His conscience is not presented as a flaw. He's better than his colleagues at his job. It's not even explicit that he has a conscience. What he has is a more intelligent way of fighting terrorism, that involves understanding and even empathizing with the enemy. It's a pretty safe read that his better understanding…

I don't think either you or Dowd are really using the word "condone" correctly. To "not condone" something is a really strong position. Like, as a baseline: you could say Die Hard doesn't condone the actions of Hans Gruber.

Prisoners and Zero Dark Thirty both 100% condone torture so actually it's a tie.

Yep. The premise of Homeland is a dangerous paranoid fantasy. It's not surprising when reality presents a humiliating correction.

I mean, it's really a giant fuck you to everybody. I didn't feel excluded from the movie's "fuck you" just because I'm not a mass audience member.

No way, The Counselor was great. It doesn't do a lot of the fun things other crime movies do, which I think frustrates people. But it does its own thing, and I thought it was terrifying start to finish. A lot like No Country For Old Men was. If you liked that movie, I don't see why you wouldn't like this one, too.…

FUNNIER!

He was talking to his siblings.  Their last parent had died, so now it's just them.

"Just look at how the show is handling Crazy Eyes: Here’s a character who was introduced—through Piper’s eyes—as a crazy stalker, pissing on the floor as though to mark her territory, who can still sit in an AA meeting without feeling like a punchline waiting to happen."

You're conflating two things.  Sure, there's undoubtedly an argument about torture, in that there are recognizably two "sides" and they're both making a lot of noise.  But is there really an honest debate happening with each position being represented by well-informed and well-intentioned people?  No, there isn't.…

"No.  You totally misread a very clearly stated point.  My point is that *you* are a condescending know-it-all."

Steve, the point I think you're trying to make is that, while you yourself don't support torture, reasonable people can disagree over whether the CIA's torture program was ethical.  And anyone who thinks that torture is just full-stop wrong, and that it's unfortunate that so many people don't see it this way, are…

It's a myth that there are these statistical studies proving the effectiveness of the death penalty in deterring crime.  None of the studies that claim to have done so have anything like a meaningful sample size.  In fact, a meaningful sample size does not exist.  We don't execute enough people to ever have any kind…

Steve McRib, if there are people out there who are caught up in the fiction that the people the CIA tortured were all out to "kill them and their family," I'd point out to them that none of the people in Guantanamo have been convicted of any crimes, and that a large percentage of them were assessed to be innocent.…

There are some people who think it could be ethical to torture people who haven't been convicted of any crimes in order to further a hypothetical greater good?  Is there a movie we could show them that makes it clear that no, it's not ethical?

Because those are men.

Because he believes they can be reasoned with.

If you're sincerely describing someone as a "White Knight," then obviously you have been influenced by sexist attitudes.

Here are some strong responses to the Zero Dark Thirty apologists.

Who do we know who would use children?