"By itself," he said, "pain is not always enough. There are occasions when a human being will stand out against pain, even to the point of death. But for everyone there is something unendurable --something that cannot be contemplated. Courage and cowardice are not involved. If you are falling from a height it is not cowardly to clutch at a rope. If you have come up from deep water it is not cowardly to fill your lungs with air. It is merely an instinct which cannot be disobeyed. It is the same with the rats. For you, they are unendurable. They are a form of pressure that you cannot withstand, even if you wish to. You will do what is required of you." [284]
"You've by now no doubt discovered my abiding interest in pain. I'm presently writing the definitive work on the subject." --The Princess Bride
01 November 2007
The heart of torture
No debate about whether something counts as torture should ignore this passage from Orwell's 1984.