Over the past week, I've been on a research track....looking at the great evils of social media in Germany, and comparing against the arrival of the printing press technology (1500s/1600s).
So one of the 'tools' of the printing press...became pamphlets. So.....some examples:
1. Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools), written by Sebastian Brant (1494)....this was a collection of stories (satire)....mostly stories revolving around greed, lust and crazy folks.
2. Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), by Heinrich Kramer (1487)....fictionalized summary on witchcraft...treated as 'fact'. Influenced a lot of people to believe in real witches.
3. Ein kurtze underweysung wie man beichten soll, by Martin Luther (1519)...basically a short summary on the proper way to confess (your lifestyle, your woes, your mistakes).
4. On the Jews and Their Lies, by Martin Luther (1543)....short but controversial anti-Jewish pamphlet.
There are three observations I can make. First, the more controversial the pamphlet.....the greater odds of the salesman selling out as he marketed the pamphlet. Second, 1500s to today....BS sells. Third, as much as the Catholic Church tried to hinder or control printing presses....they mostly failed.
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