Comments on: Funny or Offensive? “Guantánamo Detainee Ruled Not Mentally Fit To Testify About Psychological Torture”

By: Moira

Moira — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:47:56 +0000

Funny AND offensive. But then one of my all time favorites from the Onion was:

G-d Diagnosed As Manic Depressive:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28484

Thank you for the comic relief, Liz.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:57:55 +0000

Funny.

By: Leslie in Toronto

Leslie in Toronto — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 02:54:56 +0000

Dunno – as a Canadian, I am leaning toward offensive, but it would be mildly so. It could just be that I don’t think making fun of political prisoners is funny. My humour tends to lean more towards the LOLCAT variety

By: family member

family member — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:25:35 +0000

It’s called complex post traumatic stress – that is why the trigger of even talking about it is horrifying to him.

By: heidisays

heidisays — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:32:50 +0000

this is not offensive in my opinion. the article does not appear to mock mental illness itself. it rather seems like a political satire that may carry a more serious underlying message, suggesting that various tactics could be used to block testimony by victims and witnesses of torture. the satire lies in the irony that the severity of the torture might itself be used as a justification to prevent the justice that would be due in remedy of such acts.

the article also does imply that prolonged terror as suffered by prisoners could instigate mental illness. that point may be debatable, but it seems plausible and likely that some sort of mental trauma will have been caused by torture. it is, after all, called torture.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:48:45 +0000

That got a giggle out of me….