SCLG2623 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Zero Dark Thirty, United Nations Convention Against Torture, Black Site
2 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
What incest was for oedipus and his greek audience, torture is for us: the polluting stink that incites outrage and demands expiation. (moyn. 1973 amnesty campaign creation of global norm [mcbride wins nobel peace prize for campaign 1974] Zero dark thirty renditions, black sites, interrogation. Critique: film disturbs a long settled consensus that torture never produces useful intelligence. Historical ambiguity: home/abroad: citizen pact > keep it a secret state practice. Became: the worst thing we can do" [abject boundary] Practice declining, alarm growing: sign of our fear of not being able to keep evil at bay. The bad news of torture is very bad in a world where there is worse news: political hopelessness" (moyn 2013) We can mobilise against leaders and regimes that take the low road, even as we"ve lost our collective ability to imagine any higher road for ourselves, whether in our own states or as a global community.
