We Hold These Truths

Almost all the discussion of the Tyrant's torture proposals assume (correctly) that, in fact, the issue is about torture. And virtually all the arguments about torture take up its merits and/or its morality, the latter class of argument standing on its own. No doubt it's helpful to get in all the criticism possible. I would suggest, though, that almost everything that's being said misses a larger point, that we cannot properly understand the advocacy of such policies in terms of rational but misguided motives or behavior. No—torture, as promulgated by the Tyrant, more than anything else reflects his personal psychology. It's sadism, only sadism. There really isn't any argument there unless one believes that for some the laws should not or do not apply.