On Defining Torture:

[KnaveRupe]

This seems pretty self-evident, but I've seen some confusion on this point both here and (of course) on the right. So let me try and put this argument out there for everyone to use:

By definition, torture is an involuntary act.

When Code Pink water-boards a willing volunteer to illustrate the procedure for Dianne Feinstein, they are not torturing anyone.
When U.S. Special forces personnel are water-boarded as part of their training, they are not being tortured.
When a journalist voluntarily undergoes the procedure to write a story about water-boarding, they are not being tortured.

When someone is spirited away in the dead of night, is flown via CIA jet to a shadow prison in a foreign country, is held against his will without contact to the outside world, is subjected to stress positions and hypothermia, and is WATER-BOARDED, then you got yourself some torture.

Think of it in terms of the difference between consensual sex and rape.

Between stepping into the boxing ring, and getting beat up in an alley.

Between agreeing to a Rochambeau, and just getting kicked in the nuts.

Between going on Fear Factor, or being forced to eat a casserole of llama feces and pig testicles.

And any right-wing tool who doesn't get that needs to be involuntarily jammed into two rubber suits, ball gagged, hog-tied, anally intruded with a vibrator, and slowly asphyxiated to learn that even though some people might CHOOSE to engage in a certain behavior, it can still be torture when you didn't sign up for it.


(Edit for tpypos and speling)

[KnaveRupe]

1. Self-kick for the after-work crowd. n/t

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

2. KR

[Sugar Smack]

3. K&R

:applause: I said on another thread that I was suffocated once for all of four seconds. In my consciousness I knew I could die from it. I've held my breath for over 2 minutes because I knew I was at my own mercy.

[crickets]

4. Another K&R

:dem: