Water Boarding Vs Genetic Engineering

Submitted By mpking43
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Ethics

Ethics, What is it? Merriam-Websters dictionary defines it as “The discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligations.” Yet, if we look at many of the things we take for granted today, they remain available to us because of certain unethical and immoral activities that occur. Lets look at two very controversial issues that have come up today; water boarding and genetic engineering. Is water boarding a form of torture or not? Both sides bring a valid argument to the table. Is genetic engineering socially acceptable or not? Is it a form of acceptance in this new age society? I think that water boarding is ethical and is a successful way of getting a subject to come forth with information withheld, whereas genetic engineering is something which is unethical and immoral. Water boarding is a method used to extract information and is sometimes also referred to as a “torture method”. This approach has been under scrutiny since its introduction in the late 14th century. The method, originally called “water torture” or “water cure”. At that time period it was a way of water induced confession. Today, the methods have changed slightly but the objective is still the same. In today's military, our special forces use this tactic in their SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape) training to prepare for any unorthodox treatment they would receive from enemy forces not complying with the Geneva Convention. The CIA also has used this and is currently using this as a form of interrogation of high valued targets in the Al Qaeda regime and other terrorist organizations. Since the beginning of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, this technique has been under scrutiny on whether it is ethical or moral to “torture” people. Christopher Hitchens wrote a short essay called Believe Me Its Torture. In the story he relates to the special forces community and their response to the accusations of whether or not water boarding is considered an immoral technique. “Faced with the appalling enemies who make horror videos of torture and beheadings, they feel that they are the ones who confront denunciation in our press, and possible prosecution. As they have just tried to demonstrate to me, a man who has been water boarded may well emerge from the experience a bit shaky, but his is in a mood to surrender the relevant information and is unmarked and undamaged and indeed ready for another bout in quite a short time. When contrasted to actual torture, water boarding is more like foreplay, No thumbscrews, no pincers, no electrodes no rack” (Hitchens pg.690). All the videos of our troops being beheaded and there bodies lit on fire and dragged in the street behind a truck is torture, inhumane, and unethical. My opinions remain unbiased, as I am part of the United States Army and have worked with the special forces community. What motives would someone have to use this method? Is it revenge, truth, power, ambition, freedom, and the sense of inflicting physical pain or discomfort on another. That short list is what some people use to justify “torture”. What about the families of the victims of September 11th, or the families of those soldiers who gave their lives trying to stop those events from ever happening again? Where is the comfort that they get? George Orwell said “people sleep peacefully in their beds at night, only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” That quote captures the essence of what must be done in order to protect our ethics and values. Looking forward, do we think that the method of water boarding is a valid or useful form of interrogation? Are the results enough to continue using the method? Only time will tell if these methods will continue their use. The methods of water boarding may seem unethical to some but what about other things such as genetic engineering.? Given the choice, would you have changed the color of your eyes, the color of your hair,or how fair your skin
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