Torture lite - Slayer - Angel of Death

I truly hope this song, or similar ones, do not get played in class, because that would be torture!

I post this song in response to reading This Muslim American Life - Dispatches from the War on Terror, by Moustafa Bayoumi. After reading it I found it interesting that there seemed to be about three different types of songs that were used for torture. There was the class that saw cheesy pop songs/singers like Brittany Spears, Christina Agulara, etc., as torturous, the class that saw it as an opportunity to reinforce American Pride with songs like Born in the USA, etc., and then those that used loud, invasive music like the song above. I feel like the first two made whimsical choices based on humor and ego, whereas the third group really wanted to break their victims and cause serious psychological damage. Obviously, any song looped over and over, causing you to lose sleep and not be able to maintain a thought in your head, would be horrible and torturous, but there's something extra horrible and maddening about loud and aggressive music. I am mortified by this whole concept, but I think I was extra offended by the whimsical and ego driven choices of music. A baby crying, sure. Loud death metal, sure. Super psychologically damaging. But the other choices feel like the cat that bats around the mouse for a while and then gets bored and lets it run off.

Also interesting is when this article and the article Shoot the Singer! overlapped. On page 182 of Bayoumi's article when he writes: "What the practice of sounding loud American music at Muslims reveals most is the power American forces associate with American culture. Any prolonged loud noise in the right circumstances stands a good chance of driving you mad. Yet narcissistically, American intelligence seems to believe American music will break you more quickly. 'These people haven't heard heavy metal. They can't take it.'" This part of the article relates nicely because Shoot the Singer! goes into detail about why Islam is offended by music, and why loud, vulgar American culture offends also. And I found it ironic that we were torturing them in response to the 9/11 attack. The 9/11 attack was done in the name of their beliefs against the western infidels with their drugs, sex and rock n roll. And then we reinforce their very reasons for hating us by using said rock n roll to torture them. And considering that Islam doesn't condone music because of how it is linked to sin, and then we use music for one of the most sinful things humans can do to each other...it's all just so ridiculous and horrible.