Torture fails to make us safe, but it certainly makes us less free.
While the notion that torture works has been glorified in television shows and movies, the simple truth is this: torture has never been an effective interrogation method.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Torture is often portrayed as effective in media, but in reality, it is ineffective for gathering truthful information.
This quote highlights the misconception that torture is a viable method for obtaining reliable information from individuals, a narrative perpetuated by media portrayals. The author emphasizes that, despite its dramatic representation in television and film, evidence shows that torture does not produce effective or truthful results, thereby questioning its ethical implications and drawing attention to the need for more humane interrogation methods.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about human rights, you might reference this quote to argue against the use of torture.
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History, as the study of the past, makes the coherence of what happened comprehensible by reducing events to a dramatic pattern and seeming them in a simple form.
In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that’s just ridiculous. It’s as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it’s for a reason.
When men have come to the edge of a precipice, it is the lover of life who has the spirit to leap backwards, and only the pessimist who continues to believe in progress.
Compassion is the keen awareness of the interdependence of all things.
I think the best analogy for where we are right now is that America is Elvis Presley -- the most beautiful, talented, rebellious nation in the history of Earth. And now, you're in your Vegas years. You've squeezed yourself into a white jumpsuit, you're wheezing your way through 'Love Me Tender' and you might be about to pass away bloated on the toilet. But you're still the King.
To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.