On turning a blind eye and a deaf ear: society's response to the use of torture

The present paper undertakes an individual and group psychoanalytic examination of what happens to the citizens of a society that not only condones but authorizes torture. Drawing on the experiences of countries like those in Latin America during the period of the military dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s, South Africa during the apartheid years, the Nazi era in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, and Eastern Europe in the Communist era, the author focuses on the denial that was necessary to maintain daily life. At the same time, such denial and its accompanying "compartmentalization" produced a citizenry that was both blind and deaf to the practices and ultimately supported the dangerous hypocrisy of the respective political regimes. The impact of such "blindness" and "deafness" to the use of torture and abrogation of basic civil rights on the psychological life of individuals and society is examined for its parallels to our current times within the United States.