[lbo-talk] Zizek on normalization of torture

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 3/24/07, Carl Remick <carlremick at hotmail.com> wrote:
> [This is the best oped by Zizek I've read, really eloquent.]
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/24/opinion/24zizek.html>
> March 24, 2007
> Knight of the Living Dead
> By SLAVOJ ZIZEK
<snip>
> This is why, in the end, the greatest victims of torture-as-usual are the
> rest of us, the informed public. A precious part of our collective identity
> has been irretrievably lost. We are in the middle of a process of moral
> corruption: those in power are literally trying to break a part of our
> ethical backbone, to dampen and undo what is arguably our civilization's
> greatest achievement, the growth of our spontaneous moral sensitivity.

36% of the Americans are simply goners.  The rest either don't have
the courage of convictions or are too beaten down to do anything.

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/10_october/19/poll.shtml>
Press Releases
World citizens reject torture, global poll suggests
Category: World Service
Date: 19.10.2006

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The poll suggests 59% of the world's citizens are unwilling to
compromise on the protection of human rights; however 29% of those
polled think governments should be allowed to use some degree of
torture in order to combat terrorism.

Most Americans asked (58%) are against any use of torture.

But opposition to torture in the United States is less robust than in
Europe and the percentage of Americans favouring the practice in
certain cases (36%) is one of the highest among the 25 countries
polled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

There is however somewhat less support for outlawing torture in
several countries that have suffered terrorism attacks or political
violence including India, where slightly more respondents (32%) favour
relaxing the rules against torture than not (23%).

The largest percentage endorsing torture was found in Israel.
Forty-three percent of those polled say some degree of torture should
be allowed, though slightly more (48%) think the practice should be
prohibited.
-- 
Yoshie