Is torture ever acceptable?

Is torture ever acceptable? nebenwirkungen viagra

The United Nations Torture Convention, rather interestingly in the year 1984, defined torture as: was passiert bei einnahme von viagra

“Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.” viagra contrareembolso argentina

The International Criminal Court Act 2001 similarly defines torture as “the intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in the custody or under the control of the accused; except that torture shall not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to, lawful sanctions”. canadian pharmacies online viagra

So the death penalty is ok then, by the sound of it … viagra corporate office toronto

One more definition before I make my point.   The Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture defines torture more broadly. It includes the “use of methods upon a person intended to obliterate the personality of the victim or to diminish his physical or mental capacities, even if they do not cause physical pain or mental anguish”. prostate surgery recovery viagra

This comes closer to the feeling I regularly get sitting on the terraces at Welford Road watching Leicester Tigers, but on a technicality I’m not convinced that the methods involved (knock ons, missed tackles, botched overlaps, poor kicks etc.) are actually intended to diminish my mental capacities or cause me mental anguish, even though they do. blue pill viagra side effects

But this isn’t my point either, and I don’t want to trivialise the subject. acs-24 viagra

This is my point. Torture is sometimes acceptable. And here’s the proof. A few years ago I ran a simple social experiment amongst my friends (I should point out that they represent a wide range of views across the political spectrum, even, I’m obliged to say, some Tories). It involved sending them a text message, simply asking “Is torture ever acceptable?” and the only permitted response was YES or NO. No “buts” or caveats were allowed. A few answered YES, but the vast majority answered NO. To this latter group I sent a follow up question, again the only permitted response was YES or NO, along the following lines: “If a psychopath had captured one of your loved ones, (say, one of your children if you are fortunate enough to have one, or still be in touch with them) and was torturing or killing them, and the only way you could save your loved one was by torturing the torturer, would torture be acceptable?” 100% came back YES with comments like “That’s different” or “Any parent would do anything” and so on. dosierung cialis 20mg

So there are situations where torture is acceptable, at least to the generally decent people of “Middle England”. Think about the plot of Dirty Harry. cialis o viagra yahoo

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Of course, this is a long way from the activities of the CIA (should I add “alleged”?) which include waterboarding, ‘rectal feeding’, mock executions, and sleep deprivation, or those of any number of nasty governments and militaries around the world (North Korea, Nigeria, Mexico, Syria … take your pick and get more examples on the Amnesty International web site). Or is it? taking nitric oxide with viagra

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO? sildenafil citrate dosage information

In the famous torture scene in Gender (I so want to be interviewed on prime time TV about it, and reveal that what you read is a toned-down version at the request of my editor!) I tried to think of the worst pain imaginable – physical (of course) but also psychological and emotional. He did not know the answers to the questions they were asking him, and indeed had no idea what he was doing there. Whereas the psychopath presumably does. differenza fra viagra e cialis

Next time I will explore emotional torture, using the example of P2. cialis viagra price comparison