Are you ready to be shocked? Then check this video out here.
To give you an idea of what kind of shock you are in for, here are two quotes taken directly from the video:
“Because whether or not these techniques are immoral or how immoral they are surely depends on whether or not they work.”
“The worse thing would be to do something wrong and have it be ineffective.”
To these people I only have one thing to say.
Part of the Nazi experiments in concentration camps had to do with freezing. In short, the army wanted to have more data on how to deal with the cold on the Russian front. So they put prisoners into vats of icy cold water and tried to revive them using various techniques (for a full description of these experiments, go here).
Today, there are still a lot of holes in our understanding of how to revive patients suffering from acute hypothermia. The data from these Nazi experiments will be very useful to the medical profession (check out the explanation as well as the ethical dilemma here).
I think you can see where I am going with this.
If this data is used and many people around the world are saved as a result, does it make these horrific experiments run in concentration camps any less wrong?
I bet you if this was the topic of the conversation, these people would have been out of a job in no time.
Did torture work isn’t the right question; even if it does work, it’s wrong and shouldn’t be done. The question should be: what other human techniques can we develop that would work as well or even better than torture?
your example wasn’t the best, but I do see your point.My only problem and why your argument isn’t as strong as it should be, is that those people in concentration camps were innocent. Now you could argue that many of the people detained at Guantanamo were also innocent and there is probably evidence to support that fact, but on the most part we can only hope that those detained were done so because they were proven to be threats aka members of al qaeda, otherwise these were not suppose to be innocent people.So yes, the ends justify the means. Also, the nazi were experimenting on a situational hazard while the USA were trying to prevent intentional acts of violence. Acts perpetrated by humans and able to be prevented by humans. Hypothermia is a result of nature, a malevolent force that is a part of life. Stopping someone dying from hypothermia is very different than stopping someone from dying in a terrorist attack. Now I admit…I’m not the most knowledgeable about this stuff and I’m still a little undecided when it comes to this subject, but I just thought your argument wasn’t an incredibly good one.
I see what you mean; there is a huge difference between those who were sent to concentration camps simply because they were of a certain background versus those who were sent to Guantanamo because of possible terrorist activity. However, I don’t see it quite the same way as you do. I don’t think that because those in Guantanamo are possibly guilty should be mistreated. I would argue the contrary, that because they are potentially guilty, they should be shown how humans should behave. Also, in the case of the (too) many who were falsely imprisoned, the mistake would have been a lot easier to accept had these prisoners been treated well. Of course, I’m not talking about five star hotel treatment here, but rather that interrogation, although sometimes brutal in their length and repetitive character, would not sink to the level of torture.
Thank you for sharing! This is only an immediate response; I’m certain your comment will inspire another post in the near future 🙂