We Don't Torture

Or, at least, we shouldn't. And, like Mr. Yglesias, I think the best way to do so is to argue on the utilitarian merits. That, in so many words, torturing suspects is wasteful at best and counterproductive at worst. The moral reprehensibleness of tortue is known, accepted by at least one half of this debate - ie me and everyone else who gets the vapors when their odd notion that the United Fucking States of America shouldn't be torturing people in the face of international convention and common decency. It's a debate that if we need to have, we need to win. And against those who think that torture is an acceptable, moral activity you're not going to make headway. So the people to convince here are the ones who acknowledge that torture is an awful thing but are permissive of it because they think it works. They've no doubt been trained to think so by years of administration propaganda and torture porn shows like 24. So we need to hammer home the message that, no, it really doesn't. No, it never has. And, no, it never will. So why the hell are we doing it?