One of the rebuttals used against the pro-torture crowd is that torture is cruel. I agree to the extent that I think a good way to determine if something is 'torture' or if it is 'interrogation' is to restrict methods to those that the interrogators are willing to endure themselves. In short, if you want to water board someone for 15 minutes you have to endure that yourself before you can administer it to others. I think nothing would solidify the definition of the term quicker than such a requirement.
That all aside, the anti-death penalty people and the anti-torture crowd would allow for someone to spend life in prison which to me seems like a pretty major contradiction. Given the choice between 20 years in a 5x8 cell with rapists or that of spending a weekend being denied sleep and a few water boarding sessions what would you select? I'm not claiming either is a cake walk.
The point is that I think putting an adult in a 5x8 cell for the rest of his life, surrounded by animals, away from nature, with nothing productive to do and nothing to accomplish is the absolutely worst sort of torture I can imagine. The constant fear of beating, of rape, of other degradations with no beauty, no freedom, no options - the phrase, "Give me liberty or give me death" springs to mind.
In short, I think the anti-death penalty and anti-torture people advocate something much worse than death.
I don't necessarily thing they're choosing the merciful option here.
That all aside, the anti-death penalty people and the anti-torture crowd would allow for someone to spend life in prison which to me seems like a pretty major contradiction. Given the choice between 20 years in a 5x8 cell with rapists or that of spending a weekend being denied sleep and a few water boarding sessions what would you select? I'm not claiming either is a cake walk.
The point is that I think putting an adult in a 5x8 cell for the rest of his life, surrounded by animals, away from nature, with nothing productive to do and nothing to accomplish is the absolutely worst sort of torture I can imagine. The constant fear of beating, of rape, of other degradations with no beauty, no freedom, no options - the phrase, "Give me liberty or give me death" springs to mind.
In short, I think the anti-death penalty and anti-torture people advocate something much worse than death.
I don't necessarily thing they're choosing the merciful option here.
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