Perspectives

This part of the study guide will help you expand your perspective on the article “Why not everyone is a torturer” by Stephen Reicher and Alex Haslam by looking at the time perspective and other related tex…

...

Time perspective

When looking at the relevance of the article today, you should consider reviewing how the issues mentioned in the article evolved.

Abu Ghraib prison was a US Army military prison, which held criminals and those who committed crimes against US military personnel. In 2003, the discovery of photos which depicted guards abusing prisoners sparked worldwide outrage and an investigation. In the US, the Bush administration responded that the events were isolated and not at a…

...

Textual perspective

When analysing this article, you could also consider looking at other texts with similar themes. For example, you could look at speeches by leaders George W. Bush and Tony Blair responding to terrorist attacks in the US and the UK.

George W. Bush’s “War on Terror Speech” was delivered on 20th of September, 2001, soon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In the speech, Bush announces that he plans to wage war on terror; a policy which led to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq (where later US soldiers were found to have committed the torture referenced in this article). Note that Bush presents terrorist groups as people who hate democracy, America, and freedom. It could be argued that such language f…