r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Character_Growth_397 • 8h ago

Characters Acknowledging that torture is not an efficient form of interrogation

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Torture is often shown as an effective way of interrogation, with writers forgetting one key detail: People lie. AAMOF, it's likely that they will lie and give you untrue information to not be tortured

The Last of Us - Joel has an interrogation map where he'd make two different people point to something on a map. If they both pointed the same thing it meant the info was true. Very often this wasn't the case

Mass Effect 2 - Garrus points out that torture is not effective because victims will lie to make the torture stop

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8

u/Reasonable-Island-57 7h ago

Heard from someone in the special forces that for torture to work and get them to tell the truth is for the torture to not be long and drawn out, but very fast and very painful, and making it clear that if they lie, they'll do it again but not stop. The method used should target pure instinct, which is why waterboarding is considered effective, the amygdala instantly does whatever it takes to stop the drowning and if they know telling the truth about what they want to know will do it the brain overrides any desire to keep the info secret.

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u/HyperboreanAstronaut 7h ago

Ofcourse some jarhead thinks torture is effective.

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u/Reasonable-Island-57 7h ago

.....think he was speaking from experience

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u/RaalOceanGoblin 7h ago

It certainly is, in some degree.

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u/Driekan 7h ago

And a natural reaction to your brain immediately wanting to spew information is to make up any information you think will please the person doing the horrible thing to you.

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u/Reasonable-Island-57 6h ago

Read it again. I said that theyre told that if they lie the torture will just go on no end. That threat alone is often enough.

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u/Duhblobby 6h ago

It really isn't, because if you are expecting people being tortured to be rational about what's happening, you clearly aren't very good at hurting them.

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u/Reasonable-Island-57 5h ago

You are aware interrogations/torture dont end when they first spill the beans right? Their info is verified first.

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u/Duhblobby 5h ago

Bro, if you want clear honest answers, demanding information from someone you are putting under extreme duress with the absolute promise of more is not gonna get you honesty, it's going to get you either whatever they think you're want, or worse, flat out incorrect information that the stress has convinced them must be correct because you're hurting them badly.

It is categorically a poor way to get information, that's been proven by real data, not a bunch of angry hopped up adrenaline fuelled jarheads who were looking for excuses to hurt people.

Torture is sadism, not real or effective interrogation. Anything you might get from it, you can get better, faster, more effectively, and more truthfully in other ways that aren't proven to be bullshit.

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u/Reasonable-Island-57 3h ago

Did you ignore the part where ive said that the info is verified before the interrogation ends? So lying is only going to make things worse for the one being tortured.

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u/Driekan 3h ago

It really isn't. Crank up the despair further, and people will grasp even more intensely for straws to try and make you stop.

The only purpose of torture is for sadists to get off. It really is that simple. If you want good, usable information there's universally better ways to get it.

1

u/Reasonable-Island-57 3h ago

Again....info is verified before the interrogation stops, so they know lying will only make things worse

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u/Driekan 3h ago

They're not necessarily lying. You just put them in shock, and then got annoyed at the effects that being in shock has on a human mind.

Again: the only purpose of torture is for sadists to get off.