It’s torture to the rest of the world

The topic of Richard Cohen’s column on May 11 was “The dysfunction of American exceptionalism.” By coincidence, a letter to the editor on the same page as Cohen’s column provides an example of that dysfunction.

Cohen states that American exceptionalism “has been adopted by the right to mean that America, alone among the nations, is beloved of God.” In the past, staking a claim to the high moral ground has included strict adherence to the humane treatment of prisoners.

Today, however, those clinging to that tenet are called, in Robert Graham’s May 11 letter “liberal pantywaists.” Graham assures the reader, “Waterboarding does no physical harm.” Maybe not, but the SPCA would make certain that anyone waterboarding a pet would face prosecution. Waterboarding is not humane, and the rest of the world recognizes it as torture.

American exceptionalism has become dysfunctional when it allows us to behave inhumanely because we are exceptional.

Donald G. Westlake

Wheaton