On Apr 21, 2009, at 7:55 AM, Roger Howard wrote: > > On Mon, 20 Apr 2009 16:46:01 -0700, Chris Gehlker <[email protected]> > wrote: >> <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/bye-bye-bybee_b_189226.html >> > >> >> I've seen so many posts that act as if the Torture was solely the >> responsibility of a few bad people. The fact is that most Americans >> had a pretty good idea of what was going on, many approved, and a >> substantial number still do. > > Americans will only get it when some of our own are captured/ > imprisoned, > whether reasonably or not, and subjected to the same abuses. The > outrage > will fly.
This is way too optimistic. Having Americans subject to torture would only make Americans more enthusiastic toward torture themselves. > > Even then, though, only maybe half will mentally equate it with the > same > scenario in reverse. American exceptionalism is blinding. Again, way too optimistic. The impulse to respond to cruelty with even more cruelty is hardly limited to Americans. I strongly doubt it is even limited to homo sapiens. What keeps the discussion from being productive is this notion that torture can somehow act as truth serum. Even the name 'Enhanced Interrogation Technique' implies that the point was to gain information. The point was to inflict suffering on Moslems. I have a Moslem American friend who admits that when he say the video of Palestinians cheering after 9/11 he 'just wanted to smash their faces in' women and children as well as the men. I can't help but think that simply acknowledging that the point of the torture was to inflict suffering on those who we suspected of rejoicing in our suffering would be a small step in the right direction. -- In America, anybody can be president. That's one of the risks you take. -Adlai Stevenson, statesman (1900-1965) _______________________________________________ OSX-Nutters mailing list | [email protected] http://lists.tit-wank.com/mailman/listinfo/osx-nutters List hosted at http://cat5.org/
