Comments on: On Torturers http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:03:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Tony http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/comment-page-1/#comment-4704 Tony Wed, 21 Dec 2005 05:58:14 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/#comment-4704 Hey Steve, you people just don't listen, do you? Did you read this article at all? This man was not being tortured simply for the sake of being tortured. He was being tortured because his captors WANTED SOMETHING FROM HIM. But of course, his captors are evil, right, and our torturers are good, so its not the same, or something like that...jeez...the point is that unless you are a sociopath, and lets hope there aren't too many of those working for us, then you will recognize the person you are torturing is a human being who is feeling pain from what you are doing. That human being may be hiding a piece of information that you want or he may not, but nonetheless, he is a human being, and any human being cannot help but hurt when inflicting pain on another human being. Especially slow, drawn out, medieval-style pain. Any of our officers that do this cannot help but be haunted by their actions, even if it produces something useful. Hey Steve, you people just don’t listen, do you? Did you read this article at all? This man was not being tortured simply for the sake of being tortured. He was being tortured because his captors WANTED SOMETHING FROM HIM. But of course, his captors are evil, right, and our torturers are good, so its not the same, or something like that…jeez…the point is that unless you are a sociopath, and lets hope there aren’t too many of those working for us, then you will recognize the person you are torturing is a human being who is feeling pain from what you are doing. That human being may be hiding a piece of information that you want or he may not, but nonetheless, he is a human being, and any human being cannot help but hurt when inflicting pain on another human being. Especially slow, drawn out, medieval-style pain. Any of our officers that do this cannot help but be haunted by their actions, even if it produces something useful.

]]> By: steve sturm http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/comment-page-1/#comment-4676 steve sturm Tue, 20 Dec 2005 20:27:33 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/#comment-4676 I think it's misleading to use an example of torture for torture's sake in order to condemn using torture for the purpose of gaining information to protect American lives. Torture for torture's sake is wrong and can surely be expected to have negative consequences for those engaged in it (to the extent that they're not already deranged). But those engaged in torturing terrorists to gain information - not to inflict pain for pain's sake - may very well have a much more positive experience... The question is: do you not realize there's a difference, do you not care that there is a difference... or are you just glossing over the difference in order to make a point? Full post here: <a href="http://thoughtsonline.blogspot.com/2005/12/to-me-theres-world-of-difference.html" rel="nofollow">Thoughtsonline</a> I think it’s misleading to use an example of torture for torture’s sake in order to condemn using torture for the purpose of gaining information to protect American lives. Torture for torture’s sake is wrong and can surely be expected to have negative consequences for those engaged in it (to the extent that they’re not already deranged). But those engaged in torturing terrorists to gain information – not to inflict pain for pain’s sake – may very well have a much more positive experience…

The question is: do you not realize there’s a difference, do you not care that there is a difference… or are you just glossing over the difference in order to make a point?

Full post here: Thoughtsonline

]]> By: Joshua http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/comment-page-1/#comment-4659 Joshua Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:13:31 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/#comment-4659 Belgravia Dispatch has what may be the blogosphere's <i>magnum opus</i> of all torture-related posts <a href="http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/archives/004927.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Belgravia Dispatch has what may be the blogosphere’s magnum opus of all torture-related posts here.

]]> By: Dave Schuler http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/comment-page-1/#comment-4647 Dave Schuler Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:14:49 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2005/12/19/on-torturers/#comment-4647 I've made this very point <a href="http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=1534" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://theglitteringeye.com/?p=1539" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Another casualty: our institutions. I’ve made this very point here and here. Another casualty: our institutions.

]]>