Philosophical Vegan Forum

EquALLity wrote:I was saying that the fact it can cause physical damage makes it painful.

No, there are many things that are not painful but can cause serious physical damage. For example, recreational drugs. Scratching an itch is another.

Waterboarding can also cause no physical damage if done correctly in a healthy subject.

I don't think there's any serious problem calling waterboarding torture in common useage, but we should remember that it isn't technically so.
Particularly if a carnist says something like "that's not technically torturing animals because it's not to extract information or punish" or something, we can respond that waterboarding isn't technically torture either.