Last night while I slept, a suspicious package was retrieved from a cargo plane. I know this because I watch the news from time to time. In fact, given that I was not at work today, I watched the news on several occasions and even flicked from CNN, to MSNBC and even Fox. On each and every channel, at the times I tuned in, there was nothing but blanket coverage of this event.
All because someone in Yemen decided to send something a bit weird in the mail, the media goes into panic mode and instantly ignores all the actual newsworthy events of the world to focus on this.
Focus really may be a bit of an overstatement of what was going on. What really happened is the news stations merely repeated the same story over and over again, and then tried to add their own twist to the story by wheeling out one 'expert' after another and then simply presented one 'theory' after another, which really included no end of unsubstantiated drivel from the presenters trying to fill the time.
I have to say, this is something I've always had quite an issue with in America. Having been raised on a diet of BBC news, the American cable offerings fall a bit flat by comparison. It's all driven by greed, money, and ratings. There's no desire to educate and inform the American public, if it bleeds it leads, as the old saying goes.
The scary thing is that this isn't even a story. This package could have been sent by anyone, and nothing actually happened. And while there is a legitimacy to reporting on the story, does the coverage really have to be absolute?
I watched an old Penn & Teller Bullshit tonight about Ground Zero. Nine years after 9/11 we still can't get our shit together and rebuild the tower(s). And when some retard in the Middle East sends us an unusual package in the mail we shit ourselves and talk about it endlessly for days.
I really wish I could turn on the news, and see some actual journalism. I really wish we'd stop panicking every time someone said the word 'Muslim.' There will always be crazy terrorists out there, and while we continue our meddling in International affairs with our military we will always have enemies. But when one silly package sends the media into a frenzy, we are playing right into the hands of the 'evildoers' who want to hurt us.
This week we've heard much debate in the news about torture, and whether waterboarding is really that bad, along with the demented rantings of former vice president, Darth Cheney.
The video above is not about waterboarding, but is another kind of torture known as Chinese Water Torture.
The torture works by securing a victim, and then allowing drops of cold water to frequently land on their forehead for an extended period of time.
The video shows rather interestingly why even the most innocuous sounding torture is still torture; a concept seemingly lost on the right wing crazy folk.
Mythbuster Kari is comfortably secured to a bench and the water torture begins. Tests are carried out throughout the experiment to check her well being. Her heart rate and blood pressure are monitored. There are paramedics monitoring the experiment. An ambulance awaits any possible problem. Psychological wellness tests are conducted regularly to ensure she is doing okay. Kari has worked with the Mythbuster team for many years, so is surrounded by friends and co-workers.
Despite all this, within 90 minutes the experiment is called off due to concerns about her health and safety. Just one hour into the test Kari is crying and is clearly in distress.
But here is the reality. She knew that she could get out of the experiment at any point. She was clean, well fed, clothed, relatively comfortable, in a well lit room, surrounded by friends and co-workers and certain that she could call a halt to the proceedings at any given time.
In the real world, torture is a whole different ball game. The victim is in a completely foreign environment where normal rules of society do not exist. They may have been mistreated in any number of ways from simple food, water, and sleep deprivation right up to full scale torture and abuse, for days, weeks or even months or years.
The victim has no idea if or when the torture will end. They know that there is a possibility that something will go wrong and they could die. They know that at any moment the torture could be escalated in any manner of horrific ways.
When you watch this video, consider too that Chinese Water Torture is nothing more than repeating something annoying over time to someone who cannot escape. Waterboarding on the other hand involves deliberately simulating drowning over and over again, which is an entirely different, and markedly more extreme, level of stress and discomfort for the victim.
All the unbiased non-partisan evidence of experts point to the fact that torture causes deep psychological wounds that can last a lifetime. But worse than that, there is little evidence that it even works.
Most of the studies into torture show that at best the victim will ultimately crack and tell the torturer whatever they want to hear. Anything to stop the torture. Unfortunately, the information given may be wildly inaccurate and useless.
At the end of the day, the efficacy of torture is irrelevant. Either we are the good guys or we are not. During World War II, certain Nazi doctors conducted horrific experiments on prisoners of war to advance their medical knowledge. Some might argue that the information gained from these experiments could potentially save lives in the future. Does this mean we should accept that the benefits allow us to disregard the morality of these actions? Of course not.
Torture isn't a game. It's not an episode of 24, where you rough up a prisoner and as a result of his confession get to stop a ticking bomb and save thousands of lives.
Torture is a fundamental abuse of human rights. It is a proof that for all our boasts and good intentions, we remain a barbaric and second rate society, who abandon our morals whenever it suits us.
Character is demonstrated during difficult times, when doing the right thing isn't always easy. It's no use bragging about freedom, the rule of law, and democracy, if we throw our principles out of the window any time we feel threatened.
History is already beginning to show that our response to 9/11 was wrong on almost every level. Our leaders allowed us to panic, and then used fear as a weapon against us to further their crazy agenda.
It is my belief that everyone involved in torture, authorizing torture, and abuse of human beings in the name of the 'war on terror' should be brought to justice. Our barbaric legacy that Bush has created gives Jihadists the moral arguments to recruit all kinds of crazy people into their ranks, and continue to threaten our safety.
Until we stop behaving like bullies, and start actually living up to our stated values, we will never be free of terrorism. Because we have helped, and continue to help, create the monsters who wish to do us harm.
Torture is torture. Right is right. Let us stop making excuses, let us stop being assholes about this important issue. We are either the good guys or we are not.
