# Torture? Meh, who gives a crap? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 9, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800 "2014-12-09T22:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/41 "2014-12-10T04:58:09Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Torture \<_snip_\> serves no purpose. You lose. Sure it does. It produces broken human beings. It sends a message that the torturer is to be feared. It’s an act of aggression. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/42 "2014-12-10T05:03:22Z")
> [@Chetumal](#): > > Whatever. Don’t bomb buildings full of innocent civilians and you won’t get tortured. Seems fair enough to me. And if you do not slaughter and bomb innocent people then you will not get terrorism, fair enough? The disgusting racism and the acceptance of the torture shows us how some of the americans are not so far from their enemies of the WWII despite the pretensions. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/43 "2014-12-10T05:32:14Z")
[**Scylla** waterboards himself.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448717&highlight=waterboarding) (2007) The thread is closed so I copy/pasted his findings. > [@](#): > > There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. It would be like telling you not to blink while I stuck a hot needle in your eye. > > At the time my lungs emptied and I began to draw water, I would have sold my children to escape. There was no choice, or chance, and willpower was not involved. > > I never felt anything like it, and this was self-inflicted with a watering can, where I was in total control and never in any danger. > > And I understood. > > Waterboarding gets you to the point where you draw water up your respiratory tract triggering the drowning reflex. Once that happens, it’s all over. No question. > > Some may go easy without a rag, some may need a rag, some may need saran wrap. > > Once you are there it’s all over. > > I didn’t allow anybody else to try it on me. Inconceivable. I know I only got the barest taste of what it’s about since I was in control, and not restrained and controlling the flow of water. > > But there’s no chance. No chance at all. > > So, is it torture? > > I’ll put it this way. If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I’d take the fingers, no question. > > It’s horrible, terrible, inhuman torture. I can hardly imagine worse. I’d prefer permanent damage and disability to experiencing it again. I’d give up anything, say anything, do anything. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/44 "2014-12-10T05:55:37Z")
> [@Chetumal](#): > > Whatever. Don’t bomb buildings full of innocent civilians and you won’t get tortured. Seems fair enough to me. The people who did the “bombing” of the Twin Towers died there, you know. Or maybe you don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/45 "2014-12-10T08:24:02Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > The people who did the “bombing” of the Twin Towers died there, you know. Or maybe you don’t. Yeah, but we could at least torture people who look sort of like them. For Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/46 "2014-12-10T11:02:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [**Scylla** waterboards himself.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448717&highlight=waterboarding) (2007) > The thread is closed so I copy/pasted his findings. We saw a similar result with Christopher Hitchens. I’m not aware of anyone who tried waterboarding themselves and didn’t decide “this is torture”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/47 "2014-12-10T13:15:46Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Yeah, but we could at least torture people who look sort of like them. For Jesus. Oh! So THAT was the reasoning behind the 40 lashes! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/48 "2014-12-10T14:16:53Z")
> [@Chetumal](#): > > Whatever. Don’t bomb buildings full of innocent civilians and you won’t get tortured. Seems fair enough to me. How do you know for sure that the people being tortured had bombed buildings full of civilians? Or are you saying that any arbitrarily-selected muslim deserves being tortured, just in case there is a remote chance they participated in such an act? Just trying to nail down the premise here. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/49 "2014-12-10T14:50:18Z")
So who deserves to be tortured for Timothy McVeigh? All Americans? All white people? Or just all far-right Americans? ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/50 "2014-12-10T16:01:40Z")
Just Christian Oklahomans. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/51 "2014-12-10T16:21:14Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > wat jok ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/52 "2014-12-10T17:09:02Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > We saw a similar result with Christopher Hitchens. I’m not aware of anyone who tried waterboarding themselves and didn’t decide “this is torture”. I’m still waiting for Sean Hannity to live up to his promise that he’ll prove its not torture by undergoing it himself. Or maybe that was just a wonderful wonderful dream By the way, this thread is torture. Someone should make the terrorists read it, they’ll give up trying to attack America forever because its already filled with sub-human idiots ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800/53 "2014-12-10T17:10:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Ah, yes: “Whatever” - the last argument for those without an argument. The equivalent of a five-year-old saying “Yeah, well duh.” > > To paraphrase the President, “It’s not what we do in peaceful times that defines us; it’s how we act during times of stress.” Well, to be fair, that’s why they used “stress positions” during “enhanced interrogations.” To see how one would act during times of stress. So, we all good, rite? Hey-o! Don’t forget to tip your veal and try the waitress! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/torture-meh-who-gives-a-crap/706800.md?page=2)