lylai/group evil Flashcards
explain what happened at mylai
• March 16, 1968, elements of Task Force Baker moved into a small group of hamlets known as MyLai on the Quang Ngai province of South Vietnam, supposed to be standard search and destroy mission
• Some of the troops were not familiar with the Law of Land Warfare from the U.S army manual, which specifies that orders in violation of the Geneva Convention are illegal and not to be obeyed.
• Primary element of ground troops directly involved was C company
• When C company arrived, they found no combatants, just women, children and old men
• Most is unclear, however, what is clear that the troops of C Company killed at least somewhere between 500 or 600 of those unarmed villagers
• Most large scale killing occurred in MyLai 4 where Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr herded villagers into groups of 20 or 40 more and systematically killed them
• Killing took place well into the morning, only one helicopter piolet tried to stop what was going on to no avail, he tried to radio his superiors who seemed unconcerned
• Approx 50 soldiers pulled triggers however 200 directly witnessed the killings
• The failure to report the crime is itself a crime, no one attempted to report the atrocities that occurred
• The only way people found out was due to a letter that Ron Ridenhour wrote more than a year after to several congressmen
• Peck in 1972 was part of a group of therapists trying to uncover the psychological causes of MyLai
• The research purposed was rejected reportedly on the grounds that it could not be kept a secret and might prove embarrassing to the army
• Rejection proved is symbolic of several issues:
o First is that any research into the nature of evil is likely to prove embarrassing
o If we are to study human evil, it is hard to separate them from us and therefore it is embarrassing for those researching as well
o Second is considering the evil at MyLai, as in all our other considerations of evil, we suffer from simple lack of scientific knowledge
group evil analysis
• Group evil is in many ways similar but somewhat distinct from group individual evil
• Human groups behave much in the same way as human individuals, except at a level more primitive and immature
• The phenomenon of group immaturity is “overdetermined”, meaning there is multiple causes one of which is specialization
• Specialization allows a group to function with far greater efficiency than individuals, Peck believes that the majority of evil is related to specialization
• Specialization contributes to the immaturity of groups and their potential for evil and several different ways:
o One such way is the fragmentation of conscience
o Whenever the roles of individuals within a group become specialized, it becomes both possible and easy for the individual to pass the moral buck to some other part of the group
o Not only does the conscience of the individual forsaken, but also the conscience of the group is fragmented and diluted
• The cover up was a huge group lie, lying is one the symptoms and causes of evil
• The primary motive to lie was fear, those who pulled the triggers had fear to confess what they did
• The others who just saw what happened didn’t “squeal” out of group pressure
• Peck states that they did not confess their crimes because they weren’t aware they committed them
• In a situation of prolonged discomfort, we humans naturally tend to regress, our psychological growth reverses and our maturity is forsaken
• Humans regress under chronic stress, and a soldier’s life is chronic stress
• Another mechanism where human beings respond to stress is “psychic numbing”
• In situations where our emotional feelings are overwhelmingly painful, we have to capacity to anesthetize ourselves
• If we see one mangled body, we are horrified, if we see many every day multiple times we can tune it out as it becomes the norm
• Insensitive to our own suffering, we become insensitive to the suffering of others
• The truly good are those who in times of stress don’t lose sight of themselves
• Most people would rather be followers rather than leaders, it is simply much easier to be a follower than a leader
• It is said soldiers are not to speak but to obey orders, leaders in the military are not elected from within the group but are designated from above and cloaked in the symbols of authority
• A group of individual behave as a unit because of what is called group cohesiveness
• The most powerful of these group forces in narcissism, manifested in group pride
• A practically universal form of group narcissism is “enemy creation” or hatred of the “out-group”
• Those not part of the group is despised as inferior or evil or both
• The average American troop didn’t just despise the Viet Cong, but also all Vietnamese
• The best way to cement group cohesiveness is to ferment the group’s hatred for an external enemy
• This use of narcissism whether on purpose or not is potentially evil, evil individuals will flee self examination and guilt by blaming and attempting to destroy whatever or whoever highlights their deficiencies same happens in groups
• Failing group is one that will behave most evilly as failure means self examination and criticism
• Reflected in Task Force Baker who failed to kill and therefore were hungry for blood
• Task Force Baker was specialized group, to search a destroy Viet Cong, specialization is seldom accidental or random
• Three general principles regarding specialized groups:
o First, the specialized group inevitably develops a group character that is self reinforcing
o Second, specialized groups are therefore particularly prone to narcissism (think they are better than other groups)
o Third, the society at large, partly through the self-selection process, employ specific types of people to perform specific specialized roles
• Composition of Task Force Barker raises three significant issues:
o First: the question of flexibility that can be expected of specialized humans
o The group was a group of killers who were also seduced by the system to do so
o If we train them to kill and give them weapons, can we expect them not to kill
o Second: the subtle but definite scapegoating involved
o When society pushed people into the army that were sometimes criminals, they wee not attempting to deal with the human, social problem he presented but rather get rid of it
o The decision to kill wasn’t the decision of anyone involved in the military, it was America’s, therefore making the “criminals” all scapegoats as they were doing America’s killing for them
o Third: the public did not begin to assume responsibility for the war until we ran out of specialists
o It is not only possible, but easy and even natural for a large group to commit evil without emotional involvement simply by turning loose its specialists
o As a people, we should not toy toy with the means of mass destruction without the means of mass destruction without being willing to personally bear the responsibility of wielding them
o Evil arises in the refusal to acknowledge our own sins
prevention of group evil
- The situation in which MyLai took place was evil to begin with
- Unless we can heal ourselves through submission, the forces of death will win the day
- The solution to group evil is eradicating laziness and narcissism
- Must target individuals to effect the group, specifically the group leaders
- The “group mind” is determined by the mind of the individuals
- Children will learn that it is natural to submit to the group leader to the point of submitting ethical judgement and this should be ignored
