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well-brought -up Americans, he had chosen "the middle way" (to his
now devastating regret) as he took preliminary measure of his
predicament.

And the fear! It will likely surpass any he will ever
experience again. Arthur Koestler, now in the first person,
described his initial fear of torture (in a Fascist prison in
Spain) as "not a healthy fear, but of the obsessional and morbid
variety...the neurotic type of anxiety...the irrational
anticipation of the unknown punishment."

Until you say "no," it is fair to assume that a rational
regime will keep upping the ante of humiliating requirement till
they find the upper limit of your degradation tolerance. That is
part of their calibration process of "knowing their enemy," even
as the smart captive is already taking mental notes in pursuit of
his same goal of getting to "know his enemy". Rational torture
regimes are primarily tied to the public relations business and
have to be able to predict the "acting up" or "going bananas"
threshold of any captive they intend to put on display. A
rebellious scene before the cameras of neutrals or unreliables at
a press conference can cost the prison commissar his job.

But of course I'm now way out ahead of the "hypothetical
prisoner" scenario that started this discussion, and well into
personal hindsight. But in the main this chapter is based on
hindsight, almost completely composed of data that pops into
focus only after you've put all the pieces together, and know the
"arena" well enough to properly interpret what all is taking
place in it.

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