Torture?

[☭proletarian☭]

What is torture? Are all acts that can be deemed torture equal in cruelty or moral standing? Can any act of torture ever be justified?

 

[xotoxi]

What is torture?

Reading a post by ☭proletarian☭.

Are all acts that can be deemed torture equal in cruelty or moral standing?

I cannot think of any form of torture that is worse than reading a post by ☭proletarian☭.

Can any act of torture ever be justified?

If the act of torture in question is an alternative to reading a post by ☭proletarian☭, then that act of torture is more than justified.

 

[George Costanza]

What is torture? Are all acts that can be deemed torture equal in cruelty or moral standing? Can any act of torture ever be justified?

The simple definition of torture is: Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person.

I don't think all acts of torture are necessarily equal in terms of cruelty. Some forms of torture are obviously more cruel than others. The moral question is more difficult. There are those who would say that any act of torture is morally reprehensible. Others would hold that moral responsibility increases with severity and decreases with lack of severity.

I do not believe that any act of torture can ever be justified. I know, I know . . . they are going to kill my wife and children unless we torture the location of my loved ones out of the bad guy. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, my first statement stands.

Good thread. Should produce some interesting discussion.

 

[xotoxi]

What is torture? Are all acts that can be deemed torture equal in cruelty or moral standing? Can any act of torture ever be justified?

The simple definition of torture is: Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person.

I don't think all acts of torture are necessarily equal in terms of cruelty. Some forms of torture are obviously more cruel than others. The moral question is more difficult. There are those who would say that any act of torture is morally reprehensible. Others would hold that moral responsibility increases with severity and decreases with lack of severity.

I do not believe that any act of torture can ever be justified. I know, I know . . . they are going to kill my wife and children unless we torture the location of my loved ones out of the bad guy. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, my first statement stands.

Good thread. Should produce some interesting discussion.

Thanks for your input. Now I have a question for you: What is shrinkage?

 

[George Costanza]

What is torture? Are all acts that can be deemed torture equal in cruelty or moral standing? Can any act of torture ever be justified?

The simple definition of torture is: Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person.

I don't think all acts of torture are necessarily equal in terms of cruelty. Some forms of torture are obviously more cruel than others. The moral question is more difficult. There are those who would say that any act of torture is morally reprehensible. Others would hold that moral responsibility increases with severity and decreases with lack of severity.

I do not believe that any act of torture can ever be justified. I know, I know . . . they are going to kill my wife and children unless we torture the location of my loved ones out of the bad guy. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Until then, my first statement stands.

Good thread. Should produce some interesting discussion.

Thanks for your input. Now I have a question for you: What is shrinkage?

I wouldn't know. My actual name in real life is Miles Long.

 

[mdn2000]

Loosely defined just about anything is torture.

That said the context is war, what is torture during war and is it justified.

The question thus becomes does an innocent nation have a right to win a war they have not started if it must torture those who are the agressors.

Those who oppose torture obviously believe a nation of innocent people must die, must suffer rape, murder and all the horrors of war.

Even if a ten year old girl is going to be raped and then murdered it is not right to prevent crime and war.

It is better to watch your children die a horrible death that we cannot fathom nor understand than submit the person who did this to torture.

If a man has commited acts of extreme cruelty, rape, and murder of ten year old girls and that man is the only person who has been captured and his fellow rapists are literally raping ten year old girls while that man is in the USA's custody it would be wrong to save the innocent ten year old girls being raped by the captured mans comrades if that involves forcing the man to tell the truth.

So, no torture, under any circumstance, even if that means I must bury my little innocent babies, no torture if ten year old girls are raped, no torture if pregnant woman get bayoneted in the womb, no torture if an Army is raping an entire city of women and children. No torture to prevent millions of murders.

 

[George Costanza]

One test is to ask this question: Would you call it torture if they were doing it to your son, daughter or wife/husband?

 

[JD_2B]

Good thread..

One person defined it, so far- but now we must also define "severe".. How much is too much? How can any torturer even know where to draw the line? Having an abusive boyfriend who calls his girlfriend fat or stupid, or a whore or a bitch on a daily basis can be considered torture.. because it is severely hurtful. Getting beat up can be considered torture, to most people- even if the bruises are not severe looking, the act of being hit repeatedly is pretty severe.

So.. Define severe, please?

 

[George Costanza]

Good thread..

One person defined it, so far- but now we must also define "severe".. How much is too much? How can any torturer even know where to draw the line? Having an abusive boyfriend who calls his girlfriend fat or stupid, or a whore or a bitch on a daily basis can be considered torture.. because it is severely hurtful. Getting beat up can be considered torture, to most people- even if the bruises are not severe looking, the act of being hit repeatedly is pretty severe.

So.. Define severe, please?

Obviously, "severe" is a subjective term.

If you are a JD to be, I assume that you have studied some famous U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Your question here puts me in mind of Justice Potter Stewart's famous quote in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, where he was called upon to define hard core pornography. He said: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description [hard-core pornography]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that." Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964)

I would offer a similar definition of "severe" in the context of torture. Since it is so subjective, it is difficult to define, but "I know it when I see it" - and so do most people.

Unfortunately, there are many who, while recognizing torture for what it is, disingenuously argue that (the act in question) is "not torture." They engage in this pretext not because they genuinely believe that act in question is not torture. They know it's torture. But they are in favor of torture. They don't want to come right out and say so, of course, so instead they argue that the act in question "is not torture."