Kossack Bradford in Jax has posted this diary – Does your Web Host condone torture? GoDaddy.com does! – and i thought i’d cross-post it here. Send mojo to Bradford, please.

More below…

Godaddy owner Bob Parsons has posted a link to his blog on the company’s godaddy.com front page – Close Gitmo? No way!! Think our interrogation methods are tough? Prisoners in the Middle East talk quick. Here’s why.

In response to a hailstorm of criticism, Senator Durbin returned to the Senate floor and re-read his earlier “Nazi” and “Soviet gulag” comments verbatim. He then described what he felt were the alarming interrogation techniques being used on the detainees at Gitmo. He mentioned holding a detainee in such cold temperatures that he actually shivered, another was held in heat passing 100 degrees, some were left in isolation so long they “fouled theirselves” — and if this wasn’t enough, he told about a prisoner that was actually forced to listen to rap music. I can’t help but wonder how rappers like Snoop Dog would respond to the accusation that being forced to listen to their recordings, is an unacceptable form of torture.

Now, he’s entitled to his own opinion (indeed, from a reply to one of the comments: "So I’ve lost another customer. Addios."*). But when something like that appears on the company’s site they’ll have to take their licks. I’ve already submitted this to slashdot, as that site is heavily trafficked by geeks. Fellow kossack mrCurmudgeon has posted this to Metafilter as well.

See Branford’s diary if you need any info about switching domain registrars.

* Well, it seems somebody’s been doing some editing of the comments. That one and a few other of his dismissive replies are no longer there. Figures. Here’s a comment to him:

Bob, I’m not sure if you have any background of service, but I do. I served as a PSYOP specialist, and later PSYOP sergeant, in the US Army’s 7th POG. Let me assure you that everything I learned in my time in the service suggests that, even were it morally justifiable, torture does not work. People will say anything just to make it stop. So let’s first dispense with the notion that it’s necessary to torture people to prevent future acts of terror.

Far more important, and what I think you miss utterly in your commentary, is that torture is a symptom of a government that has taken a terrible wrong turn somewhere. It is shocking to me that people who claim to love America would defend it by pointing out that the torture we practice is not as bad as the torture practiced by Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany. I thought conservatives were supposed to deplore moral relativism!

Sadly, given the tenor of your responses to the comments of others, I anticipate your dismissal of what I am saying here. You should know, however, that in doing so you’re dismissing my custom and the business of those in my audience who will be equally shocked by your point of view.

I do hope that someday you remember what America is supposed to be all about.

#7 Adam Greenfield (http://www.v-2.org) on Jun 20 2005, 07:45 Reply

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