Efficacy of Torture Revisited
Here is something that I have been meaning to say for a while about the efficacy of torture.
Eight years ago, three thousand Americans were killed by terrorists. That works out, between then and now, to about 375 per year.
Every year in this country, 40,000 people die in traffic accidents, or about 100 times as many per year as the terrorists killed. Yet I don't find myself quaking in fear like a scared bunny rabbit every time I get into a car. Sure, I want to see the government do what it can to minimize traffic fatalities, which is what they do by building safe roads and traffic signs, and enforcing speed limits. But, you know what? Like practically every other American, I accept the danger, as an acceptable risk in return for my right to go anywhere I want in this country.
Well, you know what? I know perfectly well that, sometime, somewhere, the terrorists are likely to strike our country again. I accept that risk as the price I have to pay, in order to not have to live through the spectacle of America turning into a murderous, barbarian, morally empty shell of what the founding fathers thought they were creating.
I hear so much from the people on the other side of this "debate," about what rough, tough manly cowboys they are. But apparently, inside, they are the most craven of cowards, who will sell their American birthright without a thought to avoid the slightest risk to themselves. These people are the most contemptible of our fellow citizens, and they deserve to be ignored, or ostracized from civilized company.
Eight years ago, three thousand Americans were killed by terrorists. That works out, between then and now, to about 375 per year.
Every year in this country, 40,000 people die in traffic accidents, or about 100 times as many per year as the terrorists killed. Yet I don't find myself quaking in fear like a scared bunny rabbit every time I get into a car. Sure, I want to see the government do what it can to minimize traffic fatalities, which is what they do by building safe roads and traffic signs, and enforcing speed limits. But, you know what? Like practically every other American, I accept the danger, as an acceptable risk in return for my right to go anywhere I want in this country.
Well, you know what? I know perfectly well that, sometime, somewhere, the terrorists are likely to strike our country again. I accept that risk as the price I have to pay, in order to not have to live through the spectacle of America turning into a murderous, barbarian, morally empty shell of what the founding fathers thought they were creating.
I hear so much from the people on the other side of this "debate," about what rough, tough manly cowboys they are. But apparently, inside, they are the most craven of cowards, who will sell their American birthright without a thought to avoid the slightest risk to themselves. These people are the most contemptible of our fellow citizens, and they deserve to be ignored, or ostracized from civilized company.
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