“The case against waterboarding never rested primarily on its usefulness. It rested on its wrongfulness.”
11th May 2011
Horseshit. The whole case against waterboarding (including the conceit that waterboarding is ‘torture’) is an intellectual bait-and-switch of the same type that underlies the case for ‘gay marriage’. Like Communists, degenerates have learned that if the language can be changed in their direction, the nature of the argument will change in their direction as well, and eventually they’ll win because their stupid opponents won’t have any way to express a contrary view.
Torture is a term with an established meaning, and that meaning always includes the infliction of pain; the etymology of the word makes that clear. One of the chief signs of the degeneration of modern language (and modern culture) is the inflation of such terms in service of an ideological agenda in order to erase the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate practices.
Waterboarding does not cause pain. It causes distress, certainly; that’s kinda what it’s all about — but it does not cause PAIN, and so IT IS NOT TORTURE, no matter how many hand-wringers bleat otherwise.
No, severe psychological trauma is not pain. No, making you want your mommy is not pain. No, preventing you from sleeping more than an hour at a time is not pain (it’s ‘boot camp’). Terms have meanings, and allowing those meanings to be corrupted is the first step on the road to Orwellian doublethink and thoughtcrime.
This article once again demonstrates the essentially adolescent attitude of those who write for tReason magazine, and the soi-disant libertarians who are their fellow-travelers. Time to grow up, people. Evil men are standing by to kill us, and our families, and our civilization — and your pusillanimity endangers us all. Man up, or shut up.
May 11th, 2011 at 13:38
Skip the philosophy, the reality is that it is very, very bad to come in second place in a war.
You do what you have to do to win, or you die; that’s the choice. Ask the Marines who survived Guadalcanal or the Russians who fought at Stalingrad. Movies and history books cannot contain the horror of what humans can do to each other when only one side can survive.
“War is all hell.” Philosophy is for those who have the luxury time to think about the boundaries of life instead of from which direction the next bullet will come. You do not grant the same rights to someone who belongs to an organization dedicated to killing you and your family that you grant to the kid down the street who was caught shoplifting a package of Twinkies.
I’m sick and tired of these pukes second guessing how we found OSL or how he was shot or how his useless carcass was disposed. Some very brave and very dedicated guys risked their lives to do your dirty work, you Michael Moore minions. It’s time for us to order up a big, giant can of STFU and use it liberally.
May 11th, 2011 at 22:03
“Skip the philosophy, the reality is that it is very, very bad to come in second place in a war.”
Very very true except in the case of coming in second to US. Then you are virtually garranteed to become a superpower.
I had a lib friend actually tell me “Well you can’t be on top forever.” (In reference to a discussion on China out pacing us in economy and technology). At that moment I couldn’t take the time to point out how being second to China would be a violent change in our lifestyle. WE can’t afford to be second to anyone and what is more the WORLD can’t afford for us to be second to China or an association of Islamic nations, or a terrorist group.
God help us to wake up before the consequences of second place are upon us.