A Customer Profile

While I was out shopping, I picked up the latest issue of Beadwork magazine, and one of the "bead biz" articles caught my eye. It was describing a particular kind of art jewelry customer:

• Regular customer
• "used to buy a lot more from you, but still comes to see you on a regular basis for little purchases"
  
• Perhaps in her 50s
• Dresses well.
• Knows your name, a bit about you, often asks about your husband and children
• Comes to all the shows; maybe even brings cookies to her favorite vendors

So why was this person being described? Kind of customer to cultivate? Maybe tips on how to get back the "a lot" she used to buy?
Nope. "Every shoplifter we have ever caught in our store or at our bead show has fit this profile somewhat."

Much of that doesn't surprise me, but what blows my mind is the "knows you, a bit about you, and asks about your husband and kids" part. I can understand people who steal from people they don't know: the "they'll never miss it" attitude, the belief that this stranger can afford the loss, the idea that you're not hurting a real human. But to know someone as an individual, to know them by name and family, to know that they really can't spare it, and to take from them anyway... I just can't imagine looking at the world that way.

Then again, my step-cousin did steal my poverty-line-hovering mother blind, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Still. *shakes head*

Blog Anti-Torture Day

The Bush administration claims that torture is a crucial interrogation method, absolutely essential to "keeping America safe".

This is bullshit.

First and foremost, torture is not an effective interrogation technique. Even the most cursory glance at history will tell you this. Witch hunts? Inquisition? Any of these ring a bell? Even today, name me one specific, documented, imminent terrorist attack that has been thwarted by torture tactics. I mean the same detail that was released when the 2006 airline liquids ban went into place: expected dates, expected targets, actual means to do so in the near future. If torture is so critical, then after 6 years there ought to be at least one case the Bush administration could trot out whenever challenged, one instance where they could say "had we not used these tactics, then on Nov 23, 2005, approximately 700 people would have been killed due to a bomb explosion in Time Square" or something similar.

There's not. The administration and its lackeys may like to say that "we've stopped dozens of potential attacks because of this", but why should we believe it when not a single one is at a stage where definite, concrete details can be given -- as they were the day the liquids ban went into place?

Now, think about this a little more, and get scared. If torture is not an effective interrogation technique, why is it being used?

Let me point something out. Torture is a common war tactic to demoralize a populace. Vietnam showed us this. So did WWII, and probably every war before that. The point of torture as a war tactic is not just the person being tortured. At least as important, often more so, is the populace scared into inaction by fear of that torture.

This is also why it's a very common tactic of terrorist groups. Since the start of the Iraq war, how many journalists/aid workers/others have been kidnapped in the Middle East and tortured on video in attempts to scare the torturers' enemies into complying with their demands? Enough to have kept the media busy for a while.

When we do the same, we are the same. When we use terrorist tactics, we are morally no different than any terrorist group. Having large funding and government approval makes such tactics more onerous, not less.

The trick when using torture as a war (or terror) tactic is for your enemies to know about it, and your proponents not to. Now I have to point out that many Iraqs outside the prison knew about Abu Ghraib long before the American press caught wind of it. Hmm...

The catch is, the Bush administration didn't keep the cat in the bag very well. Now, America is supposed to be a civilized country. We don't like that kind of thing. But, the administration wasn't about to abandon their torture tactics, so their task became making us like, or at least tolerate, them. Which is more likely to garner that result: "we want to use it to terrify a populace into submission", or "we want to use it to keep you, each and every one of you, safe."

Don't think for a second that torture tactics are really about protecting us; they're not. That's merely a smoke screen, a ruse to get the American people to look the other way. Torture tactics are an unacceptable means to an unjustifiable end, and America's citizens should demand that they be stopped.