Intention

Stephen Reicher and Alex Haslam’s overall intention with “Why not everyone is a torturer” is to prove that culture and leadership encourage people to become torturers, but also to persuade readers that society is responsible to examine its values and beliefs to prevent torture. For this, they use the example of the Abu Ghraib prison torture.

The writers’ overall message is that the tendency to torture and abuse those who are less powerful than yourself is not part of human nature but something which is affected by society, culture, and leade…

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Highlight the influence and flaws of previous studies

To show readers how we are influenced by the Stanford Prison experiment’s conclusions and by Hannah Arendt’s observations, the writers explain: “one might go further and conclude that the torturers were victims of circumstances (…) Indeed, using Zimbardo’s findings as evidence, this is precisely what some people would conclude.” (p. 189, ll. 22-26)

However, the writers …

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Prove the importance of culture and leadership

Through rhetorical devices and forms of appeal, the writers are able to prove their point that people become torturers when their culture and their leaders encourage abusive behaviour.

To show that culture can encourage people to become torturers, the writers examine the Abu Ghraib prison case: “some reports have indicated that the guards were following orders (…). If that is true, then clearly the culture in which these soldiers were immersed was one in which they were encouraged to s…

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Offer solutions

The writers also aim to give potential solutions for the prevention of abuse.

The writers use the example of the My Lai massacre to suggest that people should look into history to find answers about how atrocities can happen: “All these things happened after the My Lai massacre, and in many ways the responses to an atrocity tell us most about how it can happen in the…