re: #448 korla pundit

> Torture is torture, whether it is a mock execution or chopping off someone’s finger. We call them both torture.

Moral equivalence. Feh.

Reposting because I have more to say.

Your problem is with the dictionary, not with moral equivalence.

There is a definition of torture. We call all those things that it encircles “torture”.

The moral equivalence argument does not escape me. it is:

They cut heads off — that is really bad torture
We waterboard — that is not as bad torture
therefore we are better than them
(and) therefore waterboarding is within our value system.

I get it — THEY ARE REALLY BAD PEOPLE.
We are not them, and part of who we are prevents of from dancing on this particular line to get away with something that some may say is and some may say isn’t torture.