tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post8732877717452905320..comments2024-01-21T11:18:54.087-05:00Comments on Lost in the Movies: Taxi to the Dark SideJoel Bockohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-74600793255172453752008-11-11T15:06:00.000-05:002008-11-11T15:06:00.000-05:00So does SOP deal more or less exclusively with the...So does SOP deal more or less exclusively with the decision-making end?Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-46102697314501969992008-11-10T18:13:00.000-05:002008-11-10T18:13:00.000-05:00"SOP" is far more focused than "Taxi." And that ca..."SOP" is far more focused than "Taxi." And that can be a good thing, too. But when it was finished, I wished that all the people in the theater had first seen "Taxi" and its excellent analysis of the suffering that results from seemingly innocuous acts (relatively speaking, of course).Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-86109859819335851672008-11-10T11:33:00.000-05:002008-11-10T11:33:00.000-05:00I haven't yet seen Standard Operating Procedure. I...I haven't yet seen Standard Operating Procedure. Is it more of a broad overlook of the past 5 years, or does it have specific focus like Taxi? Both approaches are useful - actually I expected Taxi to focus only on the one incident, and didn't realize it would use that as a viewpoint on the entire policy, which I thought was wise.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7610074516299275060.post-36334470764645258152008-11-09T21:47:00.000-05:002008-11-09T21:47:00.000-05:00From a simple, almost thoughtless action, the jott...<I>From a simple, almost thoughtless action, the jotting down of some comments, the typing of a memo from behind a comfortable Washington desk, thousands of people can suffer - and the depth of their experience has no correspondence at its root. It's like the idea of the butterfly flapping its wings and causing a typhoon halfway around the world; look at the faces of John Yoo and Alberto Gonzalez and tell me that these flat, smug, smarmy individuals understand one iota of what they have enabled or promoted.</I><BR/><BR/>Amen. Since Donald Rumsfeld always scoffed at the notion that forced standing was any kind of torture by noting that he stood at his desk all day, I always wished that Rumsfeld, Yoo and the rest would be subject to just two days of the stuff that many prisoners endured for weeks, months and longer -- many of them without officially being charged with any crimes. Tragic.<BR/><BR/>"Taxi," with its excellent examination of the mental brutality of sensory deprivation and stress, should forever be a companion piece with "Standard Operating Procedure," which does an excellent job of detailing how so many things that look like prisoner abuse aren't ... under the letter of the law, that is.<BR/><BR/>Another good read. Thanks again!Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.com