Login
Forgot Password?

OR

Login with Google Login with Twitter Login with Facebook
  • Join
  • Profiles
  • Groups
  • SuicideGirls
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Shop
Vital Stats

chitownguy32

Member Since 2005

Followers 334 Following 537

  • Everything
  • Photos
  • Video
  • Blogs
  • Groups
  • From Others

Saturday May 23, 2009

May 22, 2009
0
  • Facebook
  • Tweet
  • Email
This is a great article by my one-time professor, Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite. Cheney and the Road to Hell


Cheney, Torture and the Road to Hell

It is said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Former Vice President Dick Cheney has convinced me that he believes that what he did in regard to torture policy was right and justified. It is all the more damning for that reason. The deliberate policy of torture supported by him and many in the former administration is a great moral evil and undermines our country's capacity to live up to our expressed values. Thus, Mr. Cheney's has confirmed for me he is determined to continue to march down the road to hell; let's not go with him.

Catholic moral theology offers great insight into why good intentions are not only not enough; they can also send you straight to hell. There is a category of sin called "willful ignorance." People can will themselves not to see their own acts (or the acts of others) for what they really are--morally reprehensible as well as criminal. In fact, the higher the moral purpose you claim, the more risk you run of not being able to know when you are morally culpable. Thus, 'we had good intentions' doesn't justify the act. In fact, it helps blind you to what you did and why you did it. It makes you more culpable, not less.

So here's how we get off the road to hell, Mr. Cheney, and that includes you.

First, admit that waterboarding and the other techniques such as "walling" are torture. There can be no question about this. The United Nations Convention Against Torture , to which the United States is a signatory, states, "For the purposes of this Convention, torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession..."

Deliberate acts that cause "Severe pain or suffering" are torture. You have to will yourself to be ignorant in order to state that what was done to these detainees did not cause pain and suffering, both physical and mental.

Second, admit that living up to our values is what makes America strong and keeps us safe. Adopting policies of torture and then lying about the fact that it's torture is weakness, not strength. We are not more safe because of the last administration's torture policies, we are less safe. We have only "multiplied hate" and made enemies for our country. Here, no one said this better than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:

"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing fear, it multiplies it. Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars."

And in case you miss that point, Dr. King makes it even clearer: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite | May 22, 2009; 11:37 AM ET

More Blogs

  • 12.15.07
    4

    Sunday Dec 16, 2007

    Why does it seem like every time I go to update, I have something to …
  • 11.21.07
    6

    Wednesday Nov 21, 2007

    Ugggghhh....I have to travel in this shitty weather?? Wish me luck!
  • 10.16.07
    14

    Tuesday Oct 16, 2007

    So are you religious? Spiritual? Do you have a practice that keeps …
  • 09.19.07
    9

    Wednesday Sep 19, 2007

    I am tired of being sick
  • 08.28.07
    15

    Tuesday Aug 28, 2007

    Back from BC. It was a wonderful trip! Except for the first two day…
  • 08.17.07
    6

    Friday Aug 17, 2007

    So I am going to get up at 4:30 am tomorrow I need to catch a pla…
  • 07.31.07
    18

    Tuesday Jul 31, 2007

    damn...I should update blah blah blah blah blah blah it's fuckin…
  • 07.13.07
    20

    Friday Jul 13, 2007

    While kasfen's recent post had me singing "ass and tittie" for god kn…
  • 07.07.07
    9

    Saturday Jul 07, 2007

    Please, do your acupuncturist/doctor/massage therapist a favor. Show…
  • 07.03.07
    4

    Tuesday Jul 03, 2007

    Read More

We at SuicideGirls have been celebrating alternative pin-up girls for:

23
years
9
months
7
days
  • 5,509,826 fans
  • 41,393 fans
  • 10,327,617 followers
  • 4,593 SuicideGirls
  • 1,120,514 followers
  • 14,920,612 photos
  • 321,315 followers
  • 61,392,861 comments
  • Join
  • Profiles
  • Groups
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Shop
  • Help
  • About
  • Press
  • LIVE

Legal/Tos | DMCA | Privacy Policy | 18 U.S.C. 2257 Record-Keeping Requirements Compliance Statement | Contact Us | Vendo Payment Support
©SuicideGirls 2001-2025

Press enter to search
Fast Hi-res

Click here to join & see it all...

Crop your photo