OpEdNews » Torture in the Dark: Torture, and the Strategic Helplessness of the American Psychological Association

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Tag(s): American Psychological Assoc; American Psychological Association; CIA; Detainees; Psychology; SERE; Torture; Torture; Torture
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July 23, 2008 at 07:10:18

Headlined on 7/23/08:
Torture in the Dark: Torture, and the Strategic Helplessness of the American Psychological Association

by Stephen Soldz, Brad Olson, Steven Reisner, Jean Maria Arrigo, Bryant Welch (Posted by Stephen Soldz) Page 3 of 3 page(s)

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I have never worked under government contract (or any other contract) on any aspect of torture, nor would I be willing to do work on torture.

I am grieved and horrified that good science, which has helped so many people overcome depression, may have been used for such bad purposes.

Most importantly, I strongly disapprove of torture and have never and would never provide assistance in its process.

Martin Seligman

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2 comments

Student of history, religion, exoteric and esoteric, the Humanities in general and advocate for peace, justice and the unity of humankind, not through force, but through self-realization and mutual respect. I have also just come out with my first book, a combination of poetry, photography and essays entitled "Post Katrina Blues", my reflections on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans two years after Katrina struck, published by San Francisco Bay Press.
Mac McKinneyStudent of history, religion, exoteric and esoteric, the Humanities in general and advocate for peace, justice and the unity of humankind, not through force, but through self-realization and mutual respect. I have also just come out with my first book, a combination of poetry, photography and essays entitled "Post Katrina Blues", my reflections on the Gulf Coast and New Orleans two years after Katrina struck, published by San Francisco Bay Press.

Parallels to the Third Reich

Just as science and medicine became perverted by ideology and power in Hitler's Third Reich, so too has this been happening here. Race theories and eugenics suddenly became the controlling paradigm in the behavioral sciences once men like Freud and Reich had been forced to flee Austria and Germany and all their books were burned in public.

In America things are more subtle, but the same thing is happening, our behavioral sciences abandoning truth, humanity and ethics for a subordinate relationship with a neo-Nazi state that doesn't even try to hide its depravity in many instances. Do these pathetic excuses for psychologists think they can indulge in this kind of degenerate collaboration without consequences to their institutions, the country, humanity and themselves?

by Mac McKinney (48 articles, 75 quicklinks, 176 diaries, 1128 comments) on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 11:43:34 AM

Stephen Soldz is psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the Institute for the Study of Violence of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He is a member of Roslindale Neighbors for Peace and Justice. He maintains the Psyche, Science, and Society blog.
Stephen SoldzStephen Soldz is psychoanalyst, psychologist, public health researcher, and faculty member at the Institute for the Study of Violence of the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. He is a member of Roslindale Neighbors for Peace and Justice. He maintains the Psyche, Science, and Society blog.

Eugenics

Unfortunately, Americanpsychology also has a rather sordid history with Eugenics and racism. On the positive note, psychological research was a major component of Brown v. Board of Ed.

We activist psychologists are trying to reinvigorate the progressive traditions in psychology.

by Stephen Soldz (69 articles, 0 quicklinks, 55 diaries, 23 comments) on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 12:07:46 PM