Quick there is a bomb! The location of the explosive device's location is unknown whoever you have a person in your possession that holds information vital to finding it before it goes off and kills hundreds possibly thousands of lives. What do you do? Do you ask the man nicely? What if he has the information on a possible nuclear attack that will save millions or the location of a young girl that has been kidnapped? How far would you be willing to go to save just one life? Would you be willing to go as far as to use enhanced interrogation techniques or as it is more commonly put would you be willing to torture another living human to get the answers you want? It is a hot button topic for sure and by no means is this subject a new forum for discussion, but really when you get down into the deep dark caverns of the action what is torture? Today we will explore this dark subject by grabbing hold of the meaning and types of torture that are used, we will peel back the layers of the history of torture, and then finally we will explore the modern day status of these medieval tactics. .
First let's explore this dark subject of torture by grabbing hold of its true meaning. The webster's dictionary last accessed on January 2nd, 2016 defines torture in two separate yet equally as simple ways. First being the act of causing severe physical pain as a form of punishment or as a way to force someone to act or say something. This is more commonly called physical torture. There are many different types of physical torture that have been or are being used in the world. Some of which include bamboo torture, electroshock application, and Chinese water boarding. All of these methods cause the applicant to receive unbelievable pain until they give a desired response. This type of "enhanced interrogation" has been recently refuted at ineffective as many times the tortured person is put through such pain and agony that they are likely to say anything that will get the torture to stop.
