Post by cleefarqhuar on Dec 11, 2014 16:09:03 GMT
In fact hypocrisy is very often necessary in life to oil the social wheels that allow society to operate with minimum friction
But there are momentous occasions when hypocrisy is absolutely essential to a free society
One of those momentous occasions is when the security of a free society is at risk
I am writing of the necessity for torture and the combination of this with the necessity to publicly state that torture is unacceptable
For , if the only way available to protect the lives of peace-loving citizens in a free society is by the use torture, then torture must be sanctioned at the highest political level. At the same time our Governments must condemn the use of torture lest it become the norm
This is very roughly the predicament that the CIA found itself in after the 9/11 bombing
They had in their hands self-declared terrorists that were committed to destroying the free US society and had information that they were unwilling to indulge - information essential to the lives and safety of American (and British) citizens
There was no forseeable way that this information could be extracted other than by the use of torture (in fact the techniques that they employed - horrific though they were, had been declared legal by the American Justice System
So they used torture and this torture has now been exposed by a Committee of the US senate
The necessary conspiracy of hypocrisy has been broken and there is no doubt whatsoever that this means that American (and British) citizens will be killed by terrorists because essential information cannot be extracted
Sometimes we hear of the death wish implicit i liberalism - how its very liberalism can be used by those that hate it to undermine and destroy it
Perhaps the US Senate report falls into that category?
But there are momentous occasions when hypocrisy is absolutely essential to a free society
One of those momentous occasions is when the security of a free society is at risk
I am writing of the necessity for torture and the combination of this with the necessity to publicly state that torture is unacceptable
For , if the only way available to protect the lives of peace-loving citizens in a free society is by the use torture, then torture must be sanctioned at the highest political level. At the same time our Governments must condemn the use of torture lest it become the norm
This is very roughly the predicament that the CIA found itself in after the 9/11 bombing
They had in their hands self-declared terrorists that were committed to destroying the free US society and had information that they were unwilling to indulge - information essential to the lives and safety of American (and British) citizens
There was no forseeable way that this information could be extracted other than by the use of torture (in fact the techniques that they employed - horrific though they were, had been declared legal by the American Justice System
So they used torture and this torture has now been exposed by a Committee of the US senate
The necessary conspiracy of hypocrisy has been broken and there is no doubt whatsoever that this means that American (and British) citizens will be killed by terrorists because essential information cannot be extracted
Sometimes we hear of the death wish implicit i liberalism - how its very liberalism can be used by those that hate it to undermine and destroy it
Perhaps the US Senate report falls into that category?