Ethics 101

Whenever I see a headline, like at CNN right now, that says "waterboarding saves lives," my eyes cross and I think part my mind goes insane. Anybody who justifies torture because it "saves lives" needs to go back to Ethics 101 -- to whit, Emmanuel Kant:

"So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as a means only."

Or more simply, "ends do not justify means" or "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." To treat another person merely as a means of achieving what we want is to disregard his or her humanity, to dehumanize, to treat them as a thing.

Even Abu Zabayda is a human being. And America should be ashamed that we waterboarded him.

Update. Here is the 4th poll I've seen CNN do on whether some form of torture is acceptable, and this is the 4th time in a row that America has got it wrong. We need to get the politicians and the military off the teevee and get some ethicists on!

Are there circumstances in which waterboarding of prisoners is acceptable?

Yes	55%	48125
No	45%	38924
Total Votes: 87049