Word: electroshocks
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...film revels in its sadistic streak, with many murders and a snatch of testicular electroshock torture, all played for laughs - smirks, anyway. More than once, the Downey narrator says, "I apologize, that was a terrible scene." Apologies are not enough. I demand reparation. A memorial on the Washington Mall, in testament to the wasted hours and coarsened sensibilities suffered by audiences who have sat through movies like this, might be a start...
That may sound a lot like electroconvulsive (or electroshock) therapy, but it's not. "Magnetic stimulation is a clever way to induce current without actually having an electrical connection," says Dr. George Wittenberg, a neurologist at Wake Forest University, who is studying magnetic pulses for their potential to help stroke patients recover more quickly. Unlike electroconvulsive therapy, which affects the whole brain, the magnets are focused only on specific regions at the surface, or cortex. And because the treatment does not trigger a seizure (as electroconvulsive therapy does), there's no need for muscle relaxants or anesthesia and no problem...
...custom and religion required, colonial torturers showed no such restraint. French police in Algeria argued that the lives of Algerians were so hard that just roughing them up as like criminals were in Paris, the old passage ? tabac, didn?t work. They advocated using water torture and electroshock. These tortures gripped the consciousness of prisoners from the inside. They were interested in creating the most painful experience possible...
...rise of stealth torture is a new phenomenon. In the last few decades, states have become increasingly sensitive to bad publicity and human rights monitors. These affect legitimacy and foreign aid. So police and soldiers have resorted to stealthier techniques: electroshock, torture by water and ice, tying victims in agonizing postures, sonic devices and drugs. Modern torturers know how to beat suspects senseless without leaving marks...
...answer is yes--sometimes--but not without great risk. Over the years, the U.S. government has spent a lot of time searching for a "truth serum," experimenting with electroshock and LSD without success. "Drugs in particular held out the highest hope," says Mark Bowden, who wrote a landmark story about interrogation in the October 2003 Atlantic Monthly. "But the human mind is more complex than that. There's no magic bullet." Over time, most intelligence professionals have settled on tools in the torture lite category. The FBI's methods fall on the genteel end of the spectrum. "Convicted felons have...