I read Darkness at Noon in high school, and I was left quite astounded by the simplicity of the methods of torture – basically, sleep deprivation in various guises – and how quickly they deteriorate the fighting spirit.
As a parent of small children I can assure you that sleep deprivation is appalling. It simply wrecks all the cognitive machinery that makes you strong, without touching the parts that can rationalize any sort of behavior.
The important point here, which Marcus is too much the gentleman to mention, is that the shit the CIA uses doesn’t work.
The Gestapo protocols are driven by a desire to succeed, not because they were nice guys. I find item #3 to be especially interesting and on-point.
As a side note, the commenting widget here is maddening. My focus is randomly pulled out of the comment box, constantly. I assume I need to use an ad blocker to render freethoughtblogs even marginally usable? How have we come to a state where the web, by default, literally Does Not Work?
johnson catmansays
Andrew Molitor @4:
FtB can be made Ad Free by clicking the “Get FTB Ad-Free” link at the top left of the page under the logo. It is pretty cheap. You can try it out for a 30 days for $3, a month for $8, or a year for $30. I am not part of FtB, I am just passing along something that makes it better for me.
Andrew Molitor@#4: How have we come to a state where the web, by default, literally Does Not Work?
Marketing is one of the inherently immoral professions.
As Bill Hicks said: marketing are satan’s little helpers; the ruiners of all that is good:
cvoinescusays
One place you can find that quote is Resistance and Conformity in the Third Reich by Martyn Housden, and he gives references for it (thanks, Google Books).
I read Darkness at Noon in high school, and I was left quite astounded by the simplicity of the methods of torture – basically, sleep deprivation in various guises – and how quickly they deteriorate the fighting spirit.
As a parent of small children I can assure you that sleep deprivation is appalling. It simply wrecks all the cognitive machinery that makes you strong, without touching the parts that can rationalize any sort of behavior.
Pfft.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_interrogation_techniques
(Yeah, I know… no comment necessary :| )
The important point here, which Marcus is too much the gentleman to mention, is that the shit the CIA uses doesn’t work.
The Gestapo protocols are driven by a desire to succeed, not because they were nice guys. I find item #3 to be especially interesting and on-point.
As a side note, the commenting widget here is maddening. My focus is randomly pulled out of the comment box, constantly. I assume I need to use an ad blocker to render freethoughtblogs even marginally usable? How have we come to a state where the web, by default, literally Does Not Work?
Andrew Molitor @4:
FtB can be made Ad Free by clicking the “Get FTB Ad-Free” link at the top left of the page under the logo. It is pretty cheap. You can try it out for a 30 days for $3, a month for $8, or a year for $30. I am not part of FtB, I am just passing along something that makes it better for me.
What?
Reginald Selkirk@#6:
I think they mean Jehova’s Witnesses. If I recall correctly, the nazis had a thing about them.
rq@#1:
sleep deprivation in various guises
It’s also used as a primary programming technique for brainwashing; which is one reason the military uses sleep deprivation in basic training.
I have never read Koestler; I’ll remedy that.
Andrew Molitor@#4:
How have we come to a state where the web, by default, literally Does Not Work?
Marketing is one of the inherently immoral professions.
As Bill Hicks said: marketing are satan’s little helpers; the ruiners of all that is good:
One place you can find that quote is Resistance and Conformity in the Third Reich by Martyn Housden, and he gives references for it (thanks, Google Books).