Since we (the public) found out that the U.S. was torturing prisoners suspected of involvement in terrorist acts, I’ve seen a variety of reactions from various groups. I think we’ve all probably noticed them, so that should be obvious. I must say, though, that I have been surprised by how wide the range of reactions has been…what could I be talking about? Hmmmm… I’ve noticed select groups behaving in an almost defensive manner, which I find very interesting. I’m not going to go into detail here about who, but I would like to pick apart the argument a bit, if only for my own amusement. One such argument is that even though we were torturing people, and even though it was wrong, that the government shouldn’t have released that information to the public. The argument is that releasing the information to the public is bad for the ‘public image’ of the government. I’m sorry, but I seem to have missed something here… Participatory Democracy, anyone??? What? What? Some would also argue that torture was justified, given the circumstances. We ‘needed’ information that these people had, right? Aside from the widely discrepant views on the accuracy of information acquired from torture victims due to the extreme emotional and mental stresses being suffered by said victims, the way that these specific people talk about torture seems shockingly cavalier, even from the perspective of a grossly overindulgent vulgarian undergraduate… Do we even remember what torture is? Just to be sure…
torture (dictionary.com)
-noun:
1. the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
Excruciating pain? Doesn’t really sound like much of a picnic to me; at very least colossally worse than what it sounds when these ‘people’ talk about it… where did these people come from, anyways? I could go on forever, but I would prefer at this time to make my point to the discussed groups, as well as select others: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil doesn’t mean there is no evil. Pretending something isn’t there doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Reality is reality, whether you see it or not. Point being, I find these groups of ‘people’, and their arguments, to be very obnoxious and highly obtuse.
On a somewhat lighter note, I feel a certain amount of elation at the fact that we have admitted, and released to the public, that the U.S. has tortured, and that further investigations are under way. The reason I am glad is because, as we all know, the first step in changing yourself (or your family, community, country, etc.) is admitting there is a problem and then seriously addressing the problem. I feel genuinely pleased with Obama’s performance thus far, and he’s done more things I support in 2 months than our former president managed to do in eight long, excruciating years. Wait… excruciating pain from our inarguably infamous former president while we watch his boneheaded actions; the resulting stress leading to severe nail-biting, a feeling of overall desperation and dismay? Sounds like excruciating pain to me…and prolonged as well. Could we be victims of torture?!?! Well, if we were, at least now it feels like we’re entering a period of convalescence.
torture (dictionary.com)
-noun:
1. the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.
Excruciating pain? Doesn’t really sound like much of a picnic to me; at very least colossally worse than what it sounds when these ‘people’ talk about it… where did these people come from, anyways? I could go on forever, but I would prefer at this time to make my point to the discussed groups, as well as select others: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil doesn’t mean there is no evil. Pretending something isn’t there doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Reality is reality, whether you see it or not. Point being, I find these groups of ‘people’, and their arguments, to be very obnoxious and highly obtuse.
On a somewhat lighter note, I feel a certain amount of elation at the fact that we have admitted, and released to the public, that the U.S. has tortured, and that further investigations are under way. The reason I am glad is because, as we all know, the first step in changing yourself (or your family, community, country, etc.) is admitting there is a problem and then seriously addressing the problem. I feel genuinely pleased with Obama’s performance thus far, and he’s done more things I support in 2 months than our former president managed to do in eight long, excruciating years. Wait… excruciating pain from our inarguably infamous former president while we watch his boneheaded actions; the resulting stress leading to severe nail-biting, a feeling of overall desperation and dismay? Sounds like excruciating pain to me…and prolonged as well. Could we be victims of torture?!?! Well, if we were, at least now it feels like we’re entering a period of convalescence.
