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Torture in Avatar (spoilers)
Nov. 28th, 2009 02:15 pmI think Katara using waterbending to make thuse earthbender boys talk was a form of torture (see the episode The Blind Bandit).
And I actually think that Toph using earthbending to trap a Dai Li agent and forcing him to talk (in the episode where Katara is kidnapped by the Dangerous Ladies in Ba Sing Se) is a form of torture (for the definition of torture that I use, go here):
http://baeraad.livejournal.com/151948.html#cutid1
The words in italics are posts from the above link:
And frankly, making a suspect 'uncomfortable' is still torture, if you are using said discomfort to eke out information. That's the crucial part of it. Noble prisoners were kept in the Tower of London, sometimes w/out being physically tortured, but the fact that they had to receive their family visits at the whim of a guard, or know that their family's life was becoming more difficult the longer they withheld information, was torture enough.
Yeah, that was kind of my point... if someone finds something so unpleasant that he's willing do anything to make it stop, then I think you're justified in calling it "torture," no matter how different it is from racks and thumbscrews.
And no, torture doesn't usually work in gaining accurate, lifesaving information. There have been US army members, interrogators and former intelligence staff who say that torture doesn't work:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/counter-terror-with-justice/reports-statements-and-issue-briefs/military-intelligence-and-law-enforcement-officers-opposing-torture/page.do?id=1031036
Thoughts, flist?
And I actually think that Toph using earthbending to trap a Dai Li agent and forcing him to talk (in the episode where Katara is kidnapped by the Dangerous Ladies in Ba Sing Se) is a form of torture (for the definition of torture that I use, go here):
http://baeraad.livejournal.com/151948.html#cutid1
The words in italics are posts from the above link:
And frankly, making a suspect 'uncomfortable' is still torture, if you are using said discomfort to eke out information. That's the crucial part of it. Noble prisoners were kept in the Tower of London, sometimes w/out being physically tortured, but the fact that they had to receive their family visits at the whim of a guard, or know that their family's life was becoming more difficult the longer they withheld information, was torture enough.
Yeah, that was kind of my point... if someone finds something so unpleasant that he's willing do anything to make it stop, then I think you're justified in calling it "torture," no matter how different it is from racks and thumbscrews.
And no, torture doesn't usually work in gaining accurate, lifesaving information. There have been US army members, interrogators and former intelligence staff who say that torture doesn't work:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/counter-terror-with-justice/reports-statements-and-issue-briefs/military-intelligence-and-law-enforcement-officers-opposing-torture/page.do?id=1031036
Thoughts, flist?
