Do You Remember My Lai?

Since my typical readers are under age 35, I assume the answer to the question is negative unless you happen to be a Vietnam buff. Are there such people under the age of 35? Seymour Hersh published the story of the My Lai massacre in Harper’s, 1970. At least 109 civilians were killed by an American soldier, Bill Calley. That number may be smaller than the actual number killed. And a lot more soldiers were probably involved.

So why am I bringing this up now? 

For one thing, Ernest L. Medina, the Army captain who was accused of overall responsibility for the March 1968 mass killings of unarmed South Vietnamese men, women and children by troops he commanded in what became known as the My Lai massacre, but was acquitted at a court-martial, died on Tuesday in Peshtigo, Wis. He was 81. And second, the latest issue of Harper’s Magazine (June 2018) has Hersh writing again on how he untangled the riddle of My Lai. His latest article is a fascinating story of governmental cover up. What I find useful in his memoir is the simple recognition that cover up is the nature of the government beast. And sometimes a lot of us have skin in that game.

In other words, reality always includes deception, lying and avoidance. I am not a cynic, nor am I especially pessimistic. I hold to what I think of as a “sanctified nonchalance.” In spite of the fact that I’m occasionally deceptive I essentially accept Martin Luther King’s belief that the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. These kinds of commitments are essentially matters of faith. But a lot of the important issues in life are matters of faith.

Like Michael Walzer, I believe that all governments, all political parties, and all politicians keep secrets and tell lies. Some lie more than others. The differences are important, but it’s a general practice. Some lies and secrets may be justified, some not. Ummm, I’m still describing my sense of reality. I think it’s important to do that once in a while. All the research in rhetoric tells us that when we state our beliefs out loud, we believe them more strongly as a result. In other words, the influencer influences himself.

Hersh felt a certain moral uneasiness  toward William Calley’s role as the fall guy when so many others were also involved.

Calley is really no more at fault than anyone else there: he shouldn’t have been an officer, he shouldn’t have been sent to fight a war he could not comprehend, he shouldn’t have known the body count as the only standard of success, and he shouldn’t be on trial any more than the higher-ranking officers who did nothing about the slaughter afterwards, thus inducing that many more killings. Perhaps there is even less reason to try Calley than the top brass at the Pentagon, or maybe an American president or two, or three. Perhaps you and me should be on trial for not doing more to stop the war.

This blog does not resolve itself. You resolve it. Occasionally that’s important.