Saturday, February 13, 2010

The torture memos show how illegal wars turn even the nicest people bad

The deceit, the slaughter, the atrocity, the abuse of human rights. Today, Hannah Arendt's banality of evil is everywhere
"How did we reach this pass? The answer has taxed philosophers from Socrates to Hannah Arendt. Even the nicest people go to the bad when caught up in ill-conceived, illegal or unjust wars. Socrates wrestled with the duty of obedience to a stupid state. Arendt noted how easily officials drift down the path of horror when they lose sight of the point where morality calls on them to say no. They sink, she said, into "the banality of evil"."
The Guardian

1 comment:

  1. Authority in the current world system,  anywhere amongst these Hegelian states,  is not benevolent,  they are murderous.  On the point of torture,  I have repeatedly said this,  because those who know of it refuse to speak. 

    These people in government who use torture don't do it to get "confessions" in the sense of good knowledge,  they do it to get the confessions that they want - this has always been the reason for torture,  its elite use.  In the case of the wars that were launched,  they wanted to get this grip of "confessions" that there was this big bad world conspiracy,  so they could get their war on.

    If you question this explanation,  than you should really examine the proofs used to lauch a war against Iraq.  It was based in part on a "confession" that was gotten by torture,  which said that Saddam was in partnership with terrorists.  Afterwords it was discovered to be incorect,  but that was only after the invasion was launched,  so it serveed its purpose.  Torture is used by states solely for this purpose,  to get the confession that THEY want,  whatever serves their purpose.  Even to humiliate and freighten,  to let the victim community know that they are so corrupt that they will use any means to get what they want -

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnitdUvWx8k&feature=related

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