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Whether torture is right/wrong good/bad boils down very simply. First, let's assume that torture works (i.e. it gives us the answers we want). If we assume it
by klausvanvinkle 11y ago
Whether torture is right/wrong good/bad boils down very simply.
First, let's assume that torture works (i.e. it gives us the answers we want). If we assume it doesn't work then there's no point in torture or this debate. There will always be people who claim that torture works, so let's just assume it does indeed work excellently and 100% of the time.
Second, assume that many innocent people are falsely accused and convicted, because that is true (if you don't believe that, just look at the Innocence Project).
Third, if we know that innocent people are sometimes falsely accused and convicted, then it means it could happen to you, your parents, your children.
So now the only question you have to answer is: Are you OK with the scenario where you, an innocent and falsely accused individual, are tortured, in the interest of public safety? If you are not OK with that happening to you or your children, then you cannot support torture for anyone else either. If you are OK with that, then you have two tasks: 1) when are you volunteering as a torture subject to prove you aren't just saying that, and 2) you must convince everyone else that they should be OK with that if it happens to them (or 51% of the population in a democracy). You might succeed on 1) (doubtful) but you will fail on 2) if all of those people also have to complete task 1).
The conclusion is that it's impossible to torture without introducing a double-standard. Sure, we can do that, but that has the same logic as a law like "I can do anything I want, and you can do nothing, because I'm me and you're not me"?
- SilasX 11y agoI'm not okay with innocent family members being imprisoned. Therefore, no one should be imprisoned ever.
- klausvanvinkle 11y agoGood point, but it's a matter of extremes: Imprisonment can be undone.
- Leszek 11y agoAnd similarly, torture can be stopped. The time and experience of imprisonment cannot be returned.
- andyjohnson0 11y agoThe time and experience of torture cannot be returned either.
- typingdot 11y agoCan the traumatic memory of being in imprisonment can be undone?
- Nononce 11y agoBased on your statement, the correct conclusion would be that no /innocent/ person should be imprisoned, ever. (To which I agree). Torture, like drone murders, false convictions, does and will continue to effect many, many innocent people. It's a matter of moral; is it acceptable to to torture/kill innocent people to accomplish an object or not. Personally, I cannot for the life of me justify torture. Torture, unlike ending someone's life, is something the victim will have to live through, and possible, with, for the rest of his life. It's disgusting to do this to any living thing, let alone a human being.
- nickff 11y agoPersonally, I cannot for the life of me justify imprisonment. Imprisonment, unlike ending someone's life, is something the victim will have to live through, and possible[sic], with, for the rest of his life. note: this is not a statement of my actual beliefs, but a foil to show the error of the post I am responding to.
- SilasX 11y ago>Based on your statement, the correct conclusion would be that no /innocent/ person should be imprisoned, ever. (To which I agree). But the OP was trying to extrapolate from there to "so no one should be tortuted (simply to avoid doing so to an innocent)", and that inference is what I was criticizing.