How do people get the opinion that torture is acceptable?

Question

This should be a slam dunk. Do you think torture is acceptable? No. How do people stray from that? Do they not have an education? Are they following the example of their leaders? How? How is the percentage of people who think torture is okay not the same as the percentage of people who think the Earth is round?

One more thought... If America resorts to torture the terrorists win.

As I read the responses I cant help but feel demoralized. "It is." "An eye for an eye." "Well, to want to torture is part of being alive. Let's face it: it's fun to watch people you hate twisting around in horrible agony." "Torture is okay. Why? 9/11." It is my opinion that these are words of people with a very warped sense of morality.

"Do me a favor and ask a couple of Muslim extremists." You are talking about Muslim extremists. These are suppose to be the bad guys. But instead I hear Americans talk about torture as if its okay. I have a president who reserves the right to torture as he sees fit. If torture is an American ideal then it is time for me to leave. Fortunately this is not the consensus. I want to say thanks to those who offer wisdom, compassion, and intelligence to this debate. I do want to address one more answer...

JFra... "Why do you want to tie our hands in future wars? Why do you want to take away a payback option from our servicemen? We do not know what the future holds and doing anything that could lead to weakening us is folly in my oppinion."

If you really want to protect our servicemen you should not want us to be torturing. For the guy who says 9/11 is the reason to torture, you know there muslim extremists would love to be empowered by immoral activity by our troops. What better defense of undefensable activities than revenge? What better way to recrute impressionable minds than to have evidence of US torture? Why "tie our hands in future wars? " Why not empower our troops to fight the good fight? Why not set an example that you want others to follow in times of war? Why not prove why your on the right side? You go on talking about unjustices throughout history. Why not learn from our folly? History is not justification. Its a tool we should use to learn from.

Answer 1

i try to teach my children to "treat others as you want them to treat you, not the way that they DO treat you".

as far as i am concerned, two negatives ONLY make a positive in math.

therefore, torturing anyone or anything is COMPLETELY unacceptable.

those who think that is acceptable are completely barbaric and would surely change their minds once they have been tortured.

Answer 2

Why do you want to tie our hands in future wars? Why do you want to take away a payback option from our servicemen? We do not know what the future holds and doing anything that could lead to weakening us is folly in my oppinion.

I have talked to some WWII vets who talked about the Germans taking Allied troops and putting their hands in boiling water for interigation. In Vietnam the North Vietnamese use to take US prisoners and break their fingers one joint at a time just outside of our bases where they couldn't be seen and the base could hear their screams. Then have them run to the lines and kill them when they were in sight of the camp. Do you think such actions should go unanswered?

In WWII it was well known that our troops would work over Japanese with shovels to get information. We probably did similar things to the Germans. I have heard were troops would tie them down and start shooting near their bodies to get them to talk. Do you believe that people defending our country should lose their lives to jail for doing what they feel is right?

The fact is war is dirty. To go into it with any delusions about how the enemy will follow the rules is niave. And taking the high road is what wimps say to themselve to make themselve feel better after getting beat up. Tieing our own hands is folly. It isn't the fact we will torture, but the thought that we might will carry a lot of weight.

Answer 3

No one like to think that we torture our prisoners - but in wartime - even though we say we dont - GET REAL. Of course we do and have done so since time began.

It is not right to torture a human being but when faced with the possibility of torturing one person to save thousands - it would be hard to do the right thing and treat the guy according to our human rights guidelines etc

It is the media that have made this practice known to us.

It happens and I doubt we could stop it. What happens on the battlefield is out of our control.

Answer 4

No,I don't think torture is acceptable. I think it's because people are sterotyping foreign people as "they have one purpose,to kill or they are terriosts." Not all people from foreign countrys are bad. They do have education,but I don't think they understood what they learned. I guess they are following the example of their leaders. People that have more power and responsibilty influence others with their opinions. So,they think "Gee they have a lot of power & wisdom,I want to feel the same way,so I will have the same opinions." People think that all people that do bad things should be tourched as a punishment,but why not, choose their deserving punishment instead,not torture. It's basicly how people interperet the world with their knowledge,weither they have it or not.

Answer 5

definite it rather is, as quickly as people have commited an act of terroism/attempting terrorism then they forfeit their human rights, think of of the ticking time bomb venture Theres a nuclear bomb approximately to pass off in a considerable city yet you do no longer understand which, you have 3 hours and the only lead is a prisoner who won't divulge information do you torture them with a view to get the information and stop chaos? Or do you look after the prisoners human rights abouve the masses of peoples rights to stay in a non violent international? and on the question might i permit myself be tortured? definite i might i savour it ;) yet heavily if i grew to become like that i might deserve it.

Answer 6

Now I'm not for suffering I don't think any living thing should suffer does that mean i don't eat meat? Hmmm no i think i eat meat everyday lol but anyways back to the topic so torturing is not okay let me give you a hypothetical situation. VERY GRAPHIC U MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THE FOLLOWING but its is my example Lets say you have a daughter, she is very young, she was kidnapped while walking back from a football game, she was gang rapped, abused, and tortured -her hair lit on fire, she was cut, sliced, basically a scene from a horror movie like hostel, like they torture people in hostel- i would get in more details to really get to you but don't have the heart to but anyways the worse happens to her as a mother or father would you not want to teach them a lesson, the people that kidnapped your daughter... give a taste of their own medicine as they say? Would you not? Is that not okay? Is that not fair? I don't believe in torture or suffering of any living thing but sometimes the situations calls for it people need to taught a lesson.

Answer 7

Well, to want to torture is part of being alive. Let's face it: it's fun to watch people you hate twisting around in horrible agony. The suffering of others is hilariously funny! Would I still think it were funny if it happened to me? Of course not. But I'll bet a lot of other people would find it funny.

Why is it ethically acceptable? Depends on the circumstances. The real ethical question about any situation is this: do the good things resulting from an action outweigh the bad things resulting from it? If yes, then it's ethical. But you have to agree on what's good and what's bad first.

We all plucked the legs off of insects as kids. We've all, at one time or another, clenched our fists while feeling a black knot tighten in our hearts, as we learned to really know hatred. We've all prayed for bad things to happen to other people. To hate is as natural to us as breathing. We look to justify our irrational desires by framing them in ethical discussions. But the reality is, most of us don't really care if torture is ethical. We just love the idea.

Answer 8

It baffles me as well. Most people who agree with torture being okay are Christians too. I am a Christian but believe in following the teachings of Christ. Would Jesus torture people? Would Jesus launch a “pre-emptive” war? NO!!!!! It's time that Christians start doing what they're supposed to do and that is follow the teachings of Christ.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
(Matt. 5:9)

Answer 9

Torture is never okay. There will always be certain people who are sadistic. It is their nature. It's no different by one group inspiring hatred against another group. We have swarming now, bullying, sometimes it starts at a very early age. and if not checked carried through to adulthood.

Answer 10

Some people have very strong convictions for which they would torture and kill. If someone hurt your family, you might want them tortured too. People that are ok with torture are simply so convicted or mentally ill that they believe their cause is worth torturing for. Strange, I know, but there ya have it.