95 Ethics of Torture (2/2)
”There is no benefit of the doubt in this situation,” I female student spoke up. ”In the off chance that there is a bomb, we need to find it and take care of it. And this is the suspect who knows the location.”
”Okay, I admit. There is no benefit of the doubt in this matter. There are lives at stake. Then my second question becomes, what technique will you use to bring out the information?” He picked up a fountain pen from the table and opened the cap. He smiled at the student and asked them to keep their hand on the desk.
”Come on,” he coaxed. ”If you have chosen torture, you need to tell me what is the most effective.” If this was Sebastian's way of breaking bias, he was very aggressive about it. I quite liked this style. He was shattering their concept little by little. Having a live person in front of them appealed to their humanity. No one spoke. ”Okay, I'll choose it myself, then.” He pressed the nib between the girl's fingers and she flinched back.
The students protested.
”What? You don't want this to happen?” he asked with a small smile. ”Why?”
”She didn't do anything wrong!” the guy from earlier yelled from the back. I chuckled. ”I don't understand what you are getting at.”
”But you're just assuming that she didn't do anything wrong. This is a critical situation, we can't take a risk.” Throwing their argument back at them, huh?
The message sank in. ”If you're appalled that an innocent human is getting tortured, be appalled when the person isn't innocent, either. They are humans and they deserve to be respected. If you think torture brings out results, you are wrong. It has the lowest turnover rates. Instead, detective work, psychology, and ethical interrogative methods produce authentic information. When you treat someone as a human, they feel better. Moreover, torture can lead to false information being given.”
”To escape the pain, a person can say just about anything. They can lie, or even make up something they have no clue about to get away from the source of pain,” a doctoral student answered.
”Moreover, the body in pain is without reason. There is no method to communicate the truth when you are unable to express yourself. Pain renders you unable to speak or emote,” I added in from the back. The class turned to look at me.
”It is hard for people who are not in the situation to understand the extent of the pain. You might see someone in pain and say that you feel it, but in reality, you are unable. You can only imagine, but you will never know exactly how it manifests.” It was a fact.
”And if you all want more information on this, the reading material I will give out at the end of class will help put things into perspective.” The conversation went on for longer with people mildly discussing rehabilitation for criminals who have faced state-sponsored brutality. It was an enriching experience.