"Practicing Cathars were vegans. When the hostess returned and found the chicken alive, she asked her guests why they had not killed them. According to Planissoles, "they responded that if the hostess would kill them, they would prepare them but that they would not kill them. The hostess heard that and went to tell the inquisitors that two heretics were in her establishment. They were arrested and burned.""
"Today, the means are different but the methods are similar. If, let's say, you want to snitch against a neighbor, all you need to do is sign in and click "submit tip" on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) form or use an app to photograph someone suspected of "wrongdoing" according to you. Similar gesture, similar intent to "snitch," but different contexts, scales, and power relations."
Denunciation by ordinary neighbors could trigger arrests, trials, and executions during the medieval Inquisition. An example describes two Cathar women tested at an inn for their refusal to kill chickens; the hostess reported them and they were burned. Contemporary systems make similar informing easier through online forms, tip submissions, and smartphone apps that let people report or photograph suspected wrongdoers. These mechanisms preserve the same individual willingness to inform, though they operate with different technologies, scales, and power relations. The practice of turning others in has recurred across contexts and eras, sometimes producing grave and unjust consequences.
Read at Medievalists.net
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