Now, obviously torture is wrong as a punishment for crimes. But the US government actually sometimes tortures people from other countries who may have vital information. This, most people would say without knowing the whole story, is wrong. Well, think about it from the government's persepective. The government only tortures one person in order to save hundreds, thousands, or even millions of lives.
Here's a scenario. Say an Iraqi citizen enters the US and claims that there's a bomb in New York, but he won't disclose the actual location of the bomb. Is it ok for the government to torture this tease of a man in order to save the lives of everyone in New York? It's not like the government can simply issue an evacuation of New York, just to be safe. So what do we do? This is called the "Ticking Time Bomb Scenario."
Now, personally, I believe it is ok to torture this man in order to get the information we need. However, I don't think it is ok to torture someone for information if we're not absolutely positive he/she has the information we need. I also don't think it's right to torture someone if it's not a matter of life and death.
I really don't know, though, because it seems like torture should never be acceptable. In society today, we look at torture as a heinous crime. But are we willing to throw away our morals in order to save a million lives? What do you guys think?
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