In the weeks before the death of Osama bin Laden thrust the debate over the efficacy and morality of torture back into the headlines, a disturbing report was released by the American Red Cross. After speaking with hundreds of American teenagers, it became clear that the generation that has grown up since 9/11 is woefully uneducated in the rules of war. Most of them have never heard of the Geneva Convention, and more than half believe that there are times when it is acceptable to torture an enemy prisoner. 56 percent believe that retaliatory killings of prisoners is acceptable. Even more shocking is the statistic that 41 percent believe that is acceptable for an enemy under some circumstances to torture American troops.
This is the generation raised on "24," convinced by the narrative that torture keeps us safer and unengaged in the moral question of whether torture is ethically permissible regardless of its efficacy. In the past 10 years, we have seen a normalization of torture in popular media. It's what the good guys do to win, and winning means doing whatever it takes. That is the compass that guides actions, not our covenant with other nations or the American commitment to conduct just and ethical wars.
These teenagers, of course, will soon become our soldiers, and nearly 80 percent of them believe that the United States should do a better job of educating youth in humanitarian law before they are of the age they can enlist. I find that statistic heartening: teenagers are smart and they know why they don't know what they don't know. If they have failed to learn, it is because we have failed to teach them. If they believe torture is OK, it is because they have seen the United States torture and the architects of torture go unpunished. As we contemplate our laws and moral obligations as a nation, we are both performing them in the present and modeling them for the future, for our children.
What does it mean to obligate ourselves both for the present and the future? Starting the night of June 7, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, the night that we received the Torah at Sinai. Coming just seven weeks after our redemption from Egypt at Passover, Shavuot is a celebration of the covenant between God and Israel. This sacred moment transcends time: just as at the Seder, we say that each one of us needs to see ourselves as though we personally left Egypt, Jewish tradition teaches that every member of the Jewish people, past, present and future, was present at Sinai. As a result, we all consented and have a stake in the ritual and moral imperatives contained in the Torah, the Jewish constitution.
This is the generation raised on "24," convinced by the narrative that torture keeps us safer and unengaged in the moral question of whether torture is ethically permissible regardless of its efficacy. In the past 10 years, we have seen a normalization of torture in popular media. It's what the good guys do to win, and winning means doing whatever it takes. That is the compass that guides actions, not our covenant with other nations or the American commitment to conduct just and ethical wars.
These teenagers, of course, will soon become our soldiers, and nearly 80 percent of them believe that the United States should do a better job of educating youth in humanitarian law before they are of the age they can enlist. I find that statistic heartening: teenagers are smart and they know why they don't know what they don't know. If they have failed to learn, it is because we have failed to teach them. If they believe torture is OK, it is because they have seen the United States torture and the architects of torture go unpunished. As we contemplate our laws and moral obligations as a nation, we are both performing them in the present and modeling them for the future, for our children.
What does it mean to obligate ourselves both for the present and the future? Starting the night of June 7, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Shavuot, the night that we received the Torah at Sinai. Coming just seven weeks after our redemption from Egypt at Passover, Shavuot is a celebration of the covenant between God and Israel. This sacred moment transcends time: just as at the Seder, we say that each one of us needs to see ourselves as though we personally left Egypt, Jewish tradition teaches that every member of the Jewish people, past, present and future, was present at Sinai. As a result, we all consented and have a stake in the ritual and moral imperatives contained in the Torah, the Jewish constitution.
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