Template:Did you know nominations/Torture in popular culture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 05:11, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

Torture in popular culture

  • ... that inaccurate depictions of torture in fiction have been cited to justify torture and are imitated by real-life torturers? Source: various, see article

Created by Buidhe (talk). Self-nominated at 09:38, 22 February 2022 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
QPQ: Done.

Overall: Another heavy nomination, but its long enough, cited to multiple reliable sources, and seems fairly neutral. It's not exhaustive but it doesn't need to be to cover the topic well. There's room for expansion but it's fine as is right now. The hooks are all cited to solid sources, and interesting (I feel weird describing them that way though). No copyvio detected, and qpq is done. BuySomeApples (talk) 01:17, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

  • Comment. I'm not sure this belongs on the main page in this state, as every reader will quickly think up contrary examples that this article does not present. For instance, the implication that the Star Trek franchise promotes torture as a useful device is just plain wrong; in particular, try watching the 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Chain of Command", in which Captain Picard is tortured at great length for what turns out to be no useful reason and eventually tells his antagonist, "Torture has never been a reliable means of extracting information. It is ultimately self-defeating as a means of control. One wonders it is still practiced."[1] There are plenty of movies where torture is shown to be futile and degrading to those doing it, for example the prominent 1998 film The Siege. There are plenty of TV procedurals where law enforcement people are tempted to beat an answer out of a suspect but don't, and instead figure out how to get the information they need without it. And the article's idea that TV shows are helping to provide techniques and justifications for torturers is, unfortunately, not in alignment with any reading of history. People have figured out how to conduct torture, and to justify it to themselves, before TV, before radio, before novels, before the printing press, and, as archeological findings sometimes show, before writing itself. Most of this article is sourced to two authors; I would suspect there are some more balanced or nuanced views out there on this subject. Wasted Time R (talk) 01:43, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
    • Hi Wasted Time R, I'm not sure where you got the idea that the article says Star Trek in general promotes torture? The only Star Trek show mentioned is Star Trek: Enterprise where the protagonists indeed used torture. I agree the article could use expansion, but I think it meets DYK requirements. (t · c) buidhe 01:57, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
    • I also don't think the article is saying that media causes torture, just that (positive? effective?) portrayals of it in media can impact people's perceptions of it. It's kinda like how people might have drank milk forever, but media can influence whether people drink more or less milk. BuySomeApples (talk) 19:32, 25 February 2022 (UTC)
      • Exactly (t · c) buidhe 19:39, 25 February 2022 (UTC)

Promoting ALT1, the concise hook, to Prep 6. I read through the article; there is scope for expansion but this meets the DYK criteria. – Kavyansh.Singh (talk) 05:11, 9 March 2022 (UTC)

References

References

  1. ^ Lapidos, Juliet (May 7, 2009). "There Are Four Lights!". Slate.