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Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

"We Do Not Torture"

So sayeth our President.

Firmly.

Saying "We do not torture" means, expressly, that there is no reason for us to bring political prisoners to places where torture is legal and common. Which is why we... do exactly that.

Oh and then there's this:

That's the Abu Ghraib photo that doesn't include naked human pyramids and dog collars.

Guess what?

We Torture.

6 comments:

Doctor Rick said...

We includes you and I. We do not torture, some have. And the some is FEW and the FEW are dumb. You are also of the few, DUMB!

Freeman said...

I'm not in the habit of deleting posts, so I'll leave yours out there as evidence of the level of discourse our country is forced to endure:

"Doctor" Rick, I am using the term "we" in the spirit intended by President Bush, whose function is to represent the entire country. When he says We, unfortunately, he is representing the United States as an entity. The executive branch, voted in by more than half of those who bothered to vote, is doing everything in its power to clear the legal path for acceptable torture.

When John McCain (Republican and War Veteran) is spearheading legislation to condemn torture, not elsewhere, but here, you must identify that there is a real problem he feels he must address.

Anonymous said...

Yeah. Wow. Glad you left that post up for exactly the reason you stated. Is this what we are fighting against? Discourse like this? That's why it's so difficult for those of us on the left-wing sometimes (or at least, anti right-wing); we say "We don't understand, there's all this evidence piling up, and clearly you're telling us 'A' while distorting and obscuring the truth of 'B,' etc." and the response from the right is something like: "nope. you're wrong."

I often feel like it's a "Why?" "Because." situation. And the doctor's comments are somewhat of a microcosm I'm afraid. *sigh* Enough of venting, thanks for the blog Matthew!

DL said...

Yup and yes, even the French have racism.
Now let's all face up to our shit !

Doctor Rick said...

You know Im baffled by the level of intelligence showcased by my liberal friends. Your acting as though we are a bad country? America in its 229 years of youth is the most powerful nation in history and responsible for the liberation of more people in history. We have freed more people, saved world conflict and rebuilt nations as well as stopped the spread of facism. And now we are erradicating terrorism with or without your support.

As with slavery, again liberals are on the wrong side of history. You are BLINDED by idealogy. Read a book - not one written by Hillary.

Delete this message, go ahead. This is calling out any liberal who wants to contest the aforementioned thesis. Who else offers more philanthropy? What other nation has safer citizens? What other nation is more free? What other nation defends others? What other nation does more than us?

So a few aberrant souls in our AMAZING military have demonstrated improper decorum. Does that make the entire country less noble? Does this impune the entire war effort? Maybe in your eyes. Take off the blinders.

Freeman said...

I think maybe you should read a little Noam Chomsky and The People's History of the United States and put down Anne Coulter.

The United States mythology is that it is a great and good nation. The sooner we get past this patriotic love affair with ourselves, the better.

To say that we currently are not living up to our potential, or that we are currently shaming the goals and rhetoric of this country, is not unpatriotic. It is doing, in fact, more to protect the country than blindly praising it and ignoring our faults.

The Bush administration has turned torture into a legal distinction. If someone asks "What exactly do you mean by torture?" that means the are engaging in torture.