My Lai Massacre Research Paper

To someone just picking up this book, this scene would simply look like some poor soldiers developing a temporary and innocent coping mechanism to deal with Death as they face him head on. But

When uncertainty is present in a given situation, obedience tends to be greater. Being in an unfamiliar position may prompt one to have a lower self-confidence. Consequently, this self-perceived inferiority may cause the subject to look to authority for assistance (Nelson, class lecture, 2017). This was clearly evident at My Lai, as many of the soldiers were young and inexperienced, merely trained to follow orders given to them by authority. According to Kelman & Hamilton (1989) in their article “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience,” Charlie Company “contained no significant deviation from the average company.” That is, most of the men had volunteered for the draft and had not yet even finished college. Most were eighteen to twenty-two years old, still

The word 'gaze' shows that these men are detached from their emotions as they are part of a mass slaughtering which seems hard to believe that that is humanly possible.

Spearheaded by Second Lieutenant William Calley and his platoon, US forces began attacking human and animal targets alike. Men, women and children were killed indiscriminately with firearms, grenades and bayonets. After the initial attack, backup forces came in and dealt with the “remaining resistance,” killing every living person they could find. Although most soldiers did not or refused to participate in the My Lai Massacre, they neither resisted nor attempt to prevent the killings.

Before we ask about My Lai Massacre, we need to know what is My Lai Massacre the My Lai massacre is My Lai massacre has indiscriminately shot unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. The genocide was the duty of an officer of Charlie Company in the United States to lead a team in search of Vietnam. Their teams occupied a place called My Lai and slaughtered civilians under the direction of the high commander. Charlie Company entered South Vietnam in December 1967. In the first month there was no fighting, but in mid-March, five members of the team were killed by booby traps. Moreover, Vietnam’s 48th Battalion attacked US forces in the South Vietnam. The place of the incident occurred not far from where civilians live. This time, the US military was very angry and determined a massive counterattack the villages. Colonel Oran K Henderson orders Charlie Company to commit a massacre. The civilians who lived there were mainly woman, children and the elderly. American soldiers cruelly murdered and mocked them after receiving get permission. In the massacre more than 500 civilians were slaughtered and many women were raped and murdered. They attempted to conceal the events they had committed and led to an antisense sentiment that further divided the United States during the Vietnam War. However, some US military testimonies make their world known to their cruelty, including genocide and rape. In this paper, I will write down things about the behavior of the US

World War II was a devastating war, whether you were directly in the war zone, or away from the battlefield, you were impacted greatly. Flyboys is a book written by James Bradley, in this book Bradley tells stories of World War II using first-hand accounts. In chapter five, Bradley discusses “The Rape of China” which was a battle that took place in 1937 during the beginning of World War II. In this battle, the Japanese fight the Chinese and destroy China. Both Japan and China had very different moral beliefs on fighting in the war. China believed that the soldiers needed to “be courteous,” and to also be “neither selfish nor unjust” to civilians (Bradley 54). Meanwhile, the Japanese had totally opposite policies known as the “Three Alls” meaning

The massacre occurred over six weeks, the Japanese soldiers committed horrible crimes including looting, rape, murder and another large number of civilians and prisoners of war. The massacre is such a brutal, about 300 thousand people died, it had become a shame for China, which causing Chinese people have a bad impression on the Japanese. And another example is also happened in the World War II, in August 1945, the America dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, more than eight million Japan citizens are killed and about thirty-five thousand people are injured. The Unites States used the atom bomb to end the war because they wanted to protect their citizens, they trying the lower the rate of deaths. Wars are always connected to death, but not everyone understands the way of saving .

The Olson and Roberts book, My Lai is based upon the March 18, 1968, assault on My Lai. By examining the material, an explanation of why this massacre occurred is drawn. The main factors that lead to the My Lai assault were difficulty engaging with the enemy and the problem of distinguishing between the enemy soldiers and civilians, which both led to rage and frustration among soldiers and a misinterpretation of the mission.

“Other were beaten, tortured and their bodies were later found to be mutilated.” At one point during the massacre, Lieutenant Calley “ordered the execution of as many as 150 Vietnamese civilians who had been herded into an irrigation

For example, “thousand of suspected members of the Chinese Army who had shed their uniforms for civilian clothing, were apprehended, their hands tied behind their backs and led en mass to killing fields where they were shot, beheaded, used for bayonet practice or killed in some other gruesome manner before being dumped into mass graves,”(“The Rape of Nanking”). The soldiers of the Chinese army would be killed even if they weren’t fighting anymore. The Japanese soldiers had no respect for anybody during this time of the war. It is said that twenty to eighty thousand women were raped ,and then stripped away of everything. They were then killed after the Japanese soldiers were done with them(Chang).

“Ethnic and cultural distinctions [resulted] in the formation of ‘in-group’ and ‘out-group’ thinking” during the Asian War time, creating increased tension and indifference between China and Japan in a time of war (Burgess). The Japanese Soldiers became the overpowering force in the war between the two societies, and when they were able to overtake Nanking, they thought the elimination of this ethnic group would protect their in-group. The “[p]erpetrators of genocide [felt] completely justified in their actions, and [drew] on local cultural or political values to curry favor” (Burgess). With tensions already at a high, the “Japanese Military condoned the murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese Civilians” (Nanjing). The Japanese cultural values taught soldiers the notion that the only people in their Universe of Obligation were themselves and their government body, and that questioning either would lead to physical

     On March 16, 1968, in the Quang Ngai region of Vietnam, specifically My Lai, the United States military was involved in an appalling slaughter of approximately 500 Vietnamese civilians. There are numerous arguments as to why this incident even had the capacity to occur. Although some of the arguments seem valid, can one really make excuses for the slaughter of innocent people? The company that was responsible for the My Lai incident was the Charlie Company and throughout the company there were many different accounts of what happened that reprehensible day. Therefore there are a few contradictions about what had occurred, such as what the commanding officers exact instructions for the soldiers were. Even

Once Japanese troops had taken control of Nanjing, they began looking for anyone who might have been in the military. If they found anyone who even looked like they were in the military, the would execute them. The japanese also began creating games to kill people , they looted nanjing and raped several thousand women and children. In this situation, if china would have sent more troops to support and defend Nanjing, the massacre would have had a chance of never happening in the first place. Japanese soldiers appeared to be quite willing to be photographed with raised swords beside their intended victims, in the act of bayoneting their victims, and posing with their dead victims in the slaughter pits……...encirclement of the city would be complete by the early hours of 13 December. Across the lines, commander Tang Shengzhi did not order a retreat until 5:00 p.m. on the twelfth. Tang was the very first to flee, crossing the Yangzi at 6 p.m. Tens of thousands of his troops-- until then trapped in the city with orders to defend it at all costs-- fled in chaos as their command structure totally broke down.”

These emotions can lead to strong feelings about an enemy combatant and can cloud judgement. By teaching and allowing soldiers to mechanistically dehumanize the enemy combatants, it provides them with a way to do only what the mission requires and nothing more. Great atrocities are committed when personal feelings are allowed to rule of logical reasoning. Animalistic dehumanization occurs when a force succumbs to their stronger emotions. Humans cannot see each other as predators or vermin unless they let emotional bias control them.

The biological/nature side of the argument should not be ignored, although it is less of a factor than the lifestyle and culture people grow up in. The fight-or-flight response is a biological effect that happens under stress, where adrenaline is pumped up to either protect or escape from harm. This can cause aggressive behavior if the fight response is chosen. Another important facet is genetic/mental disabilities that can cause extreme aggression for no apparent reason, along with genetic predisposition for extra receptors in the body that cause anti-social behavior and moodiness, which can be a precursor