Video of Hitchens and waterboarding.
I know that several people have been waterboarded as an experiment for various networks, Hitchens probably the most notable (though it’s hard to tell whether his reaction is from the drowning or having his Scotch tumbler taken away), but none have had the audience and the notoriety and, by far most importantly, the ultra right wing following of Hannity. He would be reaching exactly the right audience. Shepard Smith’s meltdown is about as close as it comes (banging his hand down so hard it shook the whole closet) but a Hannity actually admitting it’s torture would serve a major purpose in convincing “Joe six packs” that it really is torture.
I don’t believe Hannity will ever admit that whether or not he goes through on the bet.
I wasn’t criticizing Scylla. But yes, with Hitchens, the Playboy guy and now Hannity on the bandwagon, plus some others I probably don’t know about, it’s a stunt. Hannity’s doing this as a charity fundraiser/I’ll prove it’s not really torture thing.
I would not give Hannity or his audience this much credit. He’s probably memorizing the Bybee definition of non-torture as we speak (‘it was terrible, but if it doesn’t cause long-term effects, is it really torture, and can we really afford to take any options off the table when there’s a ticking nuclear time bomb?’).
There’s a problem here.
If he is waterboarded he’ll go through with it. Have a bad experience and then say it isn’t torture.
After that he’ll talk about it non-stop. He’ll be the waterboarding expert, nobody will be able to say anything to him about it as he’ll just beat people down with his experience.
The problem I have with all these people voluntering is that the process stops immediatly they want. The second they are in trouble they stop the process. I don’t reckon that’s how it goes IRL.
You are in good company. Gary Hazlett, a scientist who has spent years studying the effects of torture on SERE participants (the US Army program designed to teach soldiers to resist torture, among other things), says just about the same thing:
Yep, let him lie there breathing water trying to breath and give the men a signal to stop and let them ignore him. Strap him down a bit tighter and start pouring that water again. Repeat to fade.
After that he can talk about it being torture or not.
What if some contigent kidnapped Hannity and Shepard Smith and took them somewhere for months on end and waterboarded them repeatedly, say 200+ times and videoed the entire thing.
Say this contingent was not white bread Americans doing it. But some other faction that doesn’t speak english. ( How about the Swiss doing this. They are wonderfully neutral.)
I wonder what their opinion would be then.
We would probably be declaring war on Switzerland the day after they were released, if they had their way.
And that’s why I hope he goes through with it. Whomever he’s lecturing to will be able to say, “But Sean- if it wasn’t torture, why did you give up after seven seconds?”
Of course, his likely response will be, “See? That’s how effective it is.” Sigh.
So is WaterboardHannity.com, fwiw.
They could make him admit it.
That’s why the ‘safe word’ has to be “it’s torture and should be illegal.” If he gives the signal to stop, and then doesn’t say it, put him back under.
Robot Arm, I don’t have a problem with waterboarding if the participant agrees to it willingly. If someone wants to torture themselves, it’s torture, but that’s OK by me. People have tazed themselves and I think everyone agrees it’s still torture.
If Hannity consents to have his junk electroded and/or undergo repeated savage beatings, I for one will contribute $10,000 to the charity of his choosing.
Olbermann has challenged Hannity to be waterboarded for $1000 per second. Now THAT’S Reality TV I’ll watch.
I would give all my money (admittedly a small sum) to charity if he did this.
Now if only Glenn Beck would agree to take on the Pear of Pain. (Not that it’s used by American troops to my knowledge, but it’s Glenn Beck… with a pear of pain.)
Ann Coulter would probably yodel and taunt the torturerers during waterboarding. Unless… they added Holy Water.
He could raffle off turns for charity and raise one helluva lot of loot.
If I were Olbermann I’d set up a website to take donations from people who want to see Hannity get waterboarded.
After it raises about a couple of millions it will be hard for Hannity to say no.
I’d bet money he won’t do it. That’s a win/win proposition
Perhaps I’m missing something important, but if you’re getting water poured down your throat how would one invoke the “safe word?”