[Peace-discuss] We believe in torture…

[Brussel Morton K.]

…In sum, this seemingly successful campaign of mass persuasion [to  
defend the policy of torture] depended upon convincing the public to  
believe five things: (1) our country is in great danger, (2) torture  
is the only thing that can keep us safe, (3) the people we torture are  
monstrous wrongdoers, (4) our decision to torture is moral and for the  
greater good, and (5) critics of our torture policy should not be  
trusted. And all the while, the marketers painstakingly avoided using  
the actual word "torture"--and contested the word's use by anyone  
else. Of course, this strategy is by no means unique to the selling of  
torture. A similar approach, designed for hawking war, was used with  
devastating and tragic effect in building public support for the  
invasion of Iraq in 2003.

 From http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/05/11-7,

an article by Roy Eidelson with the title How Americans Think About  
Torture - and Why
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