You might want to read the parent comment again, because it was neither white washing or espousing a positive view of torture.

Calling people shills is actually directly laid out in the "what not to do on HN", and the calling the parent one is an egregious misuse of this term.

Shame would probably be a better choice of words, but if you want to castigate people over torture, how about you choose to do it to the ones who made those horrific choices and the ones who supported them.