Stanley Fish is examining campaign buttons in the classroom. Here's his New York Times column, and my comment on other people's comments.
More later,
Russ
Monday, October 13, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Torture endangers our troops
We have hypocrisy in its finest from the Bush administration... again. In today's New York Times, the Justice Department has approved moral relativism regarding torture.
As is mentioned in the article, if the United States plays fast and loose with the Geneva Conventions, what's to keep other countries from imposing worse tortures on U.S. soldiers and citizens? You can always argue that the "insurgents" in Iraq are already beheading people, but uncivilized conduct by others is not a valid reason for our own uncivilized behavior.
Besides, conservatives are supposed to be against moral relativism -- the idea that application of moral rules is entirely situational. For example, torture is wrong, but you can torture a bad guy if you have a good reason.
Of course the Justice Department is engaging in legal reasoning, not moral reasoning. And, they are lawyers.
More later,
Russ
As is mentioned in the article, if the United States plays fast and loose with the Geneva Conventions, what's to keep other countries from imposing worse tortures on U.S. soldiers and citizens? You can always argue that the "insurgents" in Iraq are already beheading people, but uncivilized conduct by others is not a valid reason for our own uncivilized behavior.
Besides, conservatives are supposed to be against moral relativism -- the idea that application of moral rules is entirely situational. For example, torture is wrong, but you can torture a bad guy if you have a good reason.
Of course the Justice Department is engaging in legal reasoning, not moral reasoning. And, they are lawyers.
More later,
Russ
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