Mos Def undergoes force-feeding for Guantanamo

[Gups]

Worked for Mahatma.

Weren't most of the hunger strikers cleared for rlease 4 years ago? I wouldn't have much of an appetite if I was kept indefinately in a prison camp without trial either.

They get all the free Froot Loops they want.  Sounds like a vacation to me.

You should deffo give it a try.

[Eddie Teach]

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

I suppose.  But I just have a hard time understanding why anyone has empathy for someone harming himself by not eating.

Well, sometimes people start to wonder about *why* the person is starving themselves. Which is what the striker wanted in the first place.

[garbon]

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

I suppose.  But I just have a hard time understanding why anyone has empathy for someone harming himself by not eating.

Well, sometimes people start to wonder about *why* the person is starving themselves. Which is what the striker wanted in the first place.

It garners attention.

[Razgovory]

Well isn't the point of a hunger strike to get sympathy/pressure from the outside to get changes made?

I suppose.  But I just have a hard time understanding why anyone has empathy for someone harming himself by not eating.

A conservative that is unmoved by someone starving to death?  Unheard of!

[derspiess]

A conservative that is unmoved by someone starving to death?  Unheard of!

Whether it's by choice factors heavily into whether or not I give a shit.

[derspiess]

It garners attention.

To me it just makes the person look foolish.  Would a "repeatedly bang your head on the wall" strike have the same effect?

[Eddie Teach]

To me it just makes the person look foolish. 

Well, at least you're taking the half a second to think them foolish. Half a second more than they'd have gotten.

For people who have been thrown into a modern oubliette, there's not a whole lot of other options.

[garbon]

It garners attention.

To me it just makes the person look foolish.  Would a "repeatedly bang your head on the wall" strike have the same effect?

Well presumably it is less damaging than beating one's head against the wall.

Besides, if it gets at least some people to pay attention, that's a positive. What would you do if you wanted to get something to change while sitting in prison?

[Admiral Yi]

To me it just makes the person look foolish.  Would a "repeatedly bang your head on the wall" strike have the same effect?

So foolish that we're tying them down to prevent them from achieving their goal.

A hunger strike is a very powerful gesture.  Guy is putting his money where his mouth is.  Just like that Buddhist monk who torched himself in Saigon.

[Gups]

As a tactic it's been successfully used on a number of occassions.

Gandhi saved thosands of lives in his 1947 hunger strike. The IRA hunger strike of 1981 achiieved most of the prisoners demands and was a huge propaganda coup for them

The current strike gets Gitmo back in the news.

[derspiess]

I'm not arguing whether it's effective-- obviously it is.  I just don't understand the psychology of why it's effective. 

[Jacob]

I'm not arguing whether it's effective-- obviously it is.  I just don't understand the psychology of why it's effective.

You don't understand how "I believe this so strongly that I'm willing to risk my well being to support it" is effective?

[Maximus]

Not really. Obviously they want things they don't have. That's pretty much a requirement for being a prisoner.

[frunk]

Not really. Obviously they want things they don't have. That's pretty much a requirement for being a prisoner.

Other options for a prisoner to get attention are....

[derspiess]

You don't understand how "I believe this so strongly that I'm willing to risk my well being to support it" is effective?

No.  I don't see how that relates in any way to me giving a shit.  Some person wants to starve or kill themselves to get some attention?  We have plenty of attention whores already, but knock yourself out.