Ok, so "duck rape" per se was not weird...it's just a thing animals do to reproduce...
but one day I did see it: duck couple just minding its own business...another male duck flies in, rapes female while the mate tries frantically to remove it by biting it in the neck...it really is pretty bad...🥲
Yes, it is used an instrument of control by callous leaders and to enforce conformity...I was just saying that even intelligent people can believe in it (like they can in modern conspiracy theories), even if it is just a basic requisite of belonging to your community. Unlike Spinoza and Galileo, who got excommunicated for being too public with their free thinking.
PS: same for Mu'tazilism, it failed because it forced rationalism on people...whereas St. Augustine tried a more conciliatory approach.
I mean...many great thinkers in history (Locke, Newton, Rosseau, Voltaire, Smith, PS even Darwin was agnostic, but still theist) did believe in god (maybe it was just a cultural thing, since they could not disprove it), but that did not cloud their judgement of what is true and what is moral...so even they advocated for freedom of religion.
This could also have been because the memory of the european wars of religion (30 years war) was fresh in public memory, like the world wars are in ours.
...leads to dangerous behaviours, feelings of invincibility, superiority, delusions...and worst of all: it's contagious and spreads through speech and culture.
I mean...these days...it's "with great irresponsibility comes great powerlessness", even if you think you have power.