...Is Torture Ever Acceptable? According to dictionary.com, the definition of torture is. “The act of inflicting excruciating pains, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information”. Torture has been here for a long time and people have gotten good and bad results from it. The debate centers around whether or not this act is humane and if it is worth the violation of civil rights that belong to every person in a civilized society. If we continue to use barbaric methods only to receive a mixed bag of results, is the implementation worth the abuse of fellow human beings? My goal is to prove that my research has found that torture is unacceptable in all cases. Torture is never justified because there are many reasons...
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...Is Torture Justified? EN4120 23 August 2013 ITT Technical Institute Abstract Torture should be allowed if it saves lives. Why should any lives be lost if there is a way to save them. Terrorists are not even protected by the Geneva Conventions so why should they have the same rights and privileges as Prisoners of War. Is Torture Justified? So the question is, Is Torture Justified? My claim is that as long as torture saves lives then torture should be allowed by all means. Torture has always been a part of civilization. It goes back as far as the Greeks and Romans and as recently as when detainees were being held in Guantánamo Bay Cuba in 2004. In 1949 the Geneva Conventions was sanctioned during the wake of World War II. Even though the Geneva Conventions of 1949 was established torture has been and is still used inappropriately. Cornell University Law School found, “The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise rendered hors de combat, or incapable of fighting.” The Geneva Conventions explains how terrorists are defined under the Geneva Conventions as not being held up to the same standards as Prisoner Of War are. So if terrorists are not to be considered protected by the Geneva Conventions then in that case torture should be justified for a least terrorists. Just think how many lives could have been saved if United States had the means or the opportunity to have tortured someone...
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...lifestyle imposes certain conditions on humans. In this paper, I will be tackling the topic of torture and how modern civilizations cannot cope with such an idea so disastrous and humiliating to mankind. Justifying the act of torture cannot resemble but an annoying image of humanity. In what’s below, I will argue with and against the practice of torture and will come to a conclusion that no matter what, torture will always reflect negatively on the society as the only way of justifying it is through perfect knowledge of the consequences that no one knows but God. I also considered the scenario of ticket- time bomb because it is considered to be the heaviest argument that justifies torture. So, let’s see how torture isn’t justified. One night, I went into my house and saw a man, on TV, beating a defenceless tied person. The man was actually beating the guy and enjoying the extreme pain he’s suffering from. He even cut the guy’s feet with a butcher’s knife. My whole family was watching the movie. My dad seemed to enjoy the movie. My brother was just shouting for the man and encouraging him to beat the guy further. My mom had no reaction towards what’s happening. And still my sister who looked really annoyed and demanded to change the channel over and over. This gives rise to the question of whether torture should be accepted or not. And does accepting torture imply that it is justified? The movie, called “Hostel”, turned out to be talking about a group of Man hunters. It talks...
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...the history of the United States. On the same day, American President George W. Bush announced that the United States would lead the war on terrorism in order to protect the life of American citizens. This form of combat contained its on set of challenges as some human rights norms such as torture being an acceptable tool to combat terrorism entered public debate. Considered to be one of the most extreme forms of violence, torture involves inflicting...
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...John Badidis 1/4/13 Ethics Dr. Yoder Box 1150 Can Torture Ever Be Justified? The topic of torture has been discussed rigorously over recent years, and many are torn on the issue. In my personal opinion, one can justify torture on human standards if there is no God in the picture. However due to the fact that I am a believer in Jesus Christ, I cannot justify the action. Why would God ever have it be His will to put a man or woman who in a situation to torture his own creation and be ok with it? All throughout scripture we see that God never tortures man in the way some of us feel is occasionally necessary to save lives. Sure God is a God of Wrath, but His wrath was never inhumane. If we call ourselves believers, then I do not see how we can justify this action. I think that it is also important to remember that God is the only giver of life and death. Who are we to think that we can take these matters in our own hands? We must ask ourselves what is right? Next is the issue of sin. Here are a series of questions. -Does every man and women sin? Yes -Is every sin the same in Gods eyes? Yes -Would you consider electrocuting, cutting, burning, and drowning a man or woman created by God a sin? Yes -Does God ever want his children to sin? No, it saddens our Father every time we sin. With this conclusion, one must see that there is no difference between the torturer (the one who cuts, burns, drowns, etc.…), and the tortured (terrorist who plants a bomb to kill millions.)...
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...Torturing Terrorist The word torture makes teeth cringe with images of a person tied down to a chair with ruptured lips, bruised face, in a room full of people taking turns in “beating the truth” out of them. Torturers have an illusion of finding the “truth” through creative forms of inflicting agonizing pain on a terrorist. During times of crisis this technique can be tempting to practice. The ticking time bomb scenario is always a form in an attempt to justify torture (Smith). These methods can cause a negative impact in communities in our nation. Torture should not be an option. Torture is defined as: the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty (Dictionary.com). In human nature every being is wired to survive. The primal instinct takes over a person when they are being tortured and know that they are in a life or death situation. Regardless if they know anything about what the interrogators want to know, they will say anything to keep themselves from being tortured. Excruciating pain is not the only way of obtaining information because torture has two forms that could be either physical or psychological (law.harvard.edu). There have been data-based attempts to probe the definition of torture. In a sophisticated empirical study of 432 torture survivors, Metin Basoglu (2009) analyzed the psychological meaning of 46 torture techniques. Statistical analyses revealed...
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...human life and therefore it causes no problem to test any product we may have on animals if it benefits the consumer, side two which consists of the opposing argument to this, consists of the people who are against animal testing and believe that it is cruel and unjust and no matter the situation cannot be justified. Finally the third argument is the middle ground which embodies both points from the for and against argument of animal testing, they say that animal testing is cruel however sometimes it can be justified if the pros out way the cons such as in medical product development. Animal testing has and will always be a hotly debated topic one reason for this is because of the money it brings to the economy. “Animal research is a multibillion-dollar industry. Much money can be made by researchers and their institutions, those that supply animals and equipment for experiments, and companies that sell products tested on animals.”( Yarri, Donna, 2005) It is unlikely that the people involved in animal testing are going to want to use more costly methods of experimentation because of the “rights” of animals and therefore will argue the point that animal research is justified. Another point that may be argued by them is that if they have to find new means of testing this may reduce how quickly new products or medicines come to market as they will have to find another means of testing but also acquire additional funding due to these more expensive means of testing. As this could...
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...TELEOLOGY and DEONTOLOGY You ever heard the saying “the ends justify the means”? What exactly does this mean? Well it means just because you do something bad as long as the result is good the action can be forgiven. If one man kills another man he is a murderer. But what if the man he killed, killed others? Or done worse crimes? Was he a rapist? Possibly, and if he is then was his actions justified? The saying does say if the result is good the action is justified but how good of a result does it have to be? If you rob a bank and give the money to the less fortunate is that justified? How about killing one to save the lives of many? Let’s use teleology and deontology to help us figure this out. First let’s define what deontology and teleology mean. The word deontology comes from the Greek roots deon, which means duty, and logos, which means science. Which means deontology is the "science of duty." Deontology focuses on independent moral rules or duties. In order to make the correct moral choices, we simply have to understand what our moral duties are and what correct rules help us regulate those duties. The word teleology comes from the Greek roots telos, which means end, and logos, which means science. Which means teleology is the "science of ends." Teleology focuses on the consequences which our actions might have. When we make choices which result in the correct consequences, then we are acting morally. When we make choices which result in the incorrect consequences, then...
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...written by Professor Alan Dershowitz. Then identify and describe the critical issues addressed in the article. In your paper, thoroughly discuss and evaluate the following concepts: the ticking time bomb hypothesis; Dershowitz's comments regarding Jeremy Bentham as well as his comments about Voltaire's views; and the three ways to deal with the use of torture in the ticking time bomb situation, as stated by the Israeli government-appointed commission of the late 1980s. As part of the discussion about the commission's conclusions, include Dershowitz's "fourth road." Abstract After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on America, numerous articles and books were published. These articles and books analyzed why the 9/11 attack happened and proposed solutions on how to prevent terrorist attacks in the future. Alan Dershowitz contributed to this body of literature from a lawyer's perspective in his book titled Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge. In an article from the book titled, Should the Ticking Time Bomb Terrorist Be Tortured, many of his suggestions such as the use of torture, are rather controversial; however, Dershowitz encourages people to rethink current notions of security, liberty, and international law. Alan Dershowitz acknowledges that he is not an expert on terrorism; his opinions, suggestions and methods in his articles and books were written using his lifetime of experience in crime and violence from the perspective...
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...through the torturing childhood of the author himself. He was being the outcast of his own family and being a victim of severe parental abuse, will leave you in suspense as you wait with anticipation for the end of this little boys struggle to live. This book is a wonderful, and uniquely inspiring story that is sure to touch your heart. He was, a four-year-old boy, who lived with both of his parents and two siblings, had a relatively normal life. Things soon started to change as his parents' marriage started to fall apart, resulting in his mother developing an overwhelmingly dangerous alcohol addiction. With her marriage hanging by a thread, his's mother began to blame him for that happening, thus, resulting in upcoming years of unthinkable torture, as well as physical and mental abuse. At first, this abuse was kept a secret from the world. Including their own family. He had become his mother’s slave. He had to do every household chore she could think of. Even unnecessary things. He was no longer allowed to interact with anyone but his mother and that was only to experience her disgusting torment. But that wasn't the worst of it. He was not allowed to eat. On rare occasion, he would be able to eat the scrapes he cleaned up after his family ate their meals. In the beginning, his father would try to defend his son, and rescue him from the evil grasp of his wife. But his wife would always give the excuse that he was a "bad child". After his father tried to rescue him, which made his...
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...Ethnography at the Edge “Dangerous Methods” “ABSTRACT” In this paper I explore the mysteries of the work of Ferrell and Hamm’s book Ethnography at the Edge, chapter titled “Dangerous Methods”. This book was created as research to answer some mind boggling questions such as “why do criminals do what they do?” These two criminologist put themselves into the same situations and live the lives of drug addicts, prostitutes and murders in order to understand their ways of thinking before committing these acts. What pushed them to this lifestyle, and what were their other options? Did they have any other options? This paper is a critique of their work, and approaches to criminology. We will compare a number of theories to include the ones used by Ferrell and Hamm, and dictate whether or not I felt this was the proper use of their research. I will also compare the technique of criminal verstehen with other techniques used to understand crime. (Word count 152) Introduction: Criminological behavior has been a mystery that criminologist have longed tried to unravel. Many theories have been developed in an attempt to understand deviant behavior. In my personal opinion none have made such an effort to establish an understanding than Jeff Ferrell and Mark Hamm. Jeff Ferrell is currently a professor of Sociology at Texas Christian University and a visiting professor at the University of Kent, UK. He has authored many books such as Crimes of Style, Tearing down the Streets...
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...preparation load will be significantly lighter once we get to tutorial 5 (or soon after that if you are in a smaller tutorial group) and the tutorial presentations. Until then it’s necessary to do a bit of front loading, so to speak, to get you up and running with the text analysis methodologies which will stand you in good stead later in the semester. Once you have mastered these methodologies there will be significantly less theory and much more of an emphasis on actual journalistic coverage of events, people, issues and trends. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A guide to analysing views journalism Part 1 – characterising arguments by reference to the how they are justified and supported In the first section of these notes we are going to look in a bit more detail at how supporting argumentation (justifications) works to justify primary claims. This material was dealt with in previous tutes and lectures but now we go into more depth – specifically extending the discussion to consider the nature of the warrants which are typically associated with the different types of justification. By attending to warrants in this way it becomes possible to provide telling insights into the author’s persuasive style and into the value system or worldview which is taken for granted...
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...contributing to these dreadful acts. Factory farming is when large quantities of animals such as cattle, pigs, and poultry, are housed together for mass production for the pleasure of our consumption. As a consumer ask yourself, is the murder of an animal justified? Is wanting a hamburger more important than the suffering and torture of the animal which it came from? Though a large amount of people are for animal rights, most are uninformed of the suffering behind factory farming. If people knew the true conditions in which the animals live, the unacceptable lifestyle these creatures have, and the torturous process that contributes to having food on your plate, we would all be hostile to the practice. Factory farming is unacceptable and it should be abolished....
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...For example, “The Cambodian Genocide refers to the attempt of Khmer Rouge party leader Pol Pot to nationalize and centralize the peasant farming society of Cambodia virtually overnight” (Krkljes). The Khmer Rouge communist connections allowed the killing of government officials to feel justified because the peasants of Cambodia wanted change and Pol Pot was creating a new era for the farmers. The Khmer Rouge was also the offshoot of the socialist People’s Army of Vietnam (Why the World). Since the Khmer Rouge was an offshoot of the People’s Army the United States was focusing on Vietnam rather than sending in troops to force the Khmer Rouge out of Cambodia. Pol Pot’s intentions were not great, but it allowed the peasants of Cambodia to have a government more geared towards...
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...like the restrictions of Great Britain on the colonists, while other see it as a needed method of protecting people of harmful information. Historical book banning has existed in America since colonial time’s often censoring obscenities and blasphemy. Tennessee’s 1925 law for example tried to ban books in schools teaching evolution, supposing that such teachings undermine religious groups and opinions, leading it later to the famous the scopes trial, on the issue of evolution (Sweet.) Proving the ludicrousness of the idea banning John Stuart Mill wrote in his book On Liberty “If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind." He eloquently expresses that since no crown can silence the ideas of one, no one can silence the ideas of a crowd, comparing "one" to the... Unbroken has literary merit in its examination of a remarkably tough and resilient man, which will ensure it will "stand the test of time" outweighing any negative effects of the perceived racial discrimination. Unbroken can stand the test of time because of the human nature and resilience in Louis to which anyone can relate. In unbroken Louis demonstrates key characteristics that made him a spectacular individual; characteristics that are relatable and thus can stand the test of time. The characteristics are as follows endurance, fearlessness...
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