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"Medical professionals were in effect told that their ethical mantra "first do no harm" did not apply, because they were not treating people who were ill." Who
by GuerraEarth 13y ago
"Medical professionals were in effect told that their ethical mantra "first do no harm" did not apply, because they were not treating people who were ill."
Who among adult reasoning men or women would believe this premise? Are we all turned to geese?
Snowden for President would be a fine thing.
- VladRussian2 13y ago>Are we all turned to geese? no, unfortunately we're humans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
- pyre 13y agoI don't buy that the Milgram experiment can be used to explain everything. A better explanation is probably that there is a lot of implied "or else..." when you're being asked to follow orders in a national security context.
- VladRussian2 13y agoMilgram experiment clearly shows relative weights with which we perceive two alternatives : 1. a negative effect on ourselves vs. 2. a negative effect on somebody else. In the experiment the 1. was practically non-existent, zero - some researcher telling you what to do, no real authority, no any chance of bad consequences, while 2. - electric shock, heart attack - hard to beat, yet people still chosen 2. Now, in the torture situation we have the alternative 1. with reasonable perception of potential bad consequnces much higher than in the experiment, ie. pretty seriously sounding very plausible "or else..." from real authority while 2. is significantly lower because it is just terrorist, bad guy, and who will be tortured anyway. People making choice 2. when difference was higher (in the experiment) necessarily and obviously means that they would make such choice when difference is less, like in this case of torture.
- baddox 13y agoSnowden is not old enough to be a US President.
- theorique 13y agoAlso, he's not a US citizen. (Edit: error on my part. His passport was revoked, which is what I was citing, but apparently he remains a citizen.)
- GuerraEarth 13y agoOh baddox, you are right, (I forgot) and alas, it is young idealists whom we so often need to lead us into the future. Those Revolutionary lads founding our country were below presidential age bar and that is why they were so mighty--they were still idealists full of passion.
- Locke1689 13y agoRevolutionary lads founding our country were below presidential age bar Uh... no they weren't.
- trentmb 13y agoI don't know the full details, but what if these doctors were presented with the following: > We're going to torture these suspects with or without you. However, with your assistance, we can 'maximize' the effectiveness of the interrogation while 'minimizing' actual physical damage.
- jlgreco 13y agoThe purpose of involving doctors would be to ease the consciences of the other torturers, and to extend the amount that anyone could be tortured to the medical limit. Those doctors should have refused, and run straight to the media. Yes, running to the media would have no doubt been in violation of their orders, but following those orders is a far greater offense. They get absolutely no sympathy from me, they should be tried for their crimes.