160
Alabama condemned for nitrogen gas execution: ‘They intended to torture him’
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
160 points (89.6% liked)
politics
18898 readers
3173 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Psychological torture is still torture. Federal agents/Secret police/Military/etc. in many countries have been known to do all sorts of painless torture methods such as sleep deprivation and constant loud music. And then there are things like waterboarding, where it is almost certain that you won't die, but you will feel like you're drowning the entire time. It is torture even if you know you're going to live through the waterboarding.
Christopher Hitchens was waterboarded and wrote about how it was torture.
Torture does not have to be painful or even involve physical contact.
So if I'm sentenced to 20 years for first degree murder, is the fear and terror I feel over losing my freedom the state torturing me?
What about if my doctor's office refuses to give me my diagnosis over the phone on a Friday, and tells me I have to wait for an office appointment on Monday. Is that torture? Should I file a legal complaint or try to get charges pressed?
You're conflating internal agony and anticipatory fear, with actual externally applied methods of torture.
I understand what point you're trying to make, but words have meaning and if everything is torture, then how bad can torture really be?
If you redefine torture into any form of discomfort sure. But that is not what the word means.
"the action or practice of inflicting severe pain or suffering on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something."
So solitary is for sure torture. Normal prison shouldn't be but can for sure be in some cases. It's only slightly better than the corporeal punishments (lashes, stockade) of old in my opinion.
How would actually killing someone, with the person being killed being fully aware that it happens, as it happens. Not be "externally applied methods of torture"? Asphyxiation has been used as a method of torture for millennia.
I'd argue that depending on the victim that 'any form' of discomfort could be considered torture. What should define torture isn't a 'commonly accepted idea of torture' but what the victim considers torture. Some people are quite fine with not having any company for example, but other people if they were socially isolated would consider this a torture, especially for a protracted period of time.