Tag Archives: Waterboarding

Trump to Torture’s Opponents: Drop Dead

Donald Trump wants to bring back torture, specifically waterboarding. Like the colonel in Carolyn Forché’s poem by that name, he is a showman who seeks to intimidate.

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Ring Wraith Trump Wins in New Hampshire

Donald Trump, winner of the New Hampshire primary, has been promoting torture. I’ve been teaching “Lord of the Rings” recently and he reminds me of the temptation of the ring, which hollows one out.

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George Orwell and Waterboarding

An indication that defenders are not entirely at peace with the practice is their use of a euphemisms. They don’t call waterboarding “torture,” even though the U.S. used to call it torture and it has generally been considered torture since the Spanish Inquisition used it. They instead call it “enhanced interrogation techniques.” Anyone who knows George Orwell’s 1984 recognizes this as classic doublespeak.

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