U.S. Torture Techniques a Laugh Riot

On February 2nd, the Society for Ethnomusicology posted an official statement on their website condemning the use of music as a form torture by the U.S. military. To wit:

On behalf of the Society for Ethnomusicology the SEM Board of Directors approves the Position Statement against the Use of Music as Torture, which originated in the SEM Ethics Committee and has the unanimous support of the Board of Directors.

The Society for Ethnomusicology condemns the use of torture in any form. An international scholarly society founded in 1955, the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) and its members are devoted to the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts. The SEM is committed to the ethical uses of music to further human understanding and to uphold the highest standards of human rights. The Society is equally committed to drawing critical attention to the abuse of such standards through the unethical uses of music to harm individuals and the societies in which they live. The U.S. government and its military and diplomatic agencies has used music as an instrument of abuse since 2001, particularly through the implementation of programs of torture in both covert and overt detention centers as part of the war on terror.

The Society for Ethnomusicology

- calls for full disclosure of U.S. government-sanctioned and funded programs that design the means of delivering music as torture;
- condemns the use of music as an instrument of torture; and
- demands that the United States government and its agencies cease using music as an instrument of physical and psychological torture.

Suggested link
For further information on the American history and praxis of using music as an instrument of torture, the Society for Ethnomusicology recommends the following article:
Suzanne Cusick, “Music as Torture, Music as Weapon,” Revista Transcultural de Música/Transcultural Music Review 10 (2006).

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And who, you might ask, has had the privilege of blaring out of American military speakers over the years? Well, there’s been Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Metallica, Barney, and Sesame Street over the last five. But the U.S. military was dallying in pop music torture far before Rummy had his way with the Pentagon in 2001. Though the SEM’s statements claims this musical torment only started that year, according to a Washington Times article from December 29, 1989 (and David Pescovitz’ blog on BoingBoing) U.S. troops blasted Michael Jackson, Linda Rondstadt, The Marvelettes, the Bobby Fuller Four, and Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child” as a means of getting Panama’s president Manual Norriega to surrender a full 18 years ago.

Surprisingly (or not), the chief reaction to SEM’s statement, particularly among conservative bloggers, has been little more than chummy laughter. (See, for example, Right Wing Nation and Mark Steyn’s “Facing the Music” in the New York Sun and his blog The Corner on the National Review.) In the abstract, I suppose any discussion of Ms. Aguilera’s blanched electro-pop making young men frantic is amusing, but this is torture, folks. Hating your kid’s Eminem records when he’s playing them in the next room while you’re trying to blog for Right Hand Politics and make fun of big words like “ethnomusicology” is one thing. Having Dr. Dre’s sharp beats rammed into your skull at full volume while standing stark naked on four hours of sleep in the last three days is another thing all together. Kudos to SEM.