While it's refreshing to see the NYT and others come out strongly against our government's use of torture in the years following the September 11 attacks, I recall many organizations explicitly declaring that they would not be using the word "torture" to describe what was being done. They were lapping up the euphemisms handed down by the administration and as a result represented the ongoing torture in a dishonest way. This played a very important role in dictating the public's perception of what was going on, and set a tone for public discourse on the subject.

I unfortunately did not make a naughty list at the time. Does anyone here remember who the cowards were? As a pre-post-edit, I remembered there being some hubbub on NPR about the word and found this post that's pretty cringey to read now.