Here There Be Monsters (Reprise)

Fiction:
'I have pressed the first lever,' said O'Brien. 'You understand the construction of this cage. The mask will fit over your head, leaving no exit. When I press this other lever, the door of the cage will slide up. These starving brutes will shoot out of it like bullets. Have you ever seen a rat leap through the air? They will leap on to your face and bore straight into it. Sometimes they attack the eyes first. Sometimes they burrow through the cheeks and devour the tongue.'

The cage was nearer; it was closing in. Winston heard a succession of shrill cries which appeared to be occurring in the air above his head. But he fought furiously against his panic. To think, to think, even with a split second left -- to think was the only hope. Suddenly the foul musty odour of the brutes struck his nostrils. There was a violent convulsion of nausea inside him, and he almost lost consciousness. Everything had gone black. For an instant he was insane, a screaming animal. - excerpts from “1984”, by George Orwell


Non-Fiction:
Justice Department lawyers said the CIA could place [Abu] Zubaydah in a cramped confinement box. Because Zubaydah appeared afraid of insects, they also authorized interrogators to place him in a box and fill it with caterpillars (that tactic ultimately was not used). - CIA interrogation tactics: a terrifying ordeal


Funny what things become acceptable to a nation of people when they blindly believe that they are the “good guys”. It makes no difference who you are - or who you once were; the moment you descend into evil, you become evil yourself.

The flag of the United States – and everything it stood for – is burning.