Via Eve Tushnet, I read a very disturbing passage about the torture by right-wing squads in Latin America on Late Night Thoughts. You’ll have to follow the link to read that passage, but here is her conclusion:
The human gene pool sometimes throws out monsters. There are psychiatric terms for them, but their common denominator is the inability to sympathize with others. At the deepest darkest end are those who feel delight in others’ pain; these are damaged humans, and we must understand that even as we remove them from society.
But when a healthy human finds it expedient to categorize others as “lesser than I” he has stepped across a line that ultimately leads to the destruction of the soul. I am not being mawkishly pacifist. I would have no difficulty in killing to defend myself, my loved ones, or my country. But there is a difference between killing someone and savaging his spirit, and we cross that line at our own peril. In Christian terms, when we destroy a human spirit, we are destroying God’s image, and that is an iredeemable act. What does it matter that we gain our revenge if we lose our souls?
It isn’t any good to claim that the other is evil. Accepting the necessity that there is evil in the world and that we cannot always fight it is the bitterest part of the human condition. And our most heroic moments come when we rise against it and lay down our lives to stop it. But ultimately, the question is whether we are willing to do evil ourselves. Once we accept that, we have taken upon ourselves the traits of those that we fight. And what is then the difference then between them and us?
You should also read the posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) on Eve Tushnet’s blog in which she demolishes the case for torture.
Thanks for posting this. I’m going to add this to my recent post against torture, inshallah.
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