“Analyzing the Text” Michael Levin’s, “The Case for Torture” argues that there are various reasons for allowing torture in the United States of America. Michael Levin believes that torture is justified when victims are at risk, claiming that torture is not merely permissible but morally mandatory. The author makes hypothetical scenarios in which people’s lives are in danger and preventing future events from occurring. Then stating his position on torture when people’s lives are placed in danger. Levin’s target audience is Americans because his use of American symbolism such as “July 4,” and “unconstitutional.” In addition, the United States is not the only victim of terrorist attacks.
The 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck took place during the beginning of the Cold War, specifically around the time when Senator Joseph McCarthy was rising to power. During his reign as the chairman for the Committee on Government Operations of the Senate, he accused several public figures of being Communists. His speeches were frequently reported on in the media, and the determined factor for censorship during the Red Scare was based on ideology, rather than actual content. Many people unjustly accused of being Communists were persecuted and discriminated, and the Republican Party began advocating the rise of ideological conformity. A great deal of the American public became extremely paranoid, and the general atmosphere of the era was nihilistic due to fear of Communist infiltration.
All three of these organizations have “valid” reasons for wanted the president dead. The CIA, for one, was frustrated with JFK and possibly took it upon themselves to take care of the problem. * * The CIA was a very secretive organization in the 1960s and very little was known about their operations. However, during that time period, the CIA was widely believed to have carried out many high-profile political assassinations. Seven percent of conspiracy-loving Americans blame the Central Intelligence Agency for Kennedy's death.
In the Abu Ghraib prison scandal of 2004, Iraqi prisoners were interrogated where accounts of psychololgical, physical and sexual abuse, including torture, rape and homicide. This “form” of interrogation was practiced my U.S. military police at the prison. Although the solders are responsible for there actions they where under strict orders that went against the Geneva convention conduct of war. When the scandal surfaced the U.S. government denied all knowledge and participation and blamed the solders. After comparing the Abu Ghraib schandle and the Milgram experiment its easy to see that the government had a big roll in influencing soilders.
In this paper we will examine the impact of 9/11 on Americans and the U.S. economy and why the U.S. responded to the terrorism by enacting the USA Patriot act to “protect” America, which had become a big controversial issue to Americans. Another topic we will discuss is the negative effects of the Patriot Act such as violating Americans civil liberties and how the government stereotyped and secretly arrested Arab or Muslim citizens. The tragedy of 9/11 has impacted America in many ways and ever since then, America has made a lot of changes to prevent another tragedy, such as the national security which is tighter than it has ever been in recent years, especially in airports. According to Jennie Wood’s article, she mentions that the airport has way too many restrictions on what to bring in the plane for every traveler, such as, “Liquids and toiletries have to be a certain size and placed in clear, sealed bags. No food or bottled water is allowed through security.
Why are prisons bursting at the seams? According to Joe Romaine of the International Business Times, it is because of America’s “insane drug laws,” which are doing more harm than good (Romaine). Many people may argue that drug offenders are getting what’s coming to them— they broke the law, and therefore it is part of their consequence to suffer through the overcrowded “cruel and unusual” incarceration. Individuals who argue this point are mistaken because although criminals should indeed receive punishment for their actions, there comes a time when a line of propriety is crossed. The ‘war on drugs’ has become a harsh and unnecessary measure that frankly costs American taxpayers far too much money.
Once the US troops took over Iraq they reinstated the prison and this time they held Iraqi rebels and terrorists. After some time media attention turned to the Abu Ghraib prison once again. It was found that pictures had been sent to the media to show the Iraqi detainees being tortured by the US army personnel. There was an international outcry and the soldiers involved in the abuse were investigated and court-martialled. Public opinion suggests the US army had been brutal toward the prisoners and were abusing their power rather than doing their job as being normal soldiers.
EDWARD SNOWDEN TRAITOR OR HERO Regarding the Edward Snowden case there is a an very interesting ethical problem. Just to give us a bit of background context ; Edward Snowden was an employee of the CIA and NSA, who revealed details of several monitoring programs and American mass britanniques. For some peolpe he was considered like a hero because he has brought to light confidential information that deserves to be in the public domain and for other a villainous traitor because those put in danger his country, it is important to ask whether his revelations comes under the ethical or the legal fact. Ethical : We know that most people would feel betrayed by Edward because he released personal information about them but it was in order to prove that the US Government is recording the communications of its citizens. But it is Ethic to help other isn’t it ?
Milgram devised his psychological study to answer the popular question at that particular time: "Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices? "[3] The experiments have been repeated many times in the following years with consistent results within differing societies, although not with the same percentages around the globe. [4] The experiments were also controversial and considered by some scientists to be unethical and physically or psychologically abusive. Psychologist Diana Baumrind considered the experiment "harmful because it may cause permanent psychological damage and cause people to be less trusting in the future.
1. Give an outline of the different views on whistleblowing presented in the texts. In the article “The NSA Leaker: Traitor or Hero?” by Teresa Welsh from US News & World Report website in June 11, 2013 it is discussed whether Edward Snowden, who leaked secret NSA surveillance programs, should be punished or applauded for being a whistleblower and bringing new information to the world. The article balances between thinking of the leaking as an act of betrayal and an act that should be rewarded. Some people believe that the Americans are now at risk and have lost their protection from terrorist threats while others believe that the Americans’ right to privacy and freedom are lost.