A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
1–10 of 107 posts
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#2Most people would find it easier to just go along or look the other way.
These guys were true war heroes and had courage under fire. They should be held up as examples what soldiers should be.
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#3Most people would find it easier to just go along or look the other way. These guys were true war heroes and had courage under fire. They should be held up as examples what soldiers should be.
They are held as examples at plenty of US military officer training programs, thankfully. I learned about this incident and Hugh Thompson at the USNA, where they drilled into our heads that morals, ethics, and the laws of war are absolute and it's the officer corps job to ensure they are followed to the T. I always took that to heart. Unfortunately, as in the civilian world, there are crappy people in the officer corps that don't care much (the American GIs that Mr. Thompson was up against that day, for example).
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#4He wasn't "forgotten", he was energetically smeared and condemned by the most right-wing, racist and nationalist elements of the government, media and US population; and all of the people who committed the massacre were acquitted but one, and that one was ordered released from jail by the POTUS during trial with his life sentence ultimately commuted to 3 1/2 years of house arrest.
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#5Most people would find it easier to just go along or look the other way. These guys were true war heroes and had courage under fire. They should be held up as examples what soldiers should be.
That’s scary, we all like to judge others’ actions in order to feel morally superior, but what percentage of people would actually do something when they see their peers, friends, colleagues and superiors doing bad stuff? It’ll be always easier to go along and just fool yourself and say “I’m just following orders”
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#6He wasn't "forgotten", he was energetically smeared and condemned by the most right-wing, racist and nationalist elements of the government, media and US population; and all of the people who committed the massacre were acquitted but one, and that one was ordered released from jail by the POTUS during trial with his life sentence ultimately commuted to 3 1/2 years of house arrest.
It's easier to think he was forgotten, than that he was hated and attacked by his own government and country.
If the latter is true, well - introspection is hard, and this is getting uncomfortable, so I guess I'll go check Twitter.
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#7Most people would find it easier to just go along or look the other way. These guys were true war heroes and had courage under fire. They should be held up as examples what soldiers should be.
That’s scary, we all like to judge others’ actions in order to feel morally superior, but what percentage of people would actually do something when they see their peers, friends, colleagues and superiors doing bad stuff? It’ll be always easier to go along and just fool yourself and say “I’m just following orders”
We don't have to speculate as to what percentage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s scary, we all like to judge others’ actions in order to feel morally superior, but what percentage of people would actually do something when they see their peers, friends, colleagues and superiors doing bad stuff? It’ll be always easier to go along and just fool yourself and say “I’m just following orders”
We don't have to speculate as to what percentage: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
[deleted]
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#9High point: Thompson told the American troops that, if they opened fire on the Vietnamese civilians in the bunker, he and his crew would open fire on them.
Talk about courage.
Low point: He concluded — after a decade of research in Pentagon archives and more than 100 interviews with American veterans and Vietnamese survivors — that Americans killing civilians in Vietnam was “pervasive and systematic.” One soldier told him there had been "a My Lai a month."
Courage seems far too scarce a commodity.
Re: A forgotten hero stopped the My Lai massacre 50 years ago
#10>Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our awa
I'm in Mexico :/