Saturday, July 12, 2008

Slightly Cruel, but certainly unusual

Some folks have problems with torture being used to get important info out of terrorists. I haven't given it a ton of thought, so I won't really take a stab at defending a particular side.

When we think of cruel and unusual punishment, does that then give our government the right to use punishment if something is unusual but not cruel? Can something be unusual but not cruel? And would we be open to trying something that is slightly cruel but certainly unusual? Here's what I'm thinking.

I don't know how successful our present torture tactics are-not to mention I'm sure they're cruel, and perhaps unusual. But I have another idea that might be cruel enough-but not too cruel-and perhaps effective.

What if terrorists were forced to watch really bad movies? What if they were forced to watch Mama Mia, the musical based on Abba's hits? I can't think of any more painful way to spend 2 hours. Or what about Kevin Costner's Waterworld, Shaq's Kazaam (yes, the same Shaq)? Or Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's smash hit Gigli? Or From Justin to Kelly? Or Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie?

Perhaps both parties could rally around this approach. But of course then there might be disagreement on which movies to show. But I bet watching hours of terrible movies like the aforementioned could really shake some security secrets loose. If I've missed any movies that are bad enough to be helpful, please comment.

6 comments:

snowbot said...

Baby Geniuses. Battlefield Earth. Troll 2.

Gus/Adri said...

A similar tactic was used by the U.S. Army in Panama to torment Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega into giving himself up. Noriega was able to evade the invading army and took refuge at the Vatican's mission. The Army played loud rock and roll music in front of the envoy's house until Noriega surrendered.
GE

Geoffsnook said...

Keith,

Great choices! I googled "Worst Movies" and found a list that had Battlefield Earth. I was thinking of putting it down, but it was that one or The Hottie and the Nottie.

Probably any movie on the Sci-Fi channel would also work. Thanks for the input. Keeping fighting terrorists!

Rebekah said...

That's a great idea! As an un-fan of waterboarding, etc...I think this is a tactic I can support wholeheartedly!

Kevin T. Smith said...

Geoff,

It IS an election year.

You've got a great idea.

Henderson '08.

Geoffsnook said...

Kevin,

I agree. I mean I was student representative at RTS. That was the only time people voted for me, and it was actually a tie. No vote recount because the other dude didn't want it. That's my only experience with 'politics.'