the dead, so must we also rise to a divine life.
This is the essence of intuitive heuristics: when faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution.
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