Don't Know Much About History

It may surprise Alex to learn that Galileo was not persecuted for his beliefs in the round-earth theory but instead the heliocentric theory. Also, Galileo was never "locked up", the man was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.

This would have been just a typical flub of one's history (which is as American as apple pie), yet Alex likened his controversial beliefs and persecution to one of the most briliant men that had ever lived and did not know why or how he was persecuted.