Torture: Its the Depravity, Stupid

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://dict.die.net/depravity/

Depravity \De*prav"i*ty\, n. crookedness, perverseness.]
The state of being depraved or corrupted; a vitiated state of
moral character; general badness of character; wickedness of
mind or heart; absence of religious feeling and principle.

Total depravity. See Original sin, and Calvinism.

Syn: Corruption; vitiation; wickedness; vice; contamination;
degeneracy.

Usage: Depravity, Depravation, Corruption. Depravilty
is a vitiated state of mind or feeling; as, the
depravity of the human heart; depravity of public
morals. Depravation points to the act or process of
making depraved, and hence to the end thus reached;
as, a gradual depravation of principle; a depravation
of manners, of the heart, etc. Corruption is the only
one of these words which applies to physical
substances, and in reference to these denotes the
process by which their component parts are dissolved.
Hence, when figuratively used, it denotes an utter
vitiation of principle or feeling. Depravity applies
only to the mind and heart: we can speak of a depraved
taste, or a corrupt taste; in the first we introduce
the notion that there has been the influence of bad
training to pervert; in the second, that there is a
want of true principle to pervert; in the second, that
there is a want of true principles to decide. The
other two words have a wider use: we can speak of the
depravation or the corruption of taste and public
sentiment. Depravity is more or less open; corruption
is more or less disguised in its operations. What is
depraved requires to be reformed; what is corrupt
requires to be purified.

It redefines us as a society that we would even begin to openly debate and condone the practice of torture. If we can begin to accept and condone torture, why not cannibalism? Why not lynching? Why not beating heart sacrifices? Why don't we start decorating the walkway to the White House with Al Qaida skeletons?

Torture has always been a defining characteristic of the ultimate evil a declining civilisation can serve up.

For those who would order it, those who would do it, those who would hide it , those who would excuse it, those who would accept it, those who would promote it, there is a word and the word is:

DEPRAVED

[Kurovski]

1. K&R. (nt)

[Bobbieo]

2. Torture is a process where the tortured tell the torturer what he /she wants to

hear so they can tell the American public what they want us to hear.

[lordsummerisle]

3. What a great post

I'm sending it to my congressman...

[K Gardner]

4. ABC Nightline had pics tonight of the prisoner who was tortured..

and a report from the CIA agent who was with him. I'd just as soon not have heard or seen any of it. How much more of this damning, horrible obscenity has to leak out before we, as a nation, show the world it is not what WE,the people of America, want to be associated with?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

5. Torture often gives one the information one wants, not the truth- i.e. Galileo

The Spanish Inquisition wanted Galileo to renounce the Copernican theory of the universe, and , threatened with torture, he did so.

Torture - a useful tool for those who like to manufacture evidence or testimony that suits their purpose or their worldview. A civilized society rejects it as both immoral and worthless.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

7. One last point - torture is counterproductive

You don't gain too many hearts and minds through torture - quite the opposite.

It endangers all of our service people as well as civilians who endeavor to serve in hostile surroundings.

Those who torture cement their identity as "the enemy".

And doesn't being known as an entity who believes in torture depress the willingness of those who might be inclined to provide helpful information? How helpful would you be, if you thought that you might be subjected to torture from those you might be trying to assist?

[Perry Logan]

6. It would definitely be torture if Democrats had done it.