A comment re-blog by Beejj talking about torture
Torture and abortion are emotive issues without parallel. Both are philosophical matters, but philosophy, for all its cleverness, seldom seems to be capable of coming forth with anything concrete. In a perfect world peopled by the considerate and fair-minded and decent, torture would hold no place. It would be indefensible. It is an outrage to all we hold dear. It is unthinkable. But we do not live in such a world. “But we must always strive to attain the ideal,” proclaims the armchair philosopher, safe in his cosy little world untouched by harsh realities. “How easy it was to tell wrong from right,” said Dylan, looking back on his innocent youth. Yes, but as the wise Scots are wont to say,”Let us make haste slowly.”
Nobody in his right mind smiles upon torture, just as nobody wishes war. Filthy affairs, both. Yet, wars must be fought and, alas, torture has its place – what a sad, diabolical thing to say. Torture can NEVER be countenanced? As my father said when I used the word NEVER: “Nine years is a long time!” What a wise bloke he was! You can, at this juncture, argue until you are blue in the face, and I would support your ideals, but when reality pushes ideality aside to knock on my door I begin to listen, and suddenly a grim greyness supplants stark black and white – to my intense discomfort. Sweeping morality suddenly takes a back seat to matters of life and death. John Donne claimed that every death diminishes us all, but I tend to agree with Flashman: “It diminishes him a damned sight more than it does me!” By the same token I feel queasy to know that someone is being tortured for my sake, or that of others, but if such treatment results in the saving of lives I look upon it it as a foul-tasting medicine that must be swallowed.
The moralist will damn me for expressing such sentiments, but I would say to him: “Suppose torture of someone would result in saving your children’s lives. How would you react? Would you sacrifice your loved ones at the altar of your high-minded ideals?” Of course you wouldn’t, and neither would Obama, who clearly loves his little girls. At guts level we strive to be survivors, for we are genetically programmed to do so.
So, you who view practices at Guantanamo with distaste, try to keep in mind that your very survival might depend upon the unpleasant techniques employed there. You cannot deny this. Cry into your beer as much as you like, but you’ll see another dawn. Ugly old world, isn’t it?
Originally posted as a comment by Beejj on Infidels Are Cool using Disqus.
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