Experience is not a prerequisite for a thoughtful opinion. Thats not to say that direct, personal experience isnt valuable--it is--but its not the only way engage meaningfully with an important topic. John McCain was tortured in Vietnam. He lives with the scars to this very day. His speech on the floor of the Senate yesterday certainly had an emotional resonance because he went through an experience that was similar, in many respects, to what the CIA did to suspects in the War on Terror. But the speech is most powerful, and most resonant not because of Mr. McCains personal experience, but rather because of the conviction conveyed: Torture is ineffective... but more importantly, it is wrong. It is a denial of the humanity of our enemies, and embracing it undermines the values we claim to be fighting for, the values that American men and women are willing to die for. mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=1a15e343-66b0-473f-b0c1-a58f984db996
Posted on: Wed, 10 Dec 2014 15:21:10 +0000
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