Saturday 15 November 2014

How Did Torture Become A Social Norm?

How did torture become a social norm?

Wars have been fought to end torture.  Torture is prohibited by international law.  It offends every human sensibility.


So why do I read at least eight articles a day about the torture of disabled and disenfranchised people in the "Civilized" world?

Children with autism in North America are force fed mineral bleach, or have it forced upon them as an enema.  They are being locked in small metal rooms, isolated from society, murdered by their families; locked in cages by those who are supposed to care for them, and instead of the media being used to expose these crimes, it is instead used as a weapon against these very vulnerable people, to demonize their disabilities and to persecute them.  Their murders go unnoticed by most; and we are asked to empathize with their killers.

On social media, people are more outraged by the fact that a woman known for her body is in a nude photograph, or about whether or not their coffee was made properly.

Instead of society standing up to say "Uh, guys - this is wrong", we have a culture of apathy and hostility towards the disabled which is so deeply embedded in modern culture that those who bring awareness to the issue and seek to find solutions to the problem are being hounded out.  We have a culture where outspoken advocates receive death threats and are physically endangered for their stance.

How did we get to a place where our media was used to persecute and prosecute people for their disabilities, instead of shining a light in the dark and exposing these evils?  How did we get to a place where the torture of civilians within society by their caregivers and authority figures was an accepted practice?

Look, I know the world is a bad place at the moment, and we have "bigger problems", supposedly - but we don't.  Solving problems starts at home.  It starts with the kids.

How can we possibly expect for things like school shootings and domestic violence to end when we as a society condone the violation of basic human rights of the disabled?  How can we possibly expect people to value the existence of life when we take from the most vulnerable their basic right to feel safe and loved and appreciated?

How can we possibly expect for these children to have empathy for someone in another nation if they are taught to ignore the pain and plight of their peers here?





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