MMA Trainer/Ron Paul supporter Ed Clay gets waterboarded on video to prove its torture

[BarryDonegan]

Ed Clay, Nashville-area Ron Paul supporter and successful MMA Trainer decided to have himself waterboarded on film so that we could share this video to help convince GOP voters that waterboarding is torture. The fact that he is a trained fighter helps with the fact that many people look at being against torture as being "soft," something no one will accuse the participants in this video of being after watching this.

Thanks to Ed for sacrificing his health, safety, enjoyment of life, and possibly sanity in order to provide us with this great grassroots tool.

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[Muttley]

Thanks for the first hand account Ed! This needs to be shown across the country that it is indeed torture!

 

[amy31416]

I really, really do appreciate Clay's efforts, but I just don't think the video is very effective. I hate to say it because of what he went through in order to make a point, but it just didn't deliver on making the point that it really is torture (even thought that's what I believe it to be)--I can't see myself using this to show that it's torture.

I don't know if it's the lack of drama or what, but it just seems like he was inconvenienced, rather than tortured. And I feel like a bit of a sicko saying that.

 

[flightlesskiwi]

wow. worth the watch.

 

[flightlesskiwi]

I really, really do appreciate Clay's efforts, but I just don't think the video is very effective. I hate to say it because of what he went through in order to make a point, but it just didn't deliver on making the point that it really is torture (even thought that's what I believe it to be)--I can't see myself using this to show that it's torture.

I don't know if it's the lack of drama or what, but it just seems like he was inconvenienced, rather than tortured. And I feel like a bit of a sicko saying that.

i see what you are saying. but, i'd say after 4 or 5 ten second counts i'd definitely feel like i was being tortured, even if i didn't "show" it.

 

[amy31416]

i see what you are saying. but, i'd say after 4 or 5 ten second counts i'd definitely feel like i was being tortured, even if i didn't "show" it.

I know--and I would feel the same. I'm claustrophobic, I'd lose my shit with any number of the things that these monsters do to other people. Hell, I'd feel tortured if some scraggly-ass bitch was groping me at a TSA checkpoint...but I don't think it illustrates it effectively enough. I'm not trying to be an expert, I'm certainly not, but I think that the video falls short in expressing just how terrifying being waterboarded likely is--and I base that on other first-hand accounts of people who've undergone it.

 

[ONUV]

are water boarding supporters okay with our enemies using it on our soldiers?

 

[BarryDonegan]

It's important to note he went through as much waterboarding as he could handle, which wasn't much. He wasn't waterboarded like what goes on in Gitmo, that goes on for an nigh-unlimited amount of time. While waterboarding isn't the most theatric form of torture to look at, the sheer fact that a credible, known person who has intentionally suffered a disproportionately high amount of pain throughout life compared to most people couldn't take being waterboarded any longer than what you see on camera, and he refers to it as torture. It may not meet the 4chan status of shocking, but to most people this has serious credibility. I don't think it takes too much more than watching someone known for being tough suffering through it. He's not the type of guy who is going to cry and whine about it -- people from his line of work are beaten half to death all the time. However, his response after being waterboarded, which puts him in a small category of people with the credibility that goes with that, which the video proves, is that it is torture. That instantly beats any argument put forth by anyone who hasn't been waterboarded, IMO.

 

[ninepointfive]

I really, really do appreciate Clay's efforts, but I just don't think the video is very effective. I hate to say it because of what he went through in order to make a point, but it just didn't deliver on making the point that it really is torture (even thought that's what I believe it to be)--I can't see myself using this to show that it's torture.

I don't know if it's the lack of drama or what, but it just seems like he was inconvenienced, rather than tortured. And I feel like a bit of a sicko saying that.

I was in a facebook, "debate" the other day, and this would have been better than maybe the mancow waterboarding. of course none of these videos are on par to the real torture of being waterboarded for real.

 

[ninepointfive]

I really, really do appreciate Clay's efforts, but I just don't think the video is very effective. I hate to say it because of what he went through in order to make a point, but it just didn't deliver on making the point that it really is torture (even thought that's what I believe it to be)--I can't see myself using this to show that it's torture.

I don't know if it's the lack of drama or what, but it just seems like he was inconvenienced, rather than tortured. And I feel like a bit of a sicko saying that.

I was in a facebook, "debate" the other day, and this would have been better than maybe the mancow waterboarding. of course none of these videos are on par to the real torture of being waterboarded for real.

 

[BarryDonegan]

In fact, resisting pain, or "not tapping out" is a professional thing that MMA people train for. The point of the video is that an MMA trainer who deals professionally in experiencing pain couldn't handle any more than what you see there. The guys in GITMO are getting this treatment in some cases over 100 times in a row. These MMA guys regularly have opponents trying to apply destructive pressure to small joints, etc, in order to get them to tap out. This stuff is clearly far above and beyond the pain threshold that causes an MMA fighter to tap out. This is the importance of this particular video in my view.

 

[rideurlightning]

This is great. Make it go viral.

 

[flightlesskiwi]

are water boarding supporters okay with our enemies using it on our soldiers?

exactly.

if they water board the spec ops guys to prepare them for what may happen if they are caught, i guess that part of their training must just be called "enemy enhanced interrogation techniques." and if a person is caught and water boarded, they aren't able to say they were tortured, but enhanced interrogated.

this whole thing is Orwellian.

 

[amy31416]

I was in a facebook, "debate" the other day, and this would have been better than maybe the mancow waterboarding. of course none of these videos are on par to the real torture of being waterboarded for real.

Yeah...it's obvious to us that none of this is on par with "real" torture, I just hesitate to water down actual torture with these controlled experiments. Those accused of terrorism do not have a "safe word," nor do they get to call things off after 4 minutes. They also have no idea whether or not they are going to die and there's an additional layer of language differences. As a comparison, I would probably think that some Middle Eastern folks who captured me (if I were a soldier) were going to subject me to the most heinous things imaginable, and given what's gone on at Gitmo and Abu Ghraib, I suspect that they're (detainees) in a similar mindset.

 

[Feelgood]

Didnt Hannity once say he would have no problems with being water boarded?

 

[hazek]

This brainwashed soldier believes it's not torture :

 

[FSP-Rebel]

Didnt Hannity once say he would have no problems with being water boarded?

Live on Fox?

 

[Feelgood]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/hannity-offers-to-be-wate_n_190354.html

Yepper, thought so. Just found it.

 

[flightlesskiwi]

This brainwashed soldier believes it's not torture :

until his wife is captured and water boarded.

or he is the one being water boarded for hours on end.

 

[cero]

WOW, respect!