Hero and Torture

I see too often the word "hero" used in situations where they just don't apply. I expect a hero to risk life and limb. To be a hero you have to do something that is beyond the usual. It must be exceptional, such that most people would say, "I'd never do that". Take the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson river. He is a fine man, exceptional no doubt as a pilot. Most likely he is one of the best pilots at his company. Why is he a hero? He had no choice but to make a great try. He was saving his own life not just his passengers. How are his actions above and beyond?

I write this not to diminish him. I was happy for a week when this story broke. It filled me with optimism. He is no doubt a fine man and has reason to be proud.

I bring up the overuse of the word hero because I see the same thing with the word "torture". Right now torture has come to mean putting prisoners in cold rooms, making prisoners go without clothes for hours, exposing prisoners to loud music, putting them into rooms where it is uncomfortable to sit or stand. This is not torture in my opinion. It does no damage to the prisoner, real or imagined. It will not leave mental or physical scars. How can it be considered torture? For the record, I'm against torture. Its wrong. Its only wrong. Its always wrong.

Yet this distinction between viable interrogation and torture is important because we are looking into establishing a "truth commission" to look into claims of torture. I don't want to see the country tear it self apart over a poorly defined issue like this. I flinched when the torture memos were released. I didn't want to read about it. I was shocked to see that so many methods were included as torture. The only one listed that I think is clearly torture is water boarding. Its easy to see that this could cause deep psychological problems. If we are going to have a truth commission lets get our terms right first. I don't think you can know the truth while purposefully being vague. If we don't then the truth commission is just a witch hunt.
DJH