Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Americans seem to favor torture

Fuck science! A majority of Americans tend to favor torture when trying to extract information about suspected 'terrorism,' an online poll declares.

Running life according to polls or majority applause without recourse to investigation really makes me want to ralph ... which I suppose is just another way of saying it scares the shit out of me. The smug carelessness and self-fulfilling prophecy of polls... well it can make you wonder why Jesus would ever want to roll back the Easter rock.

The article sketching the poll reaction was written with presidential candidate Donald Trump and his alleged willingness to use torture in mind. But even leaving him out of the equation, it's pretty damned spooky. Torture, as I understand it, has been discredited as an accurate means of extracting truthful and useful information.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe torture can be justified to extract information from suspected terrorists, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, a level of support similar to that seen in countries like Nigeria where militant attacks are common.
Torture is OK against SUSPECTED terrorists. It does open the door to the question, who, at one time or another, might not reasonably be suspected of harboring terrorist leanings ... as for example those favoring torture?

1 comment:

  1. The shrinking education dollar plus frustration with financial inequities equals dangerously dumb. Plato said monarchy led to oligarchy led to democracy that would become so chaotic only a monarch could wield a fist with enough iron to sort it out. I suspect the patriot act is in place to that end and an eco/econ-fascist will be begged to take over.

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