What is your TAQ (Torture Awareness Quotient)?

June is Torture Awareness Month.

Let’s see how you can do on our Torture Awareness quiz.

Choose the best answer to each of the following items:

  1. “Extraordinary rendition” means
    1. a so-so version of your favorite song
    2. forcible transfer of a person from one country to another without any judicial or administrative oversight.
  2. Since 9/11, the U.S. government has repeatedly violated both international and domestic prohibitions on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
    1. true
    2. false
  3. Torture does not violate international laws if it is done for purposes of national security.
    1. true
    2. false
  4. Torture does not violate international laws if it is intended to get information just in time to stop some imminent threat to harm large numbers of people.
    1. true
    2. false
  5. “Enhanced interrogation” is a euphemism for torture.
    1. true
    2. false
  6. Solitary confinement is torture
    1. true
    2. false
  7. Force feeding someone who refuses to eat is not torture.
    1. true
    2. false

Answers:

1: b;   2: a;   3: b;   4: b;   5: a;   6: a;  7: b

Some useful sources and resources:

1.Huffington post article

2. Amnesty International

3. Amnesty International

4. National Religious Council Against Torture

5.Physicians for Human Rights

6. PBS

7. UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

Also learn about the role of the  Psychologists for Social Responsibility in fighting against torture and the role of some psychologists in inflicting torture.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology