Saturday, July 05, 2008
Christopher Hitchens gets himself water-tortured:A lot of folks are dismissing Hitchens' personal examination/experience of the procedure. But he deserves credit for doing it and then describing it in a clear, straightforward manner. He is a good writer, and that makes his narration of the procedure vivid and memorable. UPDATE: On the local Los Angeles NBC news this Sunday, in a segment about doing's in the digital realm, there was an over-two-minute segment, largely taken from the video of Hitchen's ordeal at the Vanity Fair website that showed him getting water-tortured. The local news report ended with Hitchens' conclusion: “I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” Well, then, if water boarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.” That kind of exposure is what a big foot journalist can do, but seldom happens.
posted by Quiddity at 7/05/2008 09:43:00 AM
7 comments
If waterboarding is just as bad as Al Quada style torture, then why is it that people volunteer to experience the former but not the latter?
Waterboarding doesn't leave any marks, and has been popularized in the right-wing media as harmless, "like a fraternity prank," perhaps no worse than putting panties on your head.
anonymous#1:
Waterboarding is worse than anything that Al Qaida does because we are a civilized, caring people and they are are fanatical, religious extremists and fascists.
We are better than that! Those who torture in our name, defame, demean, and insult everyhting for which this country stands. They are as big a danger to us as Al Qaida.
Rockie the Dog said...
>
>anonymous#1:
>Waterboarding is worse than anything that Al Qaida does ...
Bullshit.
I still say that Hitchens is a stupid git. It doesn't take experiencing water boarding to understand that it's torture. Only an idiot would have to be water boarded before he understood this. I mean, really. Does he have to be shot to understand that's a bad thing, too? How about having typhoid? I mean, we're humans. We have an extremely useful capacity to learn things that we haven't directly experienced ourselves.
Granted, there's a bunch of blithering idiots out there who may - and I do stress, may, be swayed by Hitchens' blithering idiocy and his well written account. I mean, even idiots can find a use. But I seriously doubt it. Again, the assertion is simple: if you're too stupid to understand that water boarding is torture without being water boarded, then I guess you'll have to be water boarded. Apparently some lessons in life are rather brutal.
Remind me again. This is the 21st century, right? I mean, we have the internet and everything?
Geebus.
That hooch hound wouldn't have allowed himself to be waterboarded.
Scotchandwaterboarded, perhaps. Plain water, no.
How about Dry Martini-boarding for Hitchens. He might react like the Dickens because there might be too much vermouth (or no Olive'r Twist).
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