Dave Land wrote:
Amnesty International's 2005 report certainly agrees with your
assessment. From the press release announcing the report:
The US administration’s attempts to dilute the absolute ban on
torture through new policies and quasi-management speak such as
"environmental manipulation", "stress positions" and "sensory
manipulation", was one of the most damaging assaults on global
values.
Despite the US administration’s repeated use of the language of
justice and freedom there was a huge gap between rhetoric and
reality. This was starkly illustrated by the failure to conduct a
full and independent investigation into the appalling torture and
ill-treatment of detainees by US soldiers in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib
prison and the failure to hold senior individuals to account.
Yea, I saw that. Also:
“Tolerance for torture and ill-treatment, signaled by a failure to
investigate and prosecute those responsible, is the most effective
encouragement for it to spread and grow. Like a virus, the techniques used
by the United States will multiply and spread unless those who plotted
their use are held accountable,” said Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive
Director of Amnesty International USA. “The U.S. government’s response to
the torture scandal amounts to a whitewash of senior officials’
involvement and responsibility. Those who conducted the abusive
interrogations must be held to account, but so too must those who schemed
to authorize those actions, sometimes from the comfort of government
buildings. If the United States permits the architects of torture policy
to get off scot-free, then other nations should step into the breach.”
Bush is a bit like the father that thinks that by whipping his children
and locking them in a closet he can get them to do what he wants.
Been reading Lakoff lately? He describes the neocons' highly effective
activation of the "stern father" family model, which works pretty much
just as you describe. Among other things, the "stern father" model
assumes that the world is a dangerous place, so it takes a tough father
to fend off the baddies, children are born bad and have to be
"whipped into shape." Social programs must be eliminated because they
only serve to keep their "children" weak and dependent.
No, I don't know who Lakoff is (should I?), but the analogy is painfully
obvious to me.
--
Doug
Who has now googled Lakoff and thinks he should probably know.
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