|
"sometimes" is a very loose term. Are there many people who could not imagine some circmstances in which torture could be justified? I think not.
If a killer had left someone you loved strapped to a time bomb, and under police custody there was a black and white question "if he is tortured he will give the location and your loved one will be saved / if he is not your loved one will die" - every one of us would torture him with our bare hands I suspect.
Now, that scenario may be ridiculous, but I only use it to state that in moral terms there are very very very few real living human beings who do not believe that in some circumstances it may be necessary to tolerate necessary evil.
This doesnt mean that if in full possession of the facts that they would support the use of torture against 18 year old Muslim lads who know fuck all other than they are angry with the West...
I think what I am trying to say is that surveys like this tell us very little about what people feel or mean, just which banner they place themselves under when asked to make a choice by a market researcher when they neither consider what their position really means or what it really costs.
__________________
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate,
for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing
hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain
without being uncovered."
The Gospel of Thomas
|