Ancient Torture Methods

Scaphism was a cruel method originated from ancient Persia against their enemies. They put the condemned to a container and firmly fastened him within a back-to-back pair of narrow rowboats with his head, hands, and feet protruding outside from this container. Then the executioner forcedly fed large amount of honey and milk to the condemned. Also, a mixture of milk and honey rubbed on the exposed part of his body to attract the flies. Then he was left afloat on a lake. Later, the person’s fecal, which was caused by diarrhea, accumulated the container and the condemned caught gangrene. The execution could last over two weeks as the result of starvation, dehydration and septic shock.

Mahatma Gandhi, the preeminent leader of the Indian independence movement states “You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.” This is important because torture is brutal on the body and mind. The article “Torture’s Terrible Toll” by John McCain is more convincing then the article “The Case for Torture” by Michael Levin because McCain provides more logical reasoning, he adds his own personal experience of being a captured prisoner during the Vietnam War, and he creates an emotional bond with people around the world.

Prior to 1982 the United States carried out executions through hanging, gas chambers, firing squads, and electrocution. These methods were grisly and inhumane. Prisoners sometimes took up to twenty minutes to die. Some had to be electrocuted several times while screaming in agony. In 1977 Dr. Deutsch created a method of execution involving several different kinds of drugs to humanely induce death. Officials liked this method of execution as it medicalized the process and was easier to witness.

Common torture methods were beating, burning, drowning, poisoning, and stretching a criminal 's body. Cutting off limbs, such as fingers, toes, and ears were also a typical form of torture. These punishments were considered normal and not excessive at all. The following unusual punishments and people seem exceedingly cruel, but it was an everyday sight of the 16th century (Lestikow).

Jackson The Lottery By: Yarmove, Jay A. Explicator. Summer94, Vol. 52 Issue 4, p242. 4p. Reading Level (Lexile): 1230. , Database: MasterFILE Premier

Night by Elie Wiesel describes his experiences as a Jew in the concentration camps during World War II. During this time, Wiesel witnessed many horrific acts. Two of these were executions. Though the processes, of the executions were similar, the condemned and the Jews’ reactions to the execution were different.

In the essay “Executions Should Be Televised” Zachary Shemtob and David Lat argue that executions should be made public. They claim that while most executions are made to be painless, some may cause “unnecessary suffering”. This essay invokes a strong appeal to ethos, pathos, and logos leading the reader to really think about whether or not public executions are acceptable. Which they should be(actually, I am on the fence).

Having been stripped the delinquent is manacled in the great bath tub. At the height of his neck in the sides of the tub are grooves and in these play great wooden clamps, carved to fit the human body. These are screwed together so as to grip in a vise the man’s chest and arms. In front of him is a faucet and a bit of hose, throwing a smart stream of water. First it is necessary to get the man’s mouth open by making him cry out (which is usually done by frightening him), whereupon the water streams down his throat and strangles him ("Torture").

There are specific behaviors and examples that define these people and their conditions. However, there are some very specific cases that can be sown to express the very oddity of the people themselves. For example, Vlad the Third, Prince of Wallachia, or as may like to refer to him, as “Dracula”, was the very inspiration for the 1897 novel by Bram Stoker, in which a vampire by the name of Dracula sneaks into people’s houses at night, while they are sleeping, and drains them of life by sucking their blood. This novel created mass emotion and fear of the fictional character, however, few understand that the real-life vampire, was a far worse creature than what was shown in the book.

"Enhanced Interrogation" is a term that was introduced by the George W. Bush administration. This type of investigation includes physically forcible interventions, such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, facial slapping, forced standing for days and so on. Torture has been an argument for a long time to fight terrorism, but it is a bigger issue, especially after the incident of September 11, 2001. And still, it is not over that we should use "Enhanced Interrogation" or not. The techniques that are utilized in this type of investigation they are unethically and morally wrong, but they work. In my opinion "Enhanced Interrogation" means torturing someone to get information, and that information can save thousands of lives. And it is also important

In this essay, the author suggested that it is not quite black and white to determine if torture is right and wrong. There is space for arguments to determine to what extent torture can be accepted as the right choice of action and to what extent this is not applicable.

In Michael Levin’s “The Case for Torture”, he uses many cases of emotional appeal to persuade the reader that torture is necessary in extreme cases. There are many terms/statements that stick with the reader throughout the essay so that they will have more attachment to what is being said. Levin is particularly leaning to an audience based in the United States because he uses an allusion to reference an event that happened within the states and will better relate to the people that were impacted by it. The emotional appeals used in this essay are used for the purpose of persuading the reader to agree that in extreme instances torture is necessary and the United States should begin considering it as a tactic for future cases of extremity.

Physical torture drastically dehumanized slaves as they had no personal opinion when they were tortured because slave masters would whip them more if they complain. With physical torture and other dehumanizing factors, came the dwindling of liberties such as freedom of speech. For example, in the Douglass Narrative, master Lloyd had a huge stable of horses under the care of two slaves, Old Barney and Young Barney. When Master Lloyd felt like Old Barney was at fault for not taking care of the horses well enough, Lloyd spoke to him and all Old Barney could do was “stand, listen, and tremble,” then he was literally whipped right after with “more than thirty lashes.” This example shows how terribly many slave masters tortured their slaves and how slaves were not allowed to defend their positions as they had no freedom of speech. Physical torture was routine to many slaves in this era. This was surely dehumanizing because humans are born with a voice and when they are enslaved and tortured it takes away their voice and their passions. It is almost like they are zoo elephants, and have to be tortured just to be tamed and stay under the control of the slave masters. Slave masters would tame their slaves by filling them with fear which came with physical torture. Additionally, another example that displayed physical torture in

The Aztec people are one of the largest and most superior Indian nations to have ever existed on earth. almost every part of the Aztec life was proceed to such a state that at that time in the world the Aztec people were living better lives than many of the European nations. The Aztec nation is like nothing else in the world in its history, process of people making, selling, and buying things, surrounding conditions, and way of life than any other nation at that time.

Schiemann, John W. "Interrogational Torture: Or How Good Guys Get Bad Information With Ugly Methods." Political Research Quarterly 65.1 (2012): 3-19. Academic Search Complete. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. This source explains that torture is actually one of the last methods used when they are interrogating someone since many know that it has a very low success rate. If the person is not willing to cooperate, they go down a list. Many people thought to use the top methods as they are not as immoral. Getting to the end of the list thought means they have nothing else to make the person talk which is why they use