Comments on: Jon Stewart's Extended Interview with Cliff May

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By: james moren

james moren — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:08:37 +0000

it makes no sence, i heard bush doing it to in reguards to american citizens only having constitutional rights.Geniva convention,though mentioning pow rights, is not limited to only soldiers. its guidlines for how you treat people and thier rights. if terrorists have no rights than we make then right in a way. rights are for everyone and thats what makes what we are spreading right.i dont like terriests and if i had my way I would probly torture 1 to find out where my friend was being held at too, but that dont make it legal, and a moral imperitave should be inplace so that power cannot be issued in misuse. torture will happen reguardless of its legality, and a price must be levied for it. All people have inalienable rights and we reconize this even if they dont. or at least we should.
and btw declaring that you wont do it any more is the same as admiting that it was wrong. Pride it is a fickle thing!

By: Shdwfthsun

Shdwfthsun — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:01:05 +0000

I agree with 90% of what Jon Stewart says here, but did he have to shout down Cliff May so much to get his point across? That's a technique I'd expect more from Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity than my favorite political TV host. I guess I can forgive that though, considering how this interview was probably far more substantial than anything I could have gotten on CNN, Fox News, or MSNBC.

By: Gueston

Gueston — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:03:17 +0000

I understand John's position of we-are-better-than-this. I just think bringing up Geneva Convention here brings up whole other point. The point is that is Al Qaeda a terrorist organaization or freedom fighters against US where US is the invading or occupying force there. The Convention doesn't apply to the terrorists, but it does apply to the freedom fighters.
Also Geneva Convention is an agreement not a guide line. The opponent have to honor the Convention to be applicable to the treatment according to the Convention. So the people who cut off the heads of POW in front of video camera is not applicable. Nor people who openly state they will target civilian and do it.
John should just use the laws and regulations about treatment of criminal prisoner in US.

By: Susdi

Susdi — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:47:29 +0000

The 'rules' in the torture memos are eerily similar to the rules of interrogation of the Third Reich. The rules were pointed to by the Nazis as proving their adherence to the rule of law back then, as May does here. But look where that behavior took them

People react to comparisons to the Nazis at the end of their road, instead of looking at the beginning steps for how they got there. The beginning steps resembled many of the actions of this administration. In themselves they do not equal Buchenwald, but they are preambles that set a nation in that direction.

By: Colin Sloss

Colin Sloss — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:57:25 +0000

I saw the interview and agree completely with Jon. The guy seems to be trying to defend the undefendable.

By: OneWorld

OneWorld — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:54:50 +0000

The fallacy in Mr May's argument is that we "know" the person being tortured has some needed information. His entire argument is based on this false premise. It has never been the case that we know there is some imminent danger.

You can say that we "think" or "guess" or something weaker but you can't say the it is known. That is the lip of the slippery slope that will allow torture to be used for any purpose that the torturer wants.

Combine that with the fact that terrorism is so loosely defined that all kinds of ordinary criminal behavior are now being called torture and America has abandoned its principals and its legacy.

Game over.

By: May

May — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:18:29 +0000

A quick reflection on the language being used in the dialogue:

What struck me was that Cliff May kept using the term discomfort. To me, discomfort describes a lumpy mattress or having indigestion or gas (maybe I've jsut become accustomed to the term being used in Pepto Bismo commercials or the like). Discomfort in my opinion, does not include someone else doing something to you so that your heart races, makes you sweat or begin to feel particularly nervous or worried about your safety or dignity.

I feel that Cliff was using the term discomfort inappropriately; as a method of justifying torture by making it just seem like a little bit of gas that will pass in a few hours. Perhaps he could have used other terms more reflective of what "getting tough" with terrorists actually means. I would have taken his question "Are you saying that we cannot inflict distress on terrorists under any circumstance?" more seriosuly than "Are you saying we can never inflict discomfort under any circumstances?"

Maybe I'm being too picky with the lingo but political language is important

By: christina

christina — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:15:30 +0000

In a perfect world you don't fight fire with fire, but alas this is not a perfect world. Jon does best when he interviews people about issues he not so black and white about. The tone of his show is starting to feel like nightly msnbc.
Segments of the population believe waterboarding is not torture just like there is a segment of people that believe Jesus is not the son of God. There r people who believe homosexuality is wrong because if we were all homosexual that be the end of humanity. Be funny that is your legacy.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:34:23 +0000

I am glad that Jon Stewart has indicated his disapproval of the treatment of POWs by Japan in WWII. Will he use that to denounce the torture and murder of Terri Schiavo? Or is starvation to death acceptable where "waterboarding" crosses the line?

(And anyone who believes you can consent to being starved to death misses the whole point of the Stanley Milgram experiment.)