Wednesday, November 14, 2007

I promised myself I wouldn't blog about this

... but I just can't help it. I've been obsessing for days about last week's segment on the NPR show On the Media about the great waterboarding debate: Is it torture, or just a party game popular during the Spanish Inquisition? Click here to listen.

I know what I think about waterboarding, and I bet you know what you think, too, yet this shameful discussion just goes on and on--thanks in no small part to the absolutely craven corporate media. Honestly, when I heard the guy from the Trib spluttering about dictionaries and style policies, I had to check the calendar to make sure I wasn't listening to an April Fool's parody. If that's what constitutes responsible journalism, then bring on the wingnuts and moonbats. They at least declare an agenda and tell the truth as they see it.

Fortunately, there are still lots of sane people in the world--for now. Just take a look at the comments to the show, especially n. 11 and n. 7.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lost in the "debate"-- if it even rises to that level-- is the fact that most interrogators know that information acquired through coercive methods is often suspect: that the victim finally tells the interrogators what they want to hear. Or maybe that's the whole point.

BitterGrace said...

Exactly. Accused witches could often save their lives by confessing and repenting, while those who told the truth and refused to confess were condemned to die.

The psychology of the torturer is truly bizarre, and is never motivated by anything like the search for truth, let alone justice.

chayaruchama said...

unbelieveable.