Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax
From the Land of the Lost Blunderbuss
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Abu Ghraib and Nick Berg Explained
Posted on May 18, 2004 in Atrocity Occupation of Iraq
The purpose of torture, from what I have gathered from my reading over the years into the question, is not to extract information. Few zealots give out their secrets when bludgeoned with rubber hoses. When we do get a break, it comes from a quisling eager for the money or out to settle a score.
The purpose of torture, therefore, whether the perpetrators admit it or not, is simply to inflict Post Traumatic Stress Disorder on its victims, tie them up in so much suffering and fear that they become less effective as advocates for change.
The language of pain is inexplicit yet profound. It overrides all other concerns. It is invisible to those who do not suffer it.
This is why policemen, soldiers and terrorists grab civilians: they want no effective alternative to their plans. They want the bodies to generate the labor, but not the minds thinking of better, more democratic, less violent ways to live with one another. If they do kill the innocent, they aim at the survivors.
An excellent book which investigates the issue of pain and its effects on language is The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World by Elaine Scarry.
