My Lai Massacre Summary

While writing "The Power of The Situation" Lee Ross and Richard E. Nisbett explains, there are no indicators on a persons reaction given a certain situation ( 149). Ross and Nisbett continue to say, a person 's past cannot determine how a human 's actions will take place in a future scenario, even if the human has a kind heart, they may not always be willing to help a person in need. Leading into this Ross and Nisbett state, " Social Psychology has by now amassed a vast store of such empirical parables" (Ross and Nisbett 149). Many people believe a past of a person will help them to identify or interpret how a person will act; However, Ross and Nisbett believe for this to be a fundamental attribution error (149). The power of a situation causes people to act in ways they may not have ever dreamed of, for instance The My Lai Massacre. "The My Lai Massacre: A military Crime of Obedience" written by, Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton consists of a small series of crimes committed by our own military ( Kelman and Hamilton 131). During the massacre military soldiers were humiliating and dehumanizing the enemies simply because their leading officer commanded them to do so (140-141). As their once simple actions became an everyday routine, the soldiers never questioned the unjust commands given by the authority (140). Dawson and Downey followed the orders given by their superior in command without a hesitation to stop and think whether or not the actions soon to be taken were

Following commands is a very important part of keeping order. Now imagine a row of blue clad Navy soldiers, carrying out drills in perfect unison, if just one person were to break orders and fail to correctly initiate their portion of the drill it makes every singular other soldier look bad, including themselves, thus creating an incentive to not break orders and not mess up no matter what the situation. Furthermore, should someone always follow orders? In the case of Downey and Dawson following an order ended up getting an innocent man killed. Milgram points out that “the ordinary person who shocked the victim did so out of a sense of obligation - an impression of his duties as a subject” (par 96). Dawson and Downey carried out the requested code red because they felt obligated. As a result, they were obligated to ignore their own personal morals and do the commands of another person. Another explanation is provided by MacDonald is “the mission in way—to get the job done—might at times cause a certain degree of sadism.” (par. 8) So, it seems that over time soldiers derive satisfaction from acting out violent orders and because of this and the combined effects of war, they seem to disregard other humans’ physical pain which in turn makes taking orders that much easier. This disregard for

In “The My Lai Massacre: A military Crime of Obedience,” Kelman and Hamilton, discuss what compels people to ignore morals in order to please authority. They explain the events that occurr during My Lai and provide evidence from the court cases that followed. The authors claim authorization, routinization, and dehumanization describe why My Lai transpired (Kelman and Hamilton 131-142). In the article,“The Perils of Obedience,” Stanley Milgram tests how far people go to follow authority. He sets up an experiment in which there is a teacher and a learner. The teacher is required to inflict shocks into the learner for every incorrect answer, the teacher was not aware that the learner was in fact an actor. He claims that the teachers did not stop the

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

Attacks stretched as far as the northern U.S. military installation, Chu Lai, down to the primary objective in the south, Saigon. The launch of such an intricate and fierce attack caught many U.S. commanders off guard because at the time, the potential of the Northern fighters was severely underestimated. In the years before, Saigon acted as a safe haven for many refugees trying to escape the horrors of war. The comfort of the city soon vanished when the North Vietnamese sent 35 battalions to seize six objectives in the capital. A few of these enemy fighters took over a government radio station with the intention of spreading pro-communist propaganda. The North Vietnamese believed that if they could control the transmitting tower, they could convince the citizens of the South to riot against the U.S. forces. Fortunately for the U.S. troops, this plan was stopped by a Lieutenant of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who previously decided to cut all transmission to and from the government radio tower. As the Viet Cong were waiting for reinforcements, ARVN troops

Harold Dawson and Pfc. Louden Downey follow the order of Lt. Jonathon Kendrick from Col. Jessup to perform a Code Red on Pfc. William Santiago. Kelman and Hamilton note that "in an authority situation, individuals characteristically feel obligated to obey the orders of authorities, whether or not they correspond with their personal preferences" (Kelman &Hamilton 139). Humans are more likely to follow the orders of a superior or one who appears to be a superior ("When Good People do Bad Things). Rod Powers would develop that by stating in his article "Military Orders" that "military discipline and effectiveness is built on the foundation of obedience to orders" as well as courts have held military members accountable for their actions even while following orders (Powers). Szegedy- Maszak writes that psychologist Herbert Kelman explains that one of the three traits that contribute to one harming another is authorization (Szegedy- Maszak). If this information is true then Col. Jessup would act however he pleased due to the fact that he was the highest ranking official at the Guantanamo Bay Base in Cuba; he had no one to follow or hold him accountable to the ethics of a marine. As an authority figure, no one questioned his authority; Jessup knew that they could not question his order to perform a Code Red. For instance how Rajeev Purohit explains in "Alternatives to Obeying Superior Orders; A Question for the International Superior Court" "the defense of superior orders is impermissible (Purohit). As well as in Milgram's experiment the professor in the room seated behind the teacher giving the prods to continue with the experiment, the superior or the one trusted was the one the teacher relied on (Milgram 79). As one might conclude, humans seem to pick on the weak in life; however, this fear can be taken to an extreme and may be the beginning of dehumanization as well as other harmful

Several historical events are depicted, or alluded to in Platoon and condensed to fit the narrative of the story. The village scene in Platoon is inspired by the My Lai Massacre played out a similar situation depicting the murder of innocent Vietnamese, the gang rape of females and having Lt Wolfe react like the actual Lt. Calley at the massacre “If you are asking why I did not stand up to them when I was given the orders”- William Calley (2009). Since Platoon only focuses on a few individual soldiers it causes it to portray the massacre as a few individuals doing illegal killings, and the rape of Vietnamese instead of the actual wide scale of the event that resulted in the death of over 300 Vietnamese and several gang rapes are all condensed

Many social factors contributed to the MY Lai Massacre. For one, when you are a soldier, you are taught to follow orders, whatever they may be. You are under threat and your only objective is to get the enemy. Many of the soldiers were volunteers and had little college level studies if any.

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.

On March 16, 1968 a terrible massacre occurred at My Lai, called The My Lai Massacre. The following massacre should have never happened and the event's that followed the massacre are typical of any American wrongdoing. That's why it wasn't in my US History book. They covered it up and the people involved in the massacre received no punishment except for one soldier.

The My Lai incident relates to the Afghanistan shooting as they both demonstrate acts of war crimes against innocent villagers. The My Lai incident took place in a Northern part of Southern Vietnam when Lt. Calley of the 11th Brigade Charlie company took part in acts of war crimes against innocent villagers. Lieutenant Calley was charged with killing a total of 104 villagers during the My Lai Massacre. In this incident the soldiers were very irritated with the booby traps and attacks against them that killed so many of their men. This frustration was taken out on the My Lai villagers by Lieutenant Calley as a way of revenge against the Viet Cong. Even though the reasoning behind his war crimes was out of frustration, the direct perpetrator,

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 with these contradictions

In the film “A Few Good Men” Jessup has authority over Kendrick who ordered Dawson and Downey to perform a Code Red on Santiago. Both marines are charged with murder. The question is how are they charged with murder both marines were doing just what they were told to? That is what one is supposed to do in the military follow orders and perform said orders, how are both charged with murder when they are told to do an order?

Soldiers are trained to always follow orders, and to never question orders. But that belief is somewhat illogical. Soldier's are to obey any lawful order given. But the training involved, the often chaotic nature of battle, and the need to follow authority to maintain survival can lead to a very blurred vision of what is right or wrong. One's animalistic instincts may take over. Sometimes there are such situations when you've stepped over the line. Such as the horrendous act that took place on March 16, 1968 in the village of Son My.

Kelman and Hamilton came up with something called ‘crimes of obedience’ to assess the relationship between crimes against humans and the state, suggesting that crimes are committed as they are not seen as a crime. They studied in My Lai in Vietnam, where a platoon of American soldiers killed 400 civilians.