Tuesday, January 25, 2005
After Guantanamo
After Guantanamo By Brendan O'Neill
Two of the British prisoners who have returned to the UK from Guantanamo Bay reportedly spent 18 months in solitary confinement. What impact does being locked up all day, away from any other human beings, have on an individual's mind?...
I had not paid attention to the impact of this type incarceration on people. I just knew it was not a good situation.
More from the article:
...They concluded that: "Indefinite detention is linked to deterioration in mental health and fluctuations in mental state are related to the prisoner regime and to the vagaries of the appeal system."
Prof Haney says that health problems can be more acute when prisoners are unsure of why they are being held and when they will be released - such as those at Guantanamo, which has been described by some as a kind of "legal limbo"...
A lot of times, when I try to decide whether a situation is intolerable, I put myself in their shoes. I ask myself: How would I feel? How would I react? Is this something that seems right? or wrong? I can't understand the people who think these type of horrors are okay. Don't they have empathy, or even sympathy, for other human beings?
Two of the British prisoners who have returned to the UK from Guantanamo Bay reportedly spent 18 months in solitary confinement. What impact does being locked up all day, away from any other human beings, have on an individual's mind?...
I had not paid attention to the impact of this type incarceration on people. I just knew it was not a good situation.
More from the article:
...They concluded that: "Indefinite detention is linked to deterioration in mental health and fluctuations in mental state are related to the prisoner regime and to the vagaries of the appeal system."
Prof Haney says that health problems can be more acute when prisoners are unsure of why they are being held and when they will be released - such as those at Guantanamo, which has been described by some as a kind of "legal limbo"...
A lot of times, when I try to decide whether a situation is intolerable, I put myself in their shoes. I ask myself: How would I feel? How would I react? Is this something that seems right? or wrong? I can't understand the people who think these type of horrors are okay. Don't they have empathy, or even sympathy, for other human beings?
Comments:
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...Don't they have empathy, or even sympathy, for other human beings?They do have empathy and they do have sympathy but the propaganda has been so strong, and their analytical cabilities have been so low, that they have become so blind minded about the realities of the world and the real suffering of other people.
"Don't they have empathy, or even sympathy, for other human beings?"
I'm not so sure that a majority of Americans (and this probably applies to other nationalites also) do feel empathy or are able to, or wish to, imagine themselves in the 'shoes' of others.
Americans seem focused on punishment and not justice. The common theme seems to be that the abused, beaten, tortured got what the deserved. If they didn't deserve it then it would have happened. Look at the state of jails and prisons in the United States. If we are willing for teenagers and young adults to be raped in prison (because they wouldn't be there if they didn't deserve it) then how far is it to the abuse and torture we willingly participate in in Iraq and Guantanamo. This may seem overly simplistic, but it fits with a nation that placed someone like Bush back into the White House for another four years.
As Republicans continue their war on public education the reasoning skills and analytical abilities of Americans will continue to decline.
We keep hearing that Americans vote for their values and not based on reasoning or actual facts. I don't know if this is true or not, but if it is, then American 'values' are pretty low on empathy, ethics, compassion, and Christ-like behavior.
Gail Davis
www.gail-davis.com
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I'm not so sure that a majority of Americans (and this probably applies to other nationalites also) do feel empathy or are able to, or wish to, imagine themselves in the 'shoes' of others.
Americans seem focused on punishment and not justice. The common theme seems to be that the abused, beaten, tortured got what the deserved. If they didn't deserve it then it would have happened. Look at the state of jails and prisons in the United States. If we are willing for teenagers and young adults to be raped in prison (because they wouldn't be there if they didn't deserve it) then how far is it to the abuse and torture we willingly participate in in Iraq and Guantanamo. This may seem overly simplistic, but it fits with a nation that placed someone like Bush back into the White House for another four years.
As Republicans continue their war on public education the reasoning skills and analytical abilities of Americans will continue to decline.
We keep hearing that Americans vote for their values and not based on reasoning or actual facts. I don't know if this is true or not, but if it is, then American 'values' are pretty low on empathy, ethics, compassion, and Christ-like behavior.
Gail Davis
www.gail-davis.com
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: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 11:05:00 AM
: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 11:05:00 AM << Home
