Torture is immoral, illegal, and unjust. So why all this banter about whether or not it’s acceptable?
The United States embodies – or should – the foundational tenet of justice for all. All one need do to determine if something is right is employ a simple litmus test: If my mother/brother/cousin were being held by a foreign government, would I accept <insert brutal treatment> being performed on him/her? If the answer is “No,” then we shouldn’t be doing it either. Torture is cruelty. It is inhumane. It is never justified. It is humankind at its worst. It is only advocated by fearful, mouth-breathing, still-stuck-in-Maslow’s-second-level, shallow, vengeful cowards.
The far-right cerebrally-challenged fearmongers who keep advocating barbarism seem to justify it based on two arguments, used singly or in conjunction:
- Torture produces results.
- Other countries/organizations torture, so why shouldn’t we?
Neither of these justifications can be rationally supported. First off, it’s been documented ad infinitum by everyone – military, intelligence services, psychologists – that torture does not produce reliable results. So strictly from an effectiveness point of view – removing emotion, compassion, justice, and morality from the equation – torture is ineffective.
The second argument – they do it, so we should, too – is so inane as to almost not require a response. This “argument” is as stupid as the clichéd “jumping off a bridge because your friend did.” The actions of another are never any excuse for ours. “Someone stole my soda out of the breakroom refrigerator, so I can steal someone else’s.” “I know a guy that embezzled $40,000 from our local futbol club, so it’s okay if I take money that isn’t mine.” That’s not logic. That’s immorality, plain and simple. It’s acting out of vengeance. It’s childish, unprincipled, unethical, and misguided.
The response to the rabid neocon hypocrites is simple: we don’t torture because it is wrong. It’s unethical. It’s barbaric. It is unjust. It is one of the most horrific violations of decency and morality possible. We’re better than that. It’s easy to be an armchair interrogator and say, “Hell, who cares what we do to them? They deserve it.” It’s a lot harder to set the example and stand up for what is right. But that’s what the United States is about: setting the standard for the world. We’ve forsaken that for awhile here – Bush, Bush and Reagan (with some help from Clinton) unscrewed the light bulb in the beacon of hope – but it’s not too late to reclaim our status. We can start down that path by investigating and prosecuting the criminals – including Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al – responsible for this detour to the dark side.
I know President Obama has said it’s time to turn the page, but – as others have pointed out – you can’t turn the page until you’ve read it. We need to exorcise this cancer that has spread through our country. Yes, it will be painful. Yes, it will take time. But it is necessary.