On Torture in "Zero Dark Thirty"

On torture, I think the movie was frank, but it was frank from the perspective of the torturer, and the torturer doesn't have to chill in a stress position for hours upon hours. To that extent it invites us to observe and move past the waterboarding in the same way we move by mendicants, knowing of their suffering but never really dwelling on it.

Something to keep in mind

The United States unemployment rate is currently 7.9%, worse than any but two periods in recent history (1975-76 & 1982-84 or so). Median household income in the US after inflation is 8% lower than it was before the crash, and 20% of American children live in poverty. The pain just isn't newsworthy anymore.

Clouds