To torture or not to torture...

[Airscrew]

At last Arlo is here to show us the err of our ways and guide us down the path of enlightment....   ..
With so many misguided threads how does he manage to keep up.. 

[Neubob]

Having an actual "college professor" present the classic neocon blogger "24" (What would Jack Bower do and how does this relate to your morality versus your patriotism?) scenario to "educate" seems even sadder. *ShruG* Rationalizing torture as an accepted policy based on an imaginary scenario is rationalizing torture ... period. Historically speaking ... it's not anything remotely American.

It was a lawschool class Arlo. 2L, second semester. Criminal Procedure. Specifically, constitutional versus non-constitutional gathering of evidence. It has nothing to do with patriotism. The terrorist topic was a momentary departure from pure law, into the realm of ethics and philosophy. Somewhat superficial maybe, but the disagreement it generated within the class demonstrated how differently we approach this issue. 

As for it being American or not, I don't know and don't care. We were all human in there and the questions being asked weren't too far removed from potential reality. Trade the atom bomb in for a hijacked airliner or a suicide bomber and it's close enough to reality to warrant discussion.

[EskimoJoe]

It was a lawschool class Arlo. 2L, second semester. Criminal Procedure. Specifically, constitutional versus non-constitutional gathering of evidence. It has nothing to do with patriotism. It was a momentary departure from pure law, into the realm of ethics and morality. Somewhat superficial maybe, but the disagreement it generated within the class demonstrated how differently we approach this issue. 

As for it being American or not, I don't know and don't care. We were all human in there and the questions being asked weren't too far removed from potential reality. Trade the atom bomb in for a hijacked airliner or a suicide bomber and it's close enough to reality to warrant discussion.

What if there was a suicide bomber that hijacked an airliner with an atom bomb? Hypothetically, of course.

[Arlo]

At last Arlo is here to show us the err of our ways and guide us down the path of enlightment....   ..
With so many misguided threads how does he manage to keep up.. 

It's not hard. I follow the slime trail and *boom* I'm there ... smartarse.

[Arlo]

The terrorist topic was a momentary departure from pure law, into the realm of ethics and philosophy.

Exactly. So as surprising as you found the answer .... I'm just as surprised at the prof applying blogspeak 101.

[texasmom]

I'll shoot him dead & slit him right open. I wouldn't oppose torture at all afterward of anyone necessary to gain information leading to the discovery of every person/organization which took part in the process.

[SteveBailey]

When asked further, people generally placed the number of lives great enough before an act of torture is justified at somewhere around 100,000.

The threshold for the number of innocent lives for me would be one.

[Holden McGroin]

I don't understand how this is a thinker, maybe I'm missing something.  One life of a terrorist, someone who wants to hurt us and would have no sympathy for anyone, to save thousands of civilians.  How is this a difficult trade off?  Who wouldn't do it?

[geek alert]
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.



[/geek alert]

[EskimoJoe]

I'll shoot him dead & slit him right open. I wouldn't oppose torture at all afterward of anyone necessary to gain information leading to the discovery of every person/organization which took part in the process.

My hero! 

[john9001]

here is a hypothecial, arlo has been captured and is locked up in a secret location with a bomb that is set to explode at any time. You have captured the terrorist that knows the location.

would you.

A, offer the terrorist a cup of tea.

B, sit down and drink tea with the terrorist and discuss mid east affairs.

C, go watch TV.

[texasmom]

Awe, that's mean. Arlo, we'd kill a terrorist for you also.