Torture Photos: Bad; Torture: Meh

Every time a GOPer like Dick Cheney gets on the teevee and talks about torture, it goes something like this. We don't torture, we've never tortured. But if we did, it's because it works! And not doing it will make us unsafe! But, er, we don't torture.

Beyond that, we'll hear ranting and raving about the Obama Administration talking about torture, threatening to investigate Bush Era torture programs, and releasing documents and photos--well, all of that is terrible, deplorable, and is making us less safe. Actual (not!) torture though, that's good, remember. I'm starting to wonder if I should ever want to understand the tortured logic of Republicans.

[Excerpt]



Conservatives Outraged Over Release Of Torture Photos, But Not Over Actual Torture

On April 23, the Obama administration announced it would release hundreds of photos of detainee interrogation, obeying a court order from a lawsuit filed by the ACLU. Predictably, conservatives furious with the Obama administration’s attempt at greater transparency denounced the move. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) wrote to President Obama asking him not to release the photos because they could inflame potential terrorists. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Political Double-talk and the Dumbed-Down American

Photo of Susan Jacoby from source, Raw Story

A recurring theme here on the blog has been perceived reality vs. actual reality. I recently highlighted a quote by George Orwell, and will do so here again, as it illustrates my point:

". . .we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on the battlefield."--George Orwell, "In Front of Your Nose"

I know I'm repeating myself in many ways by yet again bringing up Karl Rove's mission over the course of the Bush Administration, to manufacture his own reality. It may have been occurring for years or decades before Rove, but he mastered the art of spin. He could almost literally tell people not to believe their own lying eyes or ears, to ignore transcripts or video proof to the contrary: his reality was the real reality. He had the "real math."

Below is an excellent article on this theme, covering this theme far more adeptly than I am able to do. Check it out.

[Excerpt]

Author: Right wing intellectuals make wishful thinking sound rational

Susan Jacoby, a prominent intellectual who worries about the growing disregard for reason in American political debates, says the dumbing down of political discourse is affecting how citizens choose their leaders and is letting candidates manipulate their audience.

"Without a base of knowledge of how things are you can't really have a reasonable talk about how things ought to be," Jacoby recently told PBS's Bill Moyers. . .

Read the rest at: Raw Story