The Dangers Of Torture

Torture is an unpleasant thing. These methods of extreme harm are used by certain organizations and societies to punish and/or extract information from someone. While forbidden under international law, it is still done in some places to this day like many other heinous acts.

Public opposition to the repugnant actions performed by torturers is frequently high. However, it does have its defenders. How else would it still be allowed somewhere? But just because a chunk of the world population believes something is justifiable, doesn’t make it right.

This article will go over the reasons why real-life torture should not be glamourized or glorified.

Cruelty

The very idea of torture is to cause pain towards an individual. That alone should already be a red flag.

Now, this is not to say that all acts harming others are innately immoral. Sometimes, one has to retaliate against an abuser or aggressor to survive and/or ensure other innocent people do not get hurt.

But unlike self-defense - or really, defense in general - torture involves calculated actions to try and excruciatingly break a person. This could be physically, psychologically, and often both. And for what? Information that may not even be present? To teach a criminal they just need to hide their crimes better?

To give a few specific examples, I’ll start with electric shocks.

Electric shocks have been used by various groups to keep victims in line with the former’s demands. These range from warzones and uprisings to more mundane places like even a boarding school. Yes, there is actually a boarding school in the United States that used electric shocks in the name of behavioral correction for the longest time.

Being electrically shocked can result in many negative health effects. Muscles may tear, burns and seizures could occur, and there is a good risk of death from cardiac arrest. In addition, there are also the threats of psychological trauma and disorders.

Another method of torture which is used in some jurisdictions is waterboarding. Waterboarding is when the assailant pours water on a victim’s face while the latter lies down. The victim suffers through the sensation of drowning as their mouth and nose fill up with liquid.

If done incorrectly, waterboarding is perfectly capable of killing its victim by asphyxiation. But even if it doesn’t, feeling like one is about to drown is not fun. Vomiting often results, as well as the terror the water overload and gag reflex causes.

There are many other ways to torture a person - like methodically beating them up and severely neglecting their basic human needs. It should be fairly obvious what getting beaten bloody does to a person in several ways. Tragically, sexual assault is also occasionally used as a method in certain places.

None of these strategies are right.

Efficacy

When it comes to torture being solely used as punishment, efficiency and effectiveness are at least a little subjective and on a case-by-case basis. Whether the pain makes the victim feel remorse for whatever they did (be it good or bad) or makes their resentment grow is going to vary.

However, the evidence for torture being a reliable method of interrogation is shaky at best and irrelevant at worst. It is not the kind of proof that should be relied on for the sake of consistency.

Many scientific studies have shown that victims of torture will say anything to make the pain stop. It could be true or false - frequently as long as it is what they think the torturer wants to hear. There are a few anecdotes and papers that say otherwise. However, the overall consensus on torture being reliable when it comes to finding information is not pretty.

What is it, then, that helps investigations into shady and/or repugnant acts better? Manipulating the interviewee into trusting you. It’s almost like the “love-bombing” stage of a toxic relationship, but with better goals.

This doesn’t involve subjecting the target to seemingly endless suffering until an answer comes out of them. Rather, being amicable at first while ensuring you get to the point once you’re sure they trust you, is what’s more likely to get you a truthful response. It doesn’t always work, obviously. But it is more moral and effective than plain torture.

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To sum it all up, organized torture has no reason to exist. It’s cruel, traumatizing, detrimental to a target’s health, and not even particularly reliable for getting information unless it is already known. There are superior ways of giving people the consequences they deserve as well.

Any other thoughts on this? Let me know in the comments!

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