Taxonomy of Torture
September 28, 2006 8:32 AM   Subscribe

What is torture? An interactive primer on American interrogation.
posted by dead_ (27 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: posted previously



 
axegrindfilter, newsfilter
posted by prostyle at 8:55 AM on September 28, 2006


Is the answer 'Sometimes MetaFilter?' Do I win anything?
posted by NationalKato at 8:58 AM on September 28, 2006


Very informative, and well-cited. Thanks for the post... I think. Yikes.
posted by zennie at 9:07 AM on September 28, 2006


though i really wonder if being in a popup and having charts makes something truly 'interactive'.

but it is well written, etc.
posted by mrballistic at 9:12 AM on September 28, 2006


The section on Taxonomy of Torture is especially useful. It's something I could pass on to my family to make them understand what exactly is involved in the terms that have been bandied about so loosely on the news.

Thumbs up!
posted by hermitosis at 9:21 AM on September 28, 2006


Thumbscrews!

I mean, thanks.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 9:31 AM on September 28, 2006


Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)
posted by homunculus at 9:39 AM on September 28, 2006


Posted Thursday, May 26, 2005, at 12:36 PM ET
posted by eyeballkid at 10:02 AM on September 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


Is the answer often times 'Slate?' Do I win anything?
posted by three blind mice at 10:07 AM on September 28, 2006


Folks, call your Senators, TODAY.

While we still have a democracy.
posted by empath at 10:11 AM on September 28, 2006


What is a double post?
posted by kirkaracha at 10:11 AM on September 28, 2006


It's kind of creepy to realize that the editors at Slate didn't exactly use their noggins when thinking through the rhetorical implications of calling something an "interactive primer" on torture.
posted by blucevalo at 10:12 AM on September 28, 2006 [1 favorite]


I once saw an interview where an Israeli intelligence officer was making fun of use techniques; he said it was all a mind game & the U.S. was acting like a bunch of ignorant thugs.

But I'd just give them lots of porn, and really good haraam food. Much more fun!
posted by jeffburdges at 10:19 AM on September 28, 2006


Whoops. I searched for it, I swear.
posted by dead_ at 10:19 AM on September 28, 2006


What is torture?
Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more...
posted by owenkun at 10:22 AM on September 28, 2006




Excuse me but it should be Habeas Corpus 1215 to 1861, 1862 - 2006 since Lincoln did indeed suspend habeas corpus twice.
posted by spicynuts at 10:39 AM on September 28, 2006


[From the audio section]

Chadwick: A number of people who’ve written about this say that most of the techniques that we’ve seen aren’t really that bad – it’s not like yanking out people’s fingernails or some of the things we associate with the Inquisition.

Bazelon: One of the things that Phil Carter points out in his taxonomy of torture in Slate is that a few of the techniques that are being used really do date back to the middle-ages. For example, in Afghanistan there were two prisoners who were hung, suspended by their arms from the ceiling and that’s a technique that dates from the Italian inquisition.


That’s a bit of a strange reply. It’s not as if the association with the Inquisition is notable because of the historical period to which it belongs. It’s because we think of the Inquisition as performing particularly horrible acts on other human beings and almost exclusively for no justifiable reason – a type of behaviour we want to distance ourselves from. So why point out that some of the techniques in use now date back to medieval times?
posted by ed\26h at 10:40 AM on September 28, 2006


Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)

good riddance. it's got to be some effete foreign-language euromonkey concept. if they're so smart, they should have given that stuff an English name, like "Power Freedom" or something. Habeas Corpus just doesn't work as a brand. it's a town in Texas or something. a recipe for ribs.
posted by matteo at 10:49 AM on September 28, 2006


While we still have a democracy

oops. Too late.
posted by slatternus at 10:55 AM on September 28, 2006


The Levin and Specter amendments have both failed.
posted by taosbat at 10:56 AM on September 28, 2006


Good riddance. it's got to be some effete foreign-language euromonkey concept. if they're so smart, they should have given that stuff an English name, like "Power Freedom" or something. Habeas Corpus just doesn't work as a brand. it's a town in Texas or something. a recipe for ribs.

This seems to have now become ubiquitous. Practically every thread contains a parody of what some Republican hick might have to say on the matter. It doesn’t have to be good; it just has to be there. Well, I suppose this is proof, if it were needed, that satire isn’t inherently witty.
posted by ed\26h at 10:58 AM on September 28, 2006


I think there's a great episode of Mythbusters to be done where they try out some of these 'coercive interrogation' methods to see if they can get people to fess up.
posted by unSane at 11:03 AM on September 28, 2006


ed\26h writes "Well, I suppose this is proof, if it were needed, that satire isn’t inherently witty."

Nor are observations expressed in a thread necessarily astute in any way.
posted by clevershark at 11:08 AM on September 28, 2006


unSane --they're way ahead of you.
posted by Humanzee at 11:19 AM on September 28, 2006


Glenn Greenwald: The legalization of torture and permanent detention
posted by homunculus at 11:23 AM on September 28, 2006


Nor are observations expressed in a thread necessarily astute in any way.

I can’t imagine anyone would think they were.
posted by ed\26h at 11:23 AM on September 28, 2006


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