Blog #8

When first looking at the Cultivation Theory itself, George Gerber stated that the more time that people spend in living in the world of tv, the more likely that are to believe in that social reality that they are viewing on the screen. Therefore, many Americans watch graphic shows that include the use of torture in them to extract specific pieces of information from the victim. On television shows, these tactics, while violent, are seemingly successful. This leads us to believe that torture can also be successful in real life as well-- 57% of Americans feel that the use of torture provided good intelligence on various security threats. However, torture usage is really not effective in real life simply because we cannot script out fugitives and prisoners to say exactly what we want them to say. Many Americans support the use of torture on suspected terrorists because they have seen shows or movies involving this and it was successful. In reality, these tactics brought little valuable information to US authorities. In addition, the use of torture in the United States has weakened our credibility in the international community. Torture is seen as medieval and beneath humanitarian standards set for the 21st century by many countries around the world.