Globally, no single issue resonates today as much as torture or
allegations thereof. Under the current rubric of the war on terror,
the governments of the United States and other democratic nations
that have long decried human rights abuses have sought to alter the
tone, tenor, and definition of the term. From where does the basis
for this new paradigm derive? How might it affect a nation's moral
and official authority in the eyes of its citizenry and the world?
When, if ever, can torture be an accepted practice? What are the
psychological and physical aftereffects of such physical and mental
violence on the victim, the practitioner, and the populations in
whose name torture is committed?
The essays gathered in On Torture, a special issue of South
Central Review, explore these questions in a philosophical and
empirical light. They discuss the definitions of torture, examine
the logical underpinnings of the practice as a means of control and
of extracting information, assay the manner in which such actions
are taken and how they are officially depicted, and offer an
overview of government-sanctioned torture in the modern era.
In surveying the realities of torture, the contributors unearth
commonalities in the creation of torturers during the Algerian War,
the systematic abuses that enabled Germany's Nazi regime to
function, the dehumanizing manner with which the Israeli Defense
Forces allegedly treat Palestinians in the Occupied Territories,
and the American public's acquiescence to the new norm after the
September 11 terror attacks. They reveal the parallels between the
institutionalization of torture within nations and the
glorification of war and violence in artistic endeavorsthroughout
the ages and explain how internalizing and accepting torture usurps
individual freedom and subverts humanity.
General
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