Among many widespread concerns about torture, one is what exactly defines it, and what specific acts are included. While Bagaric does not mention this in his argument, it is a main concern to Johnson throughout his article. Johnson describes torture as “a form of terrorism…The object of all such physical and mental torment is singularly clear: to terrify prisoners so they will yield information.” (26) Later in his article, Johnson quotes the definition of torture as defined by the U.S. Justice Department, and reads as follows: “‘Physical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.’” (27) An article in the February …show more content…
Johnson is firm in his position that in no situation will torture ever be morally permissible, which he restates many times throughout his article. It is stated that “whenever we torture or mistreat prisoners, we are capitulating morally to the enemy – in fact, adopting the terrorist ethic that the end justifies the means.” (Johnson, 26) Later in his article, he quotes Captain Ian Fishback, “Some argue that since our actions are not as horrifying as al-Qaeda’s we should not be concerned. When did al-Qaeda become any type of standard by which we measure the morality of the United States?” (Johnson, 27) Bagaric and Johnson both believe that torture is immoral, creating some common ground between the two. Although, the difference is Bagaric claims one case where it is immoral not to torture: when an innocent life is at risk. Here it becomes the Hollywood situation. Bagaric talks about the “hostage-taking scenario,” where an innocent person is taken and a gun pointed to their head. He claims that in such a situation it is “not only permissible, but desirable” for the captor to be shot given the chance. To strengthen his argument, Bagaric claims the right to self-defense and defense of another to justify this scenario. Later in his article, he does acknowledge the fact that a situation such as this may never occur, but stresses that the choice be made now, as it will “encourage the community to think more carefully about moral judgements we collectively hold that are the cause of an enormous amount of suffering in the