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Introduction
Although I could easily make this article about the most
horrible songs ever written and how they get stuck in our heads, this is not
what our topic is about today. In this article, we will discuss torture, its
anatomy, and the role music can play in it. We will differentiate between
different types of torture, how our senses can be used against us to cause us
pain, the after-effects of torture, military uses of music in psychological
operations, sonic technologies developed specifically for sieges and law
enforcement applications, and how artists are speaking out against the use of
their music in these operations. So strap yourself in and continue reading
because you’re in for ride.
Pain and Perceptions of the Ear
The human ear is defenseless. It’s unable to keep sound out, so
it must take in all it hears. Without earplugs, anti-noise headphones or other
defensive technologies the ear is helpless to protect itself. One of the great
advantages of using music as an implement of torture is that it leaves no
physical mark. At least, so it seems. Because sound moves particles in the air
and pushes the vibrations into our ear, the effect has a potential for danger.
With an increase in the volume of sound, the vibrations push particles ever
more strongly into our ear, thereby causing harm over time or immediately
according to conditions. Here’s a brief description on how the ear can be
damaged causing hearing loss and auditory malfunction.
Hair cells reside in the cochlea. Bundles of hair-like
extensions, called stereo
cilia, rest on top of them. When sound waves travel through the
ears and reach the hair cells, the vibrations deflect off the stereo cilia, causing
them to move according to the force and pitch of the vibration. Different forms
of sound cause them to move in a variety of ways. For instance, a melodic piano
tune would produce gentle movements, while heavy metal would generate faster,
sharper motion. This motion triggers an electrochemical current that sends the
information from the stereo cilia through the auditory nerves and eventually to
the brain.
When you hear exceptionally
loud noises, your stereo cilia can become damaged and mistakenly keep sending
sound information to the auditory nerve cells. In the case of loud sound
sources such as rock concerts and fireworks displays, ringing happens because
the tips of some of your stereo cilia have actually broken off. You hear those
false currents in the ringing in your ear (or head), called tinnitus. However, since
you can grow these small tips back in about 24 hours, the ringing is often
temporary.
So
as you can see although music torture is classified along with other forms of psychological torture, the damage that
high volume sound can really cause is actually physical. If music torture
causes the loss of hearing, the remedy for this physical ailment is not months
or years of counseling, but rather a hearing aid. Deafness is a physical
malfunction, not a psychological or emotional issue.
The Differences between Physical and
Psychological Torture
Torture is the practice or act
of deliberately inflicting severe physical pain and possibly injury on a living
being. Although psychological and animal tortures also exist, the forms of
torture can vary greatly in duration from a few minutes to several days or even
longer. Reasons for torture can also vary greatly and they can include
punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation, coercion,
or a sadistic gratification of observing the tortured in agony and pain.
Physical torture methods have
been used throughout recorded history and can range from a beating to the use
of sophisticated custom designed devices such as the rack. Exceptional
ingenuity has been shown in the invention of instruments and techniques for
physical torture, which exploit medical knowledge of the vulnerabilities of the
human body such as the sensitivity of nail beds to pressure, or of the soles of
the feet to heat. Other types of torture can include sensory or sleep
deprivation, restraint or being held in awkward or damaging positions,
uncomfortable extremes of heat and cold, loud noises or any other means that
inflicts severe physical or mental pain. Physical torture is plainly the
inflicting of severe pain or suffering on a person.
Psychological torture, on the
other hand, uses non-physical methods to cause emotional or mental suffering.
Its effects are not immediately apparent unless they alter the behavior of the
tortured person. Psychological torture is less well known than physical torture
and tends to be subtle and much easier to conceal. In practice the distinctions
between physical and psychological torture can often be blurred. In contrast to
physical torture, psychological torture is directed at the psyche with
calculated violations of psychological needs, along with deep damage to
psychological structures and the breakage of beliefs underpinning normal sanity.
Music
torture is clearly difficult to categorize. Physically, the ear can become
damaged, although no blows were inflicted upon the victim. On the other hand,
music torture can prevent a victim from maintaining a normally functioning
consciousness. Psychological
torture also includes deliberate use of extreme stressors and situations such
as mock execution, shunning, violation of deep-seated social or sexual norms
and taboos, or extended solitary confinement. Because psychological torture
needs no physical violence to be effective, it is possible to induce severe
psychological pain, suffering, and trauma with no externally visible effects.
Torturers often inflict both types of torture in combination to compound the
associated effects.
In fact, music torture is most
effective when it is combined with other forms of torture such as mock
executions, simulated drowning, sexual and religious humiliation, stress
positions or sleep deprivation, the exploitation of prisoners' phobias, the use
of mind-altering drugs, hooding, forced nakedness, the use of dogs to frighten
detainees, exposing prisoners to extreme heat and cold, physical assault and
threatening the use of such techniques against a prisoner or a prisoner's
family.
In addition, music torture is
sometimes used with medical, pharmacological, and even tickle torture. With
medical torture, medical practitioners use torture to judge what victims can
endure, to apply treatments that enhance torture, or act as torturers in their
own right. Pharmacological torture is the use of drugs to produce psychological
and physical pain or discomfort. Tickle torture is an unusual form of torture
which can be both physically and psychologically painful. But more commonly,
music torture is mixed with using
The Analysis and Effects of Music Torture
So
what aspects of music make it possible to turn it into a weapon of torture? Three
aspects come to mind and they are a) type of music, b) loudness, or volume, and
c) the length of exposure. Often in military operations such as torture or
interrogations, the music of choice is usually something which is extremely
annoying or very stimulating. For example, several days after Paris Hilton announced that she would release an album,
the Pentagon decided to buy 50,000 copies to use against insurgents in the
Anbar province in Iraq. Other choices of music can range from various types of
heavy metal such as Metallica to songs from children’s T.V. shows such as Barney and Sesame Street.
The annoyance or stimulating factor of the
music used is further intensified when the loudness or volume level is
deafeningly high. In some cases, the volume levels have been reported to be as
high as 120 – 150 dB, which equates to the sound range of a chainsaw,
thunderclap and even a jet take-off. In addition, the length of exposure
further exacerbates the effect of the music torture by causing the
disorientation of the other senses. In psychological operations and during
interrogations, it’s quite common for a single song to be played at extremely
loud volume levels for a 24 hour period. All of these factors combined are what
give music torture its effectiveness as an assault weapon.
The
consequences of music torture reach far beyond discomfort and immediate pain.
Many victims suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which includes
symptoms such as flashbacks (or intrusive thoughts), severe anxiety, insomnia,
nightmares, depression and memory lapses. Torture victims often feel guilt and
shame, triggered by the humiliation they have endured. Many feel that they have
betrayed themselves or their friends and family. All such symptoms are normal
human responses to abnormal and inhuman treatment.
For survivors, torture often
leads to lasting mental and physical health problems. Music torture in
particular is difficult to prove, especially when some time has passed between
the event and a medical examination. Many torturers around the world use
methods designed to have a maximum psychological impact while leaving no or only
minimal physical traces. Typically deaths due to torture are shown in an
autopsy as being due to "natural causes" like heart attack,
inflammation, or embolism due to extreme stress.
Physical problems can be as wide-ranging
as sexually transmitted diseases, muscular-skeletal problems, brain injury,
post-traumatic epilepsy, dementia, and chronic pain syndromes. Mental health
problems are equally wide-ranging, but the most common are post-traumatic
stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorder. One of the most terrible
psychological effects of torture is the killing of desire and curiosity, while
the core feature of the post-traumatic landscape of torture is psychic deadness.
Gauntanamo captive Binyam Mohamed, who has since returned to
England after years of imprisonment and torture, was interviewed on London’s Mail
on Sunday. In this interview, he
talked about how his sonic torture started in a Kabul prison in
2002 where he was held for eighteen months in complete darkness before his
transfer to Gauntanamo in 2004. His body conveys no direct physical markings of
his claims of abuse, but he relates how, “There were loudspeakers in the cell,
pumping out a deafening, non-stop volume, 24 hours a day. They played the same
CD for a month, The Eminem Show. When
it was finished it went back to the beginning and started again. I couldn't
sleep. I had no idea whether it was day or night.”
Military Uses of Music Assault
History’s most infamous musical assault occurred against the
Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas (1993). The story goes that the FBI wore down
the compound dwellers over the seven week siege, exploiting the defenselessness
of the ear, by broadcasting sleep-preventing decibel levels of massively
distorted music.
A few years earlier, the U.S. tried to force out Manuel Noriega
from Panama City with a non-stop bombardment of heavy metal music by the likes
of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. In December 1989, the United States
invaded Panama. Noriega took refuge in the Holy See’s embassy on December 24,
which was immediately surrounded by U.S. troops. After being continually attacked
with hard
rock music, including Van Halen's hit song Panama and “The Howard Stern Show” for
several days, Noriega surrendered on January 3, 1990.
In Guantanamo Bay and prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq reports
have surfaced claiming that interrogation techniques involve the uses of extremely
loud music to soften prisoners. Reports from Guantanamo
Bay also indicate that disturbing chicken noises were played
over a loud-speaker for more than 25 hours to induce sleep deprivation. Loudspeaker
systems are also used to communicate with enemy soldiers by intimidating them
with frightening voices. Apparently, this is form of sonic attack is an
effective method for getting insurgents to surrender, along with intimidating
phone calls made directly to the families of insurgents and enemy commanding
officers.
Amnesty International has also received
reports describing various kinds of humiliation and torture prisoners and
detainees the world over has endured. The most common methods often reported include
prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, prolonged restraint in painful
positions, hooding, exposure to loud
music, and to bright lights.
Music Torture Technologies in Bullet Points
On November 18, 1998, now-defunct Synetics Corporation was
contracted to produce a tightly focused beam of infrasound intended to produce
effects that range from disabling to killing a target.
In 1999, Maxwell Technologies patented a HyperSonic Sound
System, which is a highly directional device designed to control hostile crowds
or disable hostage takers.
In 1999, Primex Physics International patented both the “Acoustic
Blaster” and the Sequential Arc Discharge Acoustic Generator, which produce repetitive
impulse waveforms of 165dB. Both sonic weapons are designed for “antipersonnel applications,”
produce their effects with high intensity impulsive sound waves by electrical
means, and are believed to be controllable at a distance of 50 feet or more.
American Technology Corporation has also development the Long Range
Acoustic Device, or LRAD, 10 years earlier. This is a weapon capable of
projecting a ‘strip of sound’ (15 to 30 inches wide) at an average of 120 dB
(maxing at 151 dB). Because the LRAD is designed to hail ships, issue
battlefield or crowd-control commands, or directs an attention-getting and
highly irritating deterrent tone for behavior modification, its sonic
projection is intelligible from 500 to 1,000 meters away. Wielded by the 361st
PsyOps company, the LRAD was deployed to prepare the battlefield in the siege
of Falluja in November of 2004. The device was armed with Metallica’s “Hells’
Bells” and “Shoot to Thrill.”
Artists Protest the Use of Music Torture
Honestly, positions are mixed among musicians
in regard to the use of their music in torture. Many support the military
position of do whatever it takes to stop the terrorists, while others are
deeply opposed to the use of any form of torture on a humanitarian basis. For
example, the Associated Press reported that Stevie Benton of the group Drowning Pool said, "I take it as an honor to think that perhaps
our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like
that.” My position, as a citizen and not as an artist, is based on
the concept of political freedom, so I support any government that respects the
freedoms of its citizens. However, when it comes to crime, I want law
enforcement and the judicial system to prosecute those who violate the rights
of others with an appropriate fine or incarceration. And in regard to war,
military law should apply to combatants captured on the battlefield. In such
cases, both forfeit their rights.
In contrast, the Associated Press also reported that various musicians were coordinating their objections to
the use of their music in interrogations through an initiative called Zero dB. Zero dB is an initiative against music torture set up by legal
charity Reprieve. This charity represents over thirty prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Zero dB
aims to stop torture music by encouraging widespread condemnation of the
practice of music torture by calling on governments and the UN to uphold and
enforce the Convention against Torture and other relevant treaties.
The initiative is backed by the Musicians
Union which is calling on British musicians to also voice their outrage against
the use of music to torture. Musicians and the wider public are making their
own silent protests against music torture which are being shown on Zero dB. Participating musicians will
include minutes of silence in their concerts to draw their audience's attention
to the USA's use of deafening music against captives.
Among the musicians united in their
objections were Christopher Cerf, a composer for the
children's show Sesame Street, Tom
Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Others include R.E.M., The Roots, Rise Against, Rosanne
Cash, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Trent Reznor, Billy
Bragg, Michelle Branch, Jackson Browne, T-Bone
Burnett, David Byrne, Marc Cohn, Steve Earle, the
Entrance Band, and Joe Henry. Many others are sure to follow.
Royalty Payments from Music Torture
While the Zero dB initiative seems really cool, there just seems to be something wrong with the idea that those engaged in music torture ought to pay royalties to the musician’s whose songs are used in the torture process. The Guardian reported that the US military may owe royalty payments to the artists whose works were played to the captives. For those artists who do not want their music to be used for this purpose, it’s definitely appropriate for the military to stop using their music on an immediate basis. However, once the military has ceased to use their music in torture sessions, these artists shouldn’t return to receive royalty checks. On the other hand, artists who do want their music to be used in torture sessions, for whatever reason, should be given royalty payments, unless they arrange pro-bono usage rights to the military.
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Marc
