A co-worker and I had an interesting discussion on torture the other day. Yes, it was a slow day at work.
Our main topic was waterboarding. My co-worker feels that waterboarding qualifies as torture because of the psychological impact it has while it is being done. I felt it isn’t torture as there is no physical damage and the person experiencing it is in no danger. Turns out I was wrong and that I had a lot of homework to do. Waterboarding can cause: damage to the lungs and brain, broken bones, psychological damage that lasts years and possibly death.
The second topic was “What is torture?” To me torture is something that can cause physical pain/damage. What some people reefer to as psychological torture I see as mind games. My co-worker felt that any thing that can cause pain/damage to the body or mind is torture.
This is a touchy subject that can lead to many unpleasant discussions. Luckily my co-worker and I can talk about anything without crossing any lines. Our next discussion was about midget tossing. It was more fun than the torture discussion.
