Self Stupidity

So, time to fess up... Ever caught yourself mid-stream, realizing just how totally insane the thought you've just been entertaining is? Every once in a while, I actually become aware of some of the stupidest, most self-aggrandizing daydream that I have running through my head (as opposed most times, when I just blithely go on about my business, oblivious).

So, I was listening to The Dark Side by Jane Mayer this evening in the lab. The whole book's premise basically boils down to the concept that the soon-to-be past administration had a lot of misguided thoughts of their own about how best to defend our country against a terrorist threat and that it has led us down some pretty frightening paths. The book had just gotten to the section about how the administration has promoted the use of torture to interrogate prisoners of war (yeah... its kinda a downer).

So there is quite a lot of discussion about the various techniques of torture and the psychology behind them. What is it that causes our psyche to snap and give in to interrogation, and what are some of the most effective ways to push a person to the snapping-point?

So, Mayer is describing some of the sleep deprivation methods and how they are quite efficient at getting people to crack and I actually pause in my work to think "Huh. I bet if I were being tortured, I would be resistant to that sort of thing cuz I've had sleep apnea!!!!" Then I proceed to have visions of myself in some foreign equivalent of Abu Ghraib, solidly holding out against the cruel machinations of my evil tormentors while scores of hardened men crumple around me!

...

Yeah... Kinda embarrassing... I mean, seriously, I would be the absolute first one to break under any sort of pressure. I would spill my secrets before they even asked. I'd be all like: "But wait, wasn't lunchtime SUPPOSOED to be a couple hours ago?!?! Okay! I'll tell you whatever you want, just PLEASE give me that danish!"

I'd cave faster than my cellmate, Mr. Fluffles here: