Following orders unquestionably is one of the traits that the military wants their soldier to have; this quality, however, has caused controversy throughout time. Rob Reiner captures this struggle in his film A Few Good Men. In this film, two men, Lance Corporal Dawson and Private First Class Downey are charged with the murder of fellow Marine, Private First Class Santiago. Dawson and Downey claim that they did not commit a crime but rather, were following orders to perform a “Code Red”. A “Code Red” is defined as a disciplinary action performed inside the Marines by Marines. Stanley Milgram’s article, “The Perils of Obedience” delves into the issue of obedience. His experiment consisted of subjects being told to electrocute other people by an authority figure and observing what occurred. Another article “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience” by Herbert Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton discusses soldiers who follow orders unconditionally. Kelman and Hamilton discuss the case of soldier, Lieutenant Calley with his court case concerning the massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War. Questions are raised constantly about why someone would follow orders that are against his own morals.
Many people believe one of the leading factors for someone obeying unethical orders is the one issuing the order. In A Few Good Men Dawson and Downey obey an order to harm another marine knowing that it is wrong and they will not enjoy it. Downey states that the code red was ordered by a higher ranking officer and thus should be followed to the letter (Reiner). Kelman and Hamilton would see him following a superior order that was issued by an authoritative officer (Kelman 271). However, Milgram would say that Dawson and Downey’s obedience to ...
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...e discharge. Soldiers find themselves in a no win situation with no where to run.
Works Cited
A Few Good Men. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. Columbia Pictures, 1992. Film.
Cialdini. Authority Principle. 2011. Web. 6 November 2011.
Kelman, Herbert and Hamilton, V. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Leahey, Thomas and Farris, Christine. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009.266-278. Print
Maine, Tim, Jon Brachle and Art Arago. "Ethics and the Advancement of Miliary Technology." n.d. Ethicapublishing. 7 November 2011. Print.
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience”. Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Leahey, Thomas and Farris, Christine. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. Print
Powers, Rod. Military Orders. 2011. Web. 7 November 2011.
When looking at the Special Operations (SO) Imperatives, one can gain an understanding of how to change their way of looking at problems that they are faced with in any scenario. By applying these imperatives, Special Forces Soldiers can set the conditions to succeed in any situation that they find themselves in. When reading The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick, there are several examples of the correct application and the lack of application of the imperatives throughout the book. Taking a look at the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) linking up with John Colvin during the war, Father Finian and how he operated with and through others, and how Louis Krupitzyn and his wife understood their operational environment and Colonel Hillendale also mastered this skill and was the right man for the job. I will explain how the SO imperatives were applied correctly. Joe Bing and his inability to recognize the political implications while in Setkya and Tom Knox’s return trip from Cambodia serve as great examples of how the imperatives need to be applied correctly.
Laws exist to protect life and property; however, they are only as effective as the forces that uphold them. War is a void that exists beyond the grasps of any law enforcing agency and It exemplifies humankind's most desperate situation. It is an ethical wilderness exempt from civilized practices. In all respects, war is a primitive extension of man. Caputo describes the ethical wilderness of Vietnam as a place "lacking restraints, sanctioned to kill, confronted by a hostile country and a relentless enemy, we sank into a brutish state." Without boundaries, there is only a biological moral c...
Comparative Analysis The power of blind obedience taints individuals’ ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong in terms of obedience, or disobedience, to an unjust superior. In the article “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,” Marianne Szegedy-Maszak discusses the unwarranted murder of innocent individuals due to vague orders that did not survive with certainty. Szegedy-Maszak utilizes the tactics of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization, respectively, to attempt to justify the soldiers’ heinous actions (Szegedy-Maszak 76-77). In addition, “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” by Theodore Dalrymple distinguishes between blind disobedience and blind obedience to authority and stating that neither is superior;
Parker, Ian. “Obedience.” Writing and Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New Jersey: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 230-240. Print.
Fromm explains that humans obey orders because of “fear, hate, and greed”, which, in the end, harms humanity (Fromm 125). Agreeing with this idea, Zimbardo states that “self-aggrandizement” is accomplished by “self-deprecation” of others (Zimbardo 109). Christopher Shea’s experiment also backs up the claim that people act for themselves. Shea would concur with Fromm that humans behave greedily (Shea). In contrast, Shea would not believe that people behave to put others down, which is Zimbardo’s beliefs (Shea). Jessup wished to express his authority by giving orders and allowing himself to advance even higher. Jessup harmed Santiago to advance personally; in addition, Dawson and Downey obeyed orders to gain approval from Jessup. Fromm may argue that Dawson and Downey followed commands due to fear. Zimbardo would believe that they thought completing the order was the correct action to be taken. The article “Human Obedience: The Myth of Blind Conformity” also connects with Zimbardo’s viewpoint. The article explains why people become passive and eventually deem their actions as correct (Human Obedience: The Myth of Blind Conformity). Zimbardo would not consider humans to be passive just blind to the truth. “Human Obedience: The Myth of Blind Conformity” would reply that individuals need to rely on their mind and not listen to commands. Both authors believe the marines’ actions
The incident is described by social psychologist Herbert C. Kelman and sociologist V. Lee Hamilton in the article “The My Lai Massacre: a Crime of Obedience.” Lt. William Calley, charged with 102 killings, claims to have followed orders from his superiors, only accomplishing his duty, which is also a theme throughout the movie, A Few Good Men. After presented with a request from William Santiago, a marine on his base, to be transferred, Jessup refuses. The film depicts, through Colonel Jessup's authority, the refusal to obey a reasonable request as well as the pride one possesses when fulfilling his duty and baring superiority.
This experiment is a test to see if people are naturally aggressive. Milgram does not believe that people are naturally aggressive. Although some people think people are naturally aggressive. Ordinary people can be part of a bad course of actions without having any anger toward then victim.
Parties to a conflict and members of their armed forces do not have an unlimited choice of methods and means of w...
Davenport’s various violations of the Code need to be considered from another point of view as an example of responsible disobedience. As Dr. Davenport and Antwone are both members of the military, there is a certain camaraderie experienced between them that the general public does not experience. Taking this into consideration, Dr. Davenport may be expressing responsible disobedience as he violates various standards in the Code in an attempt to respect the intricacies of the military culture (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2007). Because the military is a culture of its own, it is difficult to say whether any or all of the situations that resulted in an ethical violation were justified. It is easy to say that Dr. Davenport violated principle ethics during his work with Antwone but virtue ethics may support Dr. Davenport as he interpreted the standards in the context of the military culture (Cottone & Tarvydas, 2007).
More specifically, the movie A Few Good Men depicts the results of blindly obeying orders. Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist, also explores obedience to authority in his essay “ The Perils of Obedience”. On the other hand, Erich Fromm, a psychoanalyst and philosopher, focused on disobedience to authority in his essay “ Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem.” Milgram wrote about how people were shockingly obedient to authority when they thought they were harming someone else while Fromm dissected both: why people are so prone to obey and how disobedience from authoritative figures can bring beneficial changes for society. Obeying commands, even when they go against our morals, is human nature; Disobeying commands, however, is challenging to do no matter what the situation is.
...nd innocent villagers of My Lai, it was a time when American’s questioned their own as being “bad guys” or “good guys”. Were America’s tortuous and cruel acts to be considered patriotic or dishonorable? Some Americans, with bitter feelings for all the American lives lost in the Vietnam War, gave credit to Lieutenant Calley for leading troops in participating in such an atrocious event. History shows that there is still much debate on some facts of the massacre and many stories and opinions, although we will never know the facts exactly, what we do know is that America will never forget this tragic event, it will be talked about in American History for many years to come, and the Vietminh hearts will always fill with sadness when they think of the many lives that were lost on that tragic day in history, their minds will always have unspeakable memories of that day.
Individuals often yield to conformity when they are forced to discard their individual freedom in order to benefit the larger group. Despite the fact that it is important to obey the authority, obeying the authority can sometimes be hazardous especially when morals and autonomous thought are suppressed to an extent that the other person is harmed. Obedience usually involves doing what a rule or a person tells you to but negative consequences can result from displaying obedience to authority for example; the people who obeyed the orders of Adolph Hitler ended up killing innocent people during the Holocaust. In the same way, Stanley Milgram noted in his article ‘Perils of Obedience’ of how individuals obeyed authority and neglected their conscience reflecting how this can be destructive in experiences of real life. On the contrary, Diana Baumrind pointed out in her article ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that the experiments were not valid hence useless.
In the film “ A Few Good Men” the rule of law and fundamental justice were not followed by Lance Cpl. Harold and Pfc. Louden Downey. The rule of law was disobeyed as soon as Cpl. Lance and Pfc. Louden acted above the law. They committed a criminal offence and disregarded Pvt. Santiago's rights. Although, the orders were given by superior officer, Col. Nathan Joseph, the fact of the matter still remains the same, a crime was committed . Pvt. Santiago’s rights were not taken into consideration, which inevitably lead to his death. Although Cpl. Lance and Pfc. Louden clearly disregarded the rules of law and acted above the law, procedural justice was still exercised. Both Cpl. Lance and Pfc. Louden were given rights to a fair trial and the
Turse argues that what happened at My Lai was not a one occurring event but one event in a series of event that took place in Vietnam. In his monograph, he talks about the massacre at Trieu
The human mind is always changing. It has been known that change is inevitable, but what if there was something forcing this change? Society’s struggles are becoming more challenging, forcing the human mind to focus on one thing: obedience. Obedience merges a group together, all believing in or participating in one idea. This is very evident as the soldiers in A Few Good Men all have the same agenda to follow orders, regardless of what that order may be-that is their code. However, this obedience prohibits individuals to participate in their own unique actions and thoughts. If people can’t think for themselves, then the obedience to the higher power is what drives human minds to change in a similar way. As today’s terrorist attacks and wars