When do the ends justify the means?

[Athene]

This whole debate comes from the fact that we want to hurt certain people who we think deserve it. So we go to clearly hypothetical lengths to justify our abhorrent fantasies.

What if they genuinely know nothing? Would you be happy to be tortured if someone else honestly believed you were the one with important information? Anything is justifiable until it happens to you.

In the hypothetical being discussed, the person at hand is known to be the perpetrator. In real life, these things are not easily proven. Thus, my real life reaction would differ from response to the hypothetical. To my understanding, a given such as knowing something for certain is taken at face value in a hypothetical question. That's how hypotheticals work.

I, myself do not harbor any abhorrent fantasies. I can't speak for others.