Fox Searchlight appears to have scripts for a bunch of their movies available on their website. Among the released scripts are Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited, Juno, The Namesake and Once.
The Media on the Media on Torture
The legitimacy of torture as an investigative tool is the latest in a progression of disturbing and horrific topics the news media is now presenting to its audience, like the potential of an Ebola attack on an American city or a terrorist nuclear strike, the kind that, as an article in The Economist put it in its latest issue, could cause the disappearance of everything below Gramercy Park in Manhattan. (From the New York Times)
Torture in the Media
Christian Davenport is a professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland. Beyond that, he is also an activist and a consultant. He is particularly interested in in violence and conflict and the governments affiliated with them.
I asked him a few questions on the media’s role in torture. It was my first attempt at an interview and my questions should have probably been better but that’s alright.
To what extent do you think the media should play in the discussion on torture?
As with all topics, the media should and can only play a minimal role. To understand torture, we will need to have a focused and detailed conversation, covering a wide variety of issues: law, foreign and domestic policy, policing, counter-terrorism, government performance and the like. The media has never and will never play this role.
Do you think they should give both sides of the discussion equal time?
What are the sides of which you speak – those that support and do not support torture? As we are in a democracy, both sides should be allowed to speak. Both sides never get equal time, however, for this suggests that the media is biased and that both sides have equal access, which is never the case.
What show/channel/networks do you feel have most shaped the debate on torture?
I have no idea. I think that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have most shaped the debate – such as it is. Your answers give to much focus to the media. The purpose of this institution is to highlight that which is new and novel. By definition, it will not give sustained attention to a topic and thus it will be unable to shift opinion or policy over time. This is why advocacy organizations were created.
Waterboarding
Waterboarding is a hotly contested technique that simulates drowning by pouring water into somebody’s mouth. This video was made for Al Gore’s TV channel, Current. Watch out, it’s pretty graphic.
Starting at the Beginning: International Law
The United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December of 1948:
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people…
Article 5.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
New Plans
Seeing as it has been a whole three weeks since I have posted, I feel it I need to do something to be reinvigorated in the “blogging spirit”. My idea is to choose one topic a week, do research on it (post the research), and then post an “official” opinion at the end of the week, probably friday or saturday. The intention of this is not to rediscover something everybody already knows but to take the analysis one step farther and raise the discourse to a level above that of reddit’s “lets talk but not act” mentality. Here are some working ideas:
- Torture
- The Iraq war
- Genocide
- The 2008 election
- The media (both old and new)
- College (Specifically the admissions process)
I think 6 weeks should be good enough to get started and see how I like it. The topic of this week: torture.