Reply #3: b..b...but Jack Bauer always gets his man... [View All]

You are 100% about it's ineffective. But the portrayal - complete with shots of evil bad guys that we KNOW are guilty, then the vicarious smug porn feeling of breaking the terrorist is what sells on tee-vee.

The common setup is: you have a captive. you know he knows the secret of where the bomb/ whatever that will kill innocent people (usually puppies and children). So do you torture to get the (guaranteed correct - right?) information to save everyone? No? Gee you hate America.

The real situation is not so simple: You have some captives. You have no idea if they know anything useful. You have no idea of what they tell you is correct or misleading. Who do you torture? Extend this - you round up men,women, children. You **think** one of them knows something. Do you torture some? All? Is this a policy? Do you set up torture schools now? Performance reviews for torturers, unions, what? Its a slide to the sick side of the darkness.