Friday, December 23, 2005
A history of torture
Naomi Klein (who I consider to be one of the best commentators around) in the Guardian wrote about the US's involvement in torture since Vietnam (and earlier). A lot of us who love the ideals expressed by the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the etching on the Statue of Liberty, etc, have a hard time looking squarely at the worst things our government has done since WWII. They make us sick, imbue us with feelings of rage and impotence and despair that a government that can at once be very good for its people and yet so horrible for other people's. Of course, many of us see that our government is growing less and less good for its own people -- how much worse then, will it get for other peoples as well!
The article is worth reading, if only to remind ourselves that we can never give up the fight for humane government, and also to force ourselves to look our government squarely in the eyes and access what it has done wrong and what we can do to correct it. Many Americans have an innocence born of ignorance when it comes to our government; we see the good and don't notice the bad (which of course, various agencies, etc have tried to keep from us). We can't allow that ignorance to continue, because it allows and facilitates atrocities that go against everything we believe America stands for. We can't allow our own feelings of discomfort at what our government is capable of allow us to be turn a blind eye, to become complacent. Like co-dependent wives of abusers or alcoholics, we only enable that we hate, when we refuse to get out of our own comfort zones.
Anyway, here's the article. I hope you read it, and I hope it spurs us all to action.
A History of Torture:
By Naomi Klein
The US has used torture for decades. All that's new is the openness about it. By ignoring past abuses, opponents of torture are in danger of pushing it back into the shadows instead of abolishing it.
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1664174,00.html ¶ 12:22 PM
The article is worth reading, if only to remind ourselves that we can never give up the fight for humane government, and also to force ourselves to look our government squarely in the eyes and access what it has done wrong and what we can do to correct it. Many Americans have an innocence born of ignorance when it comes to our government; we see the good and don't notice the bad (which of course, various agencies, etc have tried to keep from us). We can't allow that ignorance to continue, because it allows and facilitates atrocities that go against everything we believe America stands for. We can't allow our own feelings of discomfort at what our government is capable of allow us to be turn a blind eye, to become complacent. Like co-dependent wives of abusers or alcoholics, we only enable that we hate, when we refuse to get out of our own comfort zones.
Anyway, here's the article. I hope you read it, and I hope it spurs us all to action.
A History of Torture:
By Naomi Klein
The US has used torture for decades. All that's new is the openness about it. By ignoring past abuses, opponents of torture are in danger of pushing it back into the shadows instead of abolishing it.
Full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1664174,00.html ¶ 12:22 PM
