Benefits Of Torture In The Film 'Zero Dark Thirty'
Amy Lee
Professor Yun
English 201A
10 November 2014
The Benefits of Torture
Over the decades, people have viewed torture has horrifying, inhumane, and excessive. In the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, it was mainly used for interrogations to obtain information from the detainees about certain people. In the film, there are many scenes that display the superficial layers of enhanced interrogation and gives the viewers an automatic response that torture is bad. While many viewers see that enhanced interrogation has many bad aspects, did they ever wonder about the good ones? How it helped to save many lives? How it helped to kill Osama bin Laden? Why it’s needed to prevent further troubles? Did people ever consider the role …show more content…
of the torturer who suffers from conducting the acts? With much speculation, this topic has become an intriguing argument. Without changing the side of the viewer, what people must understand is that although our society perceives the thought of torture as being violent and unjustifiable, there are actually good parts to it. For example, if the affiliates of terrorists are being interrogated, aren’t speaking, and have plans to bomb certain places but you don’t know when, it seems necessary to use some form of action to make them feel vulnerable enough to speak because as an interrogator, one is being pressured to get the information as soon as possible to prevent any plots. Despite all the details regarding the bad aspects of enhanced interrogation, it should be reconsidered by society to ruminate the good points.
Torture allows higher authorities to obtain information in a more efficient way. In the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, Dan was able to successfully attain bits and bits of information that would soon lead to Osama bin Laden. He used many methods such as hanging his extended arms
to the ceiling while standing, playing loud music, depriving the subject of food and water, waterboarding, humiliation, threatening, light effects, and putting the victim in a box. With the use of these methods, Dan did succeed in getting intel from the detainee, which is why torture is useful and beneficial especially when it helps to save many lives. From the book, The
Phenomenon of Torture, William Schulz mentions that “prolonged constraint or exertion, sustained deprivation of food or sleep, etc. often becomes patterns to which a subject adjusts by becoming apathetic and withdrawing into himself, in search of escape from the discomfort and tension” and as a result, when the interrogators use those techniques of deprivation, it could be used to lower the person’s physiological resistance which will then lower the person’s psychological capacity to the point where the subject withdraws. Just making the subject withdraw or talk implies more than that, it’s about power and imposing one’s will on another.
One side is absolutely powerful while the other coerced party is totally powerless and undefendable. One side can ask and answer, act and react, while the other coerced side can only react verbally, without knowing whether or not the reaction will trigger violence. With the utilization of enhanced interrogation, intimidation plays a part to the victim, group with which the victim is affiliated, and the entire society. The experience of torture is then used to deter the victim from further oppositional activities and as other viewers or possibly society see this, they begin to fear torture and the ones that were tortured. Ultimately, the use of torture does have benefits whether it’s used to stop further activities, try different techniques, or even intimidate the society.
Even though torture violates international laws, it can still be successful and helpful. In
Schulz’s book, he mentions that “intimidation through enticement and lies was the fundamental method for bringing pressure on the relatives of the arrested person when they were called in to give testimony,” which puts a lot of pressure on the detainee to protect the family and if the
pressure did not work, the interrogators would use a different method involving the relatives as well. He says, “one could break even a totally fearless person through his concern for those he loves” or even bring upon suffering onto family members (63). Using another person’s affections for loved ones usually applied to the victim along with effectiveness for intimidation. Enhanced interrogation provides many reasons why it’s a necessity at certain times. Torture may be only temporary to the subject or terrorist but the deaths that they’ve done have been permanent. The risks of a terrorist putting the lives of more people in danger with a long term plot is too great to be ignored. Interrogating one man can help reveal even more information to prevent other possible plots. The utilitarian principle still applies in a hypothetical situation. In fact, it is more justified because the torturer only puts one person in pain. Not only does the interrogator help to save more lives, but torturing someone causes them temporary physical pain. Additionally, the victim has experienced extreme physical suffering that makes the victim think of nothing but pain and everything the victim thinks of is shaped by the experiences of interrogation. The terrorist is therefore made to feel powerless and dependent, because somebody else is controlling what they feel and think. When a torturer has this much power over someone the victim 's only aim is to please their torturer, because they seem to be so powerful and important. The suspect is then made to hand over the needed information. Even if they give misleading information, the agency can check and, if the information was false, they can continue to torture, until honest information is given. The benefits outweigh the cost of torture if a person is put in temporary pain and this prevents the deaths of many more.
It is the duty of a democratic State to protect its citizens. This is because of the social contract. Citizens support the State because there are certain social goals that can only be achieved through an organized body. In this instance, citizens are unable to protect themselves,
so the State steps in. When that terrorist has stepped outside the social contract by damaging the
State, the terrorist is no longer protected by the State and isn’t given any civil rights.
Although some people may apprehend the good aspects of torture, not everyone can come into realization of those aspects for the reason being of their beliefs about moral stature and indentures that come into play. In the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, it states in article 5, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and in the Geneva Conventions, it bans “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture” (Article 3). No one should suffer under the hand of one person because every human life is unique and should be rewarded with respect. The concept of autonomy, somebody being in control of their own life, is a major part of our belief of what it is to be free. When you use someone as a means to an end, the way torture uses a terrorist as a means to finding information, you take away from that person 's autonomy.
They are no longer ruling themselves, but being used for a gain that isn’t their own. Torture impinges on the freedom that all humans deserve as autonomous beings. Thus with many disclosed indentures, people must’ve wondered some of the ways in which torture has had involvements with the U.S. government. An advancement to the type of enhanced interrogation derives from the United States’ own past, which gives our society a bad perspective on how interrogation is being executed nowadays. For example, from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, “a previous graduate, General Juan Melgar Castro, tortured and executed two priests and several peasants in the 1970s by baking them alive in bread ovens and then throwing their bodies in a well” (Quigley 53). Not only did this happen but the Pentagon was involved with wrongful acts as stated, “the Pentagon finally admitted in 1996 that seven training manuals used for nearly ten years at the SOA advocated execution, blackmail, and other forms of coercion” (Quigley 56). Incidents like these progress the changes of different ways of torture and
interrogation, which are becoming more creative and modified. Along with the morality and outcomes of torture, the psychological effects are integrated. If the torturer succeeds in causing serious psychological damage, it is automatically called torture. If the victim survives, there are long term effects to that person, because their identity has been broken by this process of controlling their minds and bodies.
When released, sometimes they are unable to function again in society. They are likely to be psychologically damaged for the rest of their lives, suffering trauma or finding it difficult to trust others. That is still a significant amount of damage to one person’s life and directly impedes their autonomy. So, it is never justified to use utilitarian morality in decision making. In addition, even if the victim does not break, he will still characteristically discover within himself a host of traitorous temptations. The suspect would still have an incentive to lie, for three reasons. Firstly, they would lie because of their ideology or morality in which they still see themselves as above the law and torture strengthens their hatred and distrust of the interrogator. It most likely strengthens their conviction in their cause as well, which is one motive for a terrorist to lie. Also, if the victim 's world view is entirely shaped around pain, they must also think about how to relieve this pain. Even if it’s to stop the pain for a short period, and if they are capable of lying they will do so.
Works Cited
1.
Chomsky, Noam. "The Torture Memos." 24 May 2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
2.
Humphrey, John Peters. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human
Rights." UN News Center. UN, 10 Dec. 1948. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
3.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Geneva Conventions of August 12
1949. Geneva, 1995. Print.
4.
McCoy, Alfred W. “Mind Maze.” The United States and Torture. New York: New York UP,
2011. 26-29. Print.
5.
Quigley, Bill. "Torture and Human Rights Abuses at the School of Americas-WHINSEC."
The United States and Torture. New York: New York UP, 2011. 54, 56. Print.
6.
Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. Print.
7.
Schulz, William F. "Being Tortured, Reading 4." The Phenomenon of Torture. Philadelphia:
U of Pennsylvania, 2007. 64. Print.
8.
Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow. Perf. Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain. Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, 2012. DVD.
Professor Yun
English 201A
10 November 2014
The Benefits of Torture
Over the decades, people have viewed torture has horrifying, inhumane, and excessive. In the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, it was mainly used for interrogations to obtain information from the detainees about certain people. In the film, there are many scenes that display the superficial layers of enhanced interrogation and gives the viewers an automatic response that torture is bad. While many viewers see that enhanced interrogation has many bad aspects, did they ever wonder about the good ones? How it helped to save many lives? How it helped to kill Osama bin Laden? Why it’s needed to prevent further troubles? Did people ever consider the role …show more content…
of the torturer who suffers from conducting the acts? With much speculation, this topic has become an intriguing argument. Without changing the side of the viewer, what people must understand is that although our society perceives the thought of torture as being violent and unjustifiable, there are actually good parts to it. For example, if the affiliates of terrorists are being interrogated, aren’t speaking, and have plans to bomb certain places but you don’t know when, it seems necessary to use some form of action to make them feel vulnerable enough to speak because as an interrogator, one is being pressured to get the information as soon as possible to prevent any plots. Despite all the details regarding the bad aspects of enhanced interrogation, it should be reconsidered by society to ruminate the good points.
Torture allows higher authorities to obtain information in a more efficient way. In the movie, Zero Dark Thirty, Dan was able to successfully attain bits and bits of information that would soon lead to Osama bin Laden. He used many methods such as hanging his extended arms
to the ceiling while standing, playing loud music, depriving the subject of food and water, waterboarding, humiliation, threatening, light effects, and putting the victim in a box. With the use of these methods, Dan did succeed in getting intel from the detainee, which is why torture is useful and beneficial especially when it helps to save many lives. From the book, The
Phenomenon of Torture, William Schulz mentions that “prolonged constraint or exertion, sustained deprivation of food or sleep, etc. often becomes patterns to which a subject adjusts by becoming apathetic and withdrawing into himself, in search of escape from the discomfort and tension” and as a result, when the interrogators use those techniques of deprivation, it could be used to lower the person’s physiological resistance which will then lower the person’s psychological capacity to the point where the subject withdraws. Just making the subject withdraw or talk implies more than that, it’s about power and imposing one’s will on another.
One side is absolutely powerful while the other coerced party is totally powerless and undefendable. One side can ask and answer, act and react, while the other coerced side can only react verbally, without knowing whether or not the reaction will trigger violence. With the utilization of enhanced interrogation, intimidation plays a part to the victim, group with which the victim is affiliated, and the entire society. The experience of torture is then used to deter the victim from further oppositional activities and as other viewers or possibly society see this, they begin to fear torture and the ones that were tortured. Ultimately, the use of torture does have benefits whether it’s used to stop further activities, try different techniques, or even intimidate the society.
Even though torture violates international laws, it can still be successful and helpful. In
Schulz’s book, he mentions that “intimidation through enticement and lies was the fundamental method for bringing pressure on the relatives of the arrested person when they were called in to give testimony,” which puts a lot of pressure on the detainee to protect the family and if the
pressure did not work, the interrogators would use a different method involving the relatives as well. He says, “one could break even a totally fearless person through his concern for those he loves” or even bring upon suffering onto family members (63). Using another person’s affections for loved ones usually applied to the victim along with effectiveness for intimidation. Enhanced interrogation provides many reasons why it’s a necessity at certain times. Torture may be only temporary to the subject or terrorist but the deaths that they’ve done have been permanent. The risks of a terrorist putting the lives of more people in danger with a long term plot is too great to be ignored. Interrogating one man can help reveal even more information to prevent other possible plots. The utilitarian principle still applies in a hypothetical situation. In fact, it is more justified because the torturer only puts one person in pain. Not only does the interrogator help to save more lives, but torturing someone causes them temporary physical pain. Additionally, the victim has experienced extreme physical suffering that makes the victim think of nothing but pain and everything the victim thinks of is shaped by the experiences of interrogation. The terrorist is therefore made to feel powerless and dependent, because somebody else is controlling what they feel and think. When a torturer has this much power over someone the victim 's only aim is to please their torturer, because they seem to be so powerful and important. The suspect is then made to hand over the needed information. Even if they give misleading information, the agency can check and, if the information was false, they can continue to torture, until honest information is given. The benefits outweigh the cost of torture if a person is put in temporary pain and this prevents the deaths of many more.
It is the duty of a democratic State to protect its citizens. This is because of the social contract. Citizens support the State because there are certain social goals that can only be achieved through an organized body. In this instance, citizens are unable to protect themselves,
so the State steps in. When that terrorist has stepped outside the social contract by damaging the
State, the terrorist is no longer protected by the State and isn’t given any civil rights.
Although some people may apprehend the good aspects of torture, not everyone can come into realization of those aspects for the reason being of their beliefs about moral stature and indentures that come into play. In the United Nations’ Declaration of Human Rights, it states in article 5, “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" and in the Geneva Conventions, it bans “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture” (Article 3). No one should suffer under the hand of one person because every human life is unique and should be rewarded with respect. The concept of autonomy, somebody being in control of their own life, is a major part of our belief of what it is to be free. When you use someone as a means to an end, the way torture uses a terrorist as a means to finding information, you take away from that person 's autonomy.
They are no longer ruling themselves, but being used for a gain that isn’t their own. Torture impinges on the freedom that all humans deserve as autonomous beings. Thus with many disclosed indentures, people must’ve wondered some of the ways in which torture has had involvements with the U.S. government. An advancement to the type of enhanced interrogation derives from the United States’ own past, which gives our society a bad perspective on how interrogation is being executed nowadays. For example, from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, “a previous graduate, General Juan Melgar Castro, tortured and executed two priests and several peasants in the 1970s by baking them alive in bread ovens and then throwing their bodies in a well” (Quigley 53). Not only did this happen but the Pentagon was involved with wrongful acts as stated, “the Pentagon finally admitted in 1996 that seven training manuals used for nearly ten years at the SOA advocated execution, blackmail, and other forms of coercion” (Quigley 56). Incidents like these progress the changes of different ways of torture and
interrogation, which are becoming more creative and modified. Along with the morality and outcomes of torture, the psychological effects are integrated. If the torturer succeeds in causing serious psychological damage, it is automatically called torture. If the victim survives, there are long term effects to that person, because their identity has been broken by this process of controlling their minds and bodies.
When released, sometimes they are unable to function again in society. They are likely to be psychologically damaged for the rest of their lives, suffering trauma or finding it difficult to trust others. That is still a significant amount of damage to one person’s life and directly impedes their autonomy. So, it is never justified to use utilitarian morality in decision making. In addition, even if the victim does not break, he will still characteristically discover within himself a host of traitorous temptations. The suspect would still have an incentive to lie, for three reasons. Firstly, they would lie because of their ideology or morality in which they still see themselves as above the law and torture strengthens their hatred and distrust of the interrogator. It most likely strengthens their conviction in their cause as well, which is one motive for a terrorist to lie. Also, if the victim 's world view is entirely shaped around pain, they must also think about how to relieve this pain. Even if it’s to stop the pain for a short period, and if they are capable of lying they will do so.
Works Cited
1.
Chomsky, Noam. "The Torture Memos." 24 May 2009. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
2.
Humphrey, John Peters. "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human Rights, Human Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human
Rights." UN News Center. UN, 10 Dec. 1948. Web. 31 Oct. 2014.
3.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Geneva Conventions of August 12
1949. Geneva, 1995. Print.
4.
McCoy, Alfred W. “Mind Maze.” The United States and Torture. New York: New York UP,
2011. 26-29. Print.
5.
Quigley, Bill. "Torture and Human Rights Abuses at the School of Americas-WHINSEC."
The United States and Torture. New York: New York UP, 2011. 54, 56. Print.
6.
Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain. New York: Oxford UP, 1985. Print.
7.
Schulz, William F. "Being Tortured, Reading 4." The Phenomenon of Torture. Philadelphia:
U of Pennsylvania, 2007. 64. Print.
8.
Zero Dark Thirty. Kathryn Bigelow. Perf. Jason Clarke, Jessica Chastain. Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, 2012. DVD.