To Torture or not?

[Damocles]

I'm not agreeing with the use of torture, except for people who are into it on a consensual basis sexually. I'm just pointing out we can't take the high ground as being "better than that as a society" when our society carries out such acts frequently.

Agreed. Perhaps a better phrasing is that we understand it to be a barbaric act which deserves punishment rather than a staple of our intelligence policy?

 

[Bill Walker]

I guess its another muffin or barm threads

Yes

 

[happy daze]

No,never justifiable,once you torture you lose the right to call yourself civilised,we all witter on about the present conflict with isis,al qaeda etc. yes it is bloody awful what's happening,compare that to what we as a nation faced in WW2,pales in to insignificance.
We faced subjugation and a merciless foe yet managed to win without resorting to the torture the Nazis engaged in.

 

[Balti]

well they're obviously observing the geneva convention on human rights so why shouldn't we reciprocate lol

eye for an eye

 

[Juan King]

No,never justifiable,once you torture you lose the right to call yourself civilised,we all witter on about the present conflict with isis,al qaeda etc. yes it is bloody awful what's happening,compare that to what we as a nation faced in WW2,pales in to insignificance.
We faced subjugation and a merciless foe yet managed to win without resorting to the torture the Nazis engaged in.

I'm not sure we just observed Queensbury rules in the war. I'm sure we did some terrible things to win, sometimes the end justifies the means, it's a difficult balance when faced with such a challenge. I'm glad that by & large people are against such measures, but I'm sure we employ them when we have to.

 

[goalmole]

If you're going to torture them for the sole purpose of giving them some gyp mainly because you're a sadistic twat then at least that's a motive I understand, even if I think it stinks. But to extract useful information from someone there are generally far better ways of conducting an interrogation.

Tickling?

I personally don't care too much about the pain caused to a murdering terrorist however i certainly don't subscribe to the view we in the west are always the good guys, it is a human instinct we should try and avoid

If we start torturing these people for trying to subvert our way of life and our values, then they have already succeeded.

 

[Balti]

If you're going to torture them for the sole purpose of giving them some gyp mainly because you're a sadistic twat then at least that's a motive I understand, even if I think it stinks. But to extract useful information from someone there are generally far better ways of conducting an interrogation.

Tickling?

I personally don't care too much about the pain caused to a murdering terrorist however i certainly don't subscribe to the view we in the west are always the good guys, it is a human instinct we should try and avoid

If we start torturing these people for trying to subvert our way of life and our values, then they have already succeeded.

we have a fine and proud tradition of torture

no time to start wimping out now

 

[ChicagoBlue]

If we start torturing these people for trying to subvert our way of life and our values, then they have already succeeded.

Well said!

 

[Ban-jani]

So, hypothetically speaking; should the authorities take the two Paris gunmen alive, what levels of pain and torture should be inflicted to get information, any information, that they have out of them?
.

None. You can't on the one hand condemn barbarism in the terrorists then act in a barbaric way yourself. We're better than that as a society in culture. They're the people who torture and use violence as a means of coercion, not us.

There's also the fact that torture has been consistently shown to not work.

This.

 

[Damocles]

well they're obviously observing the geneva convention on human rights so why shouldn't we reciprocate lol

eye for an eye

You know there was this guy a little while back who had an interesting thing to say about that.

You have heard "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" but I say, don't resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn and show them the other one.

I'd say ironically but at this point it's more expected than ironic, your views square up much better with the Qu'ran which uses the process of qisas (literally an eye for an eye) to determine justice. Have you ever thought of converting?