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Media (2935) Obama-Barack (1727) Torture (1283) McCain (662) Culture (463) Guantanamo Prison (364) Activism (297) Courage (275) Crimes Against Humanity (250) Waterboarding (183) Sexual Abuse (152) Detainees (112) Demonstrations (96) Abu Ghraib (89)
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If our leaders won't end the torture, my friends in Chicago will. They and others from across the nation will show through examples why America can not be a nation that tortures. The response my friends get when they put on waterboarding demonstrations and when they put on the jumpsuits is extraordinary. It's promising and it gives me hope that people might find the courage to stand up and demand an end to the torture. People (in this video) stop to take pictures. My hope is that they are not just tourists taking pictures of animals at the zoo. I hope they aren't just going home to say, "Honey, you wouldn't believe it! Today I saw the craziest freaks putting on the craziest show in the Metra station!" I hope people stop and think of the horrors of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo. I hope people wonder when the madness of torture and prisoner abuse is going to come to an end. I hope people wish McCain would return to his anti-torture roots and that Obama would be more forceful against treating our enemies like dog shit. Dog shit is the literal translation of "enemy combatant." "Enemy combatant" is political cover for torture, prisoner abuse, and the suspension of habeas corpus. We get upset about cows that are abused yet haven't the decency to get upset about abused humans. Do we have to wait for the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals to demand that we treat so-called "enemy combatants" with the same respect that we demand cows be given or are we going to stand up to this madness? Our leaders of absolved themselves of their duty to show moral clarity on this issue. They have allowed our media news organizations to parade graphics and pundits across news shows to muddy our thinking about what torture is legal and what torture is illegal. A staggering 44% of Americans think torture of terrorist suspects should be allowed. This percentage grew from 36%, according to WorldPublicOpinion.org. Who are we as a nation, as a people, if we think a suspect deserves torture? What does this mean for suspects in our own prison system? This doesn't even poll people on what they think of the indefinite imprisonment of terror suspects or "enemy combatants" without trial. If 44% support torture, how many support no right to trial for terror suspects? The culture that defines us is becoming more shallow each day. Without actions like the ones my friends in Chicago have engaged in, we face the prospect of becoming a nation which forsakes humanity. We must confront those who claim torture to be permissible and not be afraid to engage in a meaningful agenda to remove torture as policy from our nation's domestic and foreign policy as well as the various organizations that engage in torture.
Kevin Gosztola goes to Columbia College in Chicago where he is studying film. He hopes to become a documentary filmmaker. He is currently working as a production assistant on a documentary called "Seriously Green" which traces the development of the Green Party throughout the 2008 election. He has a passion for journalism and writes articles or press releases in his spare time. Kevin Gosztola is also a student activist who believes in questioning the way America's systems work(its electoral system, its military-industrial complex, its foreign policy of American exceptionalism, its media which has become the Fourth Branch of government,etc.)
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