As the atheist author of "God is Not Great," outspoken supporter of the Bush Iraq War, and chief antagonist to Mother Teresa's sainthood, Christopher Hitchens is pretty well hated by folks on either side of the political spectrum. Personally, I think he's a pretty funny pain-in-the-ass. And now no one seems to dispute that this guy has some pretty big cajones.
Hitchens recently underwent water boarding to personally resolve the question of whether or not the procedure is torture. To all you haters out there, feel free to put on your masochism hats and enjoy your sick selves as Christopher Hitchens is tortured:
Afterwards, Hitchens had this to say:
I apply the Abraham Lincoln test for moral casuistry: "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." Well, then, if water boarding does not constitute torture, then there is no such thing as torture.
UPDATE: Probably would be nice if I linked the Vanity Fair article.
2 comments:
That's so weird to read that he's an atheist and at the same time a supporter of the Iraq War. I know there's nothing that says that you can't be, but we meet so few, both in person and through the media. It always seems like it's godless liberals and god-fearing conservatives. Anyway.
As for the video, I was really uncomfortable watching it but I told myself I needed to because it doesn't do anyone any good to hide from the truth. So I watched it, very uncomfortable, and was really surprised when I saw what "waterboarding" was. I thought they dunked your head in a bucket or something. I had no idea it was something so simple, so innocuous!
And of course the biggest surprise of all being that it wasn't "innocuous" after all, but it scared the living shit out of him and made him throw the bars away after only 10 seconds. (10 SECONDS! You can hold your breath for at least 15 even if you're a smoker and you're told to hold your breath without warning!) Absolutely insane.
The damnedest thing is, he doesn't strike me as being a cowardly person. Obviously he was brave enough to try this out, but the thing is, he knew this was all a put-on, i.e. something he could escape from the moment he chose to and something he himself was choosing to do. Prisoners aren't in that situation, not by a long shot. They're afraid they're going to killed in cold blood and written off as "casualties," they have no say in they get to quit, etc. So the thing is if he quit so suddenly, and he swears he still gets nightmares about it (IT WAS 10 SECONDS, DUDE!!), then imagine what it must be like for the prisoners.
Sensational journalism? Yes. Possibility of deceit? Of course! Perceived legitimacy? Good. Verdict? Torture.
Definitely chalk me up as a masochist who laughed his ass off watching the man do a 180 on torture in 10 seconds. Props for stepping up to the plate, but it also only seems so solidify his reputation as a self-important douchebag.
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