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Is torture acceptable
Why torture is morally wrong
Review the case for torture
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Torture has been a practice used to inflict severe pain in the victim as a way of punishment, revenge, cruelty towards heretics or to get a confession. It is prohibited all over the world by law and it is a violation of the human rights, in other words torturing is seen as unacceptable and barbaric. This represents a problem in our modern society because in extreme cases where a confession could save thousands of lives and the only way to get it is by torturing the perpetrator, is seen as a violation of the human rights. Another speculation is that torture is morally wrong and does not comply with the ethics that our parents taught us as children. Also, it is difficult to resolve this dilemma since it affects us in many ways. It is left to the public to decide whether it is the right thing to do in life or death situations.
Throughout history, torture has been present since the second century but it was only used on slaves until then. It has been mainly applied as a way of punishment towards those who committed a crime, during the medieval times, and specially heretics and witches during the inquisition. Initiated by the Catholic Church, the inquisition is perhaps the most salient piece of history involving torture as a method of interrogation and ecclesiastical imprisonment. But in the modern world things have not changed significantly, torture is still practiced, possibly with the same purposes from the past even though numerous laws were passed to prohibit it. We might not know about the cases but when it comes to saving the citizens from a terrorist attack, where a bomb has been hidden and he will not confess where it is, the only way of obtaining an answer would be torturing him. The methods used are depriving the victim f...
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... getting an answer as soon as possible is important to ensure the safety of others. I believe the punishment for those who are evil, is their own conscience. As Levin said “Paralysis in the face of evil is the greater danger. Some day soon a terrorist will threaten tens of thousands of lives, and torture will be the only way to save them. We had better start thinking about this.” (Levin). And no matter how wrong it seems, and how morally wicked it is, torturing for a response will be the only way and the difference between life and death.
Works Cited
Pavlac, B. A.. "Prof. Pavlac's Women's History Site." Torture. MMXI, 2011. Web. 6 Feb 2012.
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Levin, Michael. “The Case for Torture” 575-577. Hirschberg, Stuart, and Terry Hirschberg. The Millennium Reader. 5th. Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.
Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Rebel Without a Cause. Dir.
Even though Boethius believes that wickedness itself it’s a punishment, he also argues that punishment is necessary for a cure. “’And so sovereign Providence has often produce a remarkable effect—evil man making other evil man good. For some, when they think they suffer injustice at the hands of the worst of men, burn with hatred for evil men, and being eager to be different from those they hate, have reformed and become virtuous.” (Boethius 109). Consequently, rather than torturing a potential wicked man, the honorable thing to do would be help this man to reform himself if he needs it. Rather than using force for torture, an alternative punishment should be considered for a positive
Ann pointed to Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne. She also testified against Tibuta and said that the woman had tortured her grievously by pricking and pinching her dreadfully. " (Yanak, T., and Pam Cornelison, 1993).... ... middle of paper ...
If one is willing to harm thousands of people without the thought of repercussions of his or her actions, they have extraordinarily little care for their own lives and in turn would die before retracting their beliefs. So yes, the threat of someone harming thousands of people will always remain, but torture may not be the answer to that predicament. Works Cited Levin, Michael. A. “The Case for Torture.” Newsweek 7 June, 1982: n.pag.
Torture is something that can cause severe emotional and physical damage along with being a method to compel someone to reveal “valuable” information (“Definition of torture,” n.d.). When a person is being tortured they could also be compel to participate in an activity they don’t want to do (“Definition of torture,” n.d.). Since ancient times torture has been a method used to obtain valuable intelligence. Presently, the use of torture to acquire beneficial facts is a highly controversial topic. Torture is a highly controversial topic because no one knows how effective it is at retrieving information plus it violates human rights and dignity (“Why is Torture Wrong?” 2014).
In today’s society there are many issues surrounding the topic of torture. There are two sides to this argument. One side would be that torture should never be used, the other side would be that torture should be used if it is absolutely necessary. Many times when torture is used it is used to get information out of an individual. On many occasions people hear of torture being used on terrorists that have been captured. Torture is also used on Soldiers that have been captured during war. During times of war torture is often used by both sides to gain an advantage over the other side. The use of torture is a widely debated topic in today’s world.
Is the intentional pain that an individual experiences justified if there is the potential to save the lives of many? Torture is the most used weapon in the “war against terrorism” but does it work? The purpose of this essay is to identify what the motives for torturing are, the effectiveness of torture, and important issues with the whole process of torture.
Torture is “the action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or to force them to do or say something, or for the pleasure of the person inflicting the pain”(Oxford dictionary). National laws condemn the use of torture techniques, but can it ever be justified? Can torture be alleged as a moral act under certain circumstances?
Until there is a credible way to determine whether or not torture is in fact effective, I pass judgment that the practice should be discontinued. The question as to if the torture policy is a human rights violation or if it holds crucial necessity, is not answered in the essay. Applebaum explores the reality that torture possesses negative implications on the inflictor. After presented with the compelling stance and evidence, Applebaum raises the interesting question as to why so much of society believes that torture is successful. I agree that the torture policy is wrong, a point emphasized by Applebaum, contrary to the popular attitude surrounding the topic.
Smith Susan L. “Neither Victim nor Villain.” Journal of Women’s History Vol. 8 No. 1
The act of torture is something my family often has discussions about, since this is one of the controversial topics my family is passionate about. Like most people, some of my family members are against it, while others are for it. Growing up hearing about these discussions, left me feeling extremely curious, however unlike my parents and other family members, I wasn’t confident and couldn’t decide whether I was for or against torture. Therefore, after finding out that one of the options we could use as our topics for our editorial was torture, I was naturally and obviously intrigued. Therefore, I decided to take the opportunity to look at torture from both perspectives in hopes of being able to finally decide whether I am for or against this controversial topic.
“If one speaks about torture, one must take care not to exaggerate,” Jean Améry view of torture comes from a place of uneasiness (22). He discusses in his book At The Mind’s Limits, about the torture that he underwent while a prisoner in Auschwitz. In his chapter titled “Torture”, he goes into deep description of not only the torture he endured, but also how that torture never leaves a person. Améry goes to great lengths to make sure that the torture he speaks of is accurate and as he says on page 22, not exaggerated.
“Men forced to undress and becomes in a rank. Some former prisoners report that beat them on genitals and a groin, forced to have oral sex and to suck off, beat the stun gun in erogenous places, stubs from cigarettes thrust into anuses. To detainees repeatedly threatened that they will be raped in the face of relatives, wives and daughters, and also their families threatened that, including and children too will be raped. Some men declared that proctal forced them bludgeons, and that they saw as governmental armies forced also children. One person declared that he saw rape of the boy in the face of the father. 40-year-old man saw as three officers of security service force the child.” [6]
In conclusion, the convention against torture, has brought many people together, and has informed many people of the horrible tortures which go on everywhere from the US to Syria. It has tried to set fine lines which prohibit torture under all circumstances. However, since there is no governing body over countries, it remains difficult to enforce the human right standards sought after by the Convention against torture. The convention has therefore done a good job at identifying the torturers. This has in turn lessened the amount of those persecuted. It will remain a gradual process to eliminate torture from all countries, but nevertheless a necessity, in the quest for universal human rights. Torture will continue until all countries decide for themselves, and not from a third party convention that freedom from torture is a human right everyone deserves.
Torture is the process of inflicting pain upon other people in order to force them to say something against their own will. The word “torture” comes from the Latin word “torquere,” which means to twist. Torture can not only be psychologically but mentally painful. Before the Enlightenment, it was perfectly legal to torture individuals but nowadays, it is illegal to torture anyone under any circumstances. In this essay, I will demonstrate why torture should never acceptable, not matter the condition.