Lieutenant Calley Essay Example for Free

Lieutenant Calley Essay There is a big difference between known facts and the reality especially when it comes to military matters. There is a definite chain of command in place and in most cases soldiers do not do their own bidding but have to obey orders from above. The case of Lieutenant William Calley in the My Lai Massacre is one of the cases that expose the kind of leadership that we have in our military which comes at the backdrop of many public outcry against such cowboy actions. To many civilians, this is seen as a frame where someone has to take the fall and this person is usually down in the chain of command. The interesting thing is that in these cases, there is no evidences to prove who actually gives command for execution of orders that are detrimental to human rights. Lieutenant Calley was an average person in education and military service and therefore there was nothing extra ordinary about him. Many of the fellow soldiers in his troop seemed to distance themselves from him since the media had found a perfect example to portray what was happening in Vietnam (Collins Williams, 2000). What he did was ethically and morally wrong but he alleges that a command had come from above and he was simply following orders from above (Allyne 2000). His character here comes out as someone who follows orders and is obedient although we cannot rule out the opposite. The in Vietnam was very unpopular and not many people supported it and looking at issue from sides, the case and evidence was going against the lieutenant. Soldiers are known to be people of high integrity and who regard morality highly and therefore there must have been other compelling external factors that caused him to call for the massacre. Family and friends had a different opinion on his character and mental sanity. They regarded him as an average boy who was incapable of committing the atrocities in Vietnam. Looking at his background, there was a lot that was happening and some of it might be evidence enough to suggest that it clouded and interfered with his actions. Calley’s parents were not doing well health wise with both of them suffering from diseases that are associated with old ages. diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer and his father suffered from health complications due to diabetes. Human psychology is very complex and the way people react to situations differently and the happenings at home might have led to mental instability. The environment in the war front exerts a lot of pressure on soldiers and added pressure from home or other external source is enough to reduce the credence of anyone in a position of leadership. Members of the public with knowledge of the case continue to have a negative a view of Lt. William Calley considering his role in My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The public’s feeling toward Lt. Calley is further influenced by the media coverage of his case since 1970s, especially considering that prosecution of the case was accusing of acting on the influence of senior decision makers in the military. The increase in the amount of information available to the public is aiding in the shift of public perception in favor of Calley. Indeed, the American people are coming to the understanding that yes, Calley was deeply involved in My Lai massacre, but he was not alone; those at their higher levels of the military’s decision making brogans who were never prosecuted. Despite the increase in the information available to the public, Calley is still regarded as a blood stained master minder of the massacre. This perception will only change if Calley himself tells the public of the My Lai story. As for the prosecutor, Lt. Calley was simply guilty. To critics, this form of incriminating stance was adopted by the prosecutor, based on the accounts which were issued to him by the Senior Army Personnel who were in control at the moment. To this effect, that Lt. Calley ordered the massacre in M y Lai is taken as the premise of the case, rather than the need to examine the chain of command under which Lt. Calley was acting and issuing orders. Many of soldiers that were in war at the time in Vietnam concur that the case of the massacre was not an isolated case but may have been one of the many happenings that are alleged to have taken place around that time. The situation on ground in a war zone is usually different from an ideal situation and therefore civilians are the worse people to judge military personnel. The happenings back at home might have interfered with his thinking which supports that he was acting on his own and not orders from above. It is therefore not easy to determine the basis upon which he used to instigate the massacre. References Allyne, W. (2002). A Look at the Vietnam Court Cases New York: McGraw Hill. Collins, P. and William, A. (2000). Lt. Calley’s Court Cases. New York: Prentice Hall. Trevino, Linda Nelson, K. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (4e). New York: Wiley and Sons.

The Identities of Joseph and Esther from the Old Testament Essay

The Identities of Joseph and Esther from the Old Testament The Bible is full of common themes, yet there one prominent underlying thread that runs constant throughout is that in order to be influential, people are placed in positions where they are able to assimilate to the common culture, but are still set apart from other ordinary people. Assimilation is defined as the process where a group adopts the customs of the prevailing culture, whereas consecration refers to someone who is set apart as sacred. Due to the apparently conflicting definitions, it seems as though the two cannot coexist with one another. In fact, they even appear to be paradoxical, however, both ingredients are necessary in order for people to influence the lives of many more. Conformity in culture and divine consecration are in reality exclusively dependent on each other for a person to be influential and this is displayed by two prime examples of the Old Testament: Joseph and Esther. After Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt and is introduced to its culture, he loses his Jewish identity and becomes completely transformed from a measly shepherd boy to an Egyptian official. When Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream, the Pharaoh is pleased with him and Joseph is given a new name: â€Å"Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, as his wife. Thus Joseph gained authority over the land of Egypt† (Genesis 41.45). The fact that he is given a new forename has much significance because it implies his life’s specific calling. The people are given new names in the Bible because in this way, God reveals his intended purpose for their lives. Prior to the story of Joseph, this same alteration of nam... ...s, Esther’s destiny is disclosed by the words of her relative. The unique identity that both Joseph and Esther have is that they live amongst society, yet are not of it due to their given destiny. There were living contradictions that God chooses to use in a significant way. This principle that they lived out is so important, that it is even echoed in the New Testament with the teachings of Jesus. Centuries following the life of Joseph and Esther, this principle continues to resonate as Jesus commands: â€Å"Do not be conformed to this world†¦ (Romans 12:2). You do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world† (John 15.19). Demonstrating these commands in their lives, it is unmistakable that Joseph and Esther would not have been the influential people that they became, if they had failed to possess either of the two qualities mentioned.

Functionalism

Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a certain type depends on the way it functions, or the role it plays and not on its internal structure. Simply put, functionalism gives utmost importance to the function or role a mental state plays. They also give prime importance to causal relations because according to the follower of this doctrine any form of mental state is â€Å"†¦determined by its causal relations to sensory stimulations, other mental states and behaviors.† (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries). Let me take â€Å"pain† as an example. For the functionalist, pain is a mental state which arose because of a damage of some kind or because something is wrong with the body. For them, the only beings that could possibly experience pain are those who qualified to meet the condition stated above. However, the functionalists did not claim that there are only limited states of affair on which pain can be experienced. For them, various creatures may experience pain through different kinds of physical or mental states and thus the term multiple realizations came into context. Having defined what functionalism is, let me now move on to another important aspect of this paper-dualism. Dualism came from the Latin word dualis which means two. It is the belief that in everything in this world two important concept, which usually oppose each other exist. Just as there is a night then there must be a day. When there is good, there is evil. Such is the basis on which dualism is grounded.   In the philosophy of mind dualism aims to show the great difference there is between mind and matter. There are many differing points of view between the dualists themselves but they stood on the common ground that mind and matter are indeed distinct objects. According to the dualistic point of view where mind is made up of non-physical substance, our body is made-up of physical ones commonly known as matter. The mind and body dualism can be deduced as substance dualism which argues that mind and body are made-up of entirely distinct substances, and by property dualism which asserts that the mind and body may not be made-up of distinct substances but still, they are distinct and thus we cannot reduce one from the other. Now, how does functionalism differ from dualism? Functionalism is different from dualism because functionalism does not adhere to the idea of interactionism unlike that of dualism. Most believer of substance dualism argues for the sake of interactionism or the belief that mind and body, though distinct from each other, are still capable of causally affecting each other. Believers of the identity theory believe that there are at least some kinds of mental states which are completely identical to those of brain states. One known proponent of this theory is David Armstrong who proposed that â€Å"all mental states are identical with physical states†. This theory argues that the mind is indistinguishable from the brain. Due to their approach and beliefs regarding the mind they received numerous objections among which include the argument from multiple realizability. Believers of multiple realizability argues that mental events differ considerably from one organism to another and thus the idea that certain mental events are the same most of the timeis kind of preposterous. Thus functionalism and identity theory is very different from each other. Functionalism is considered to be more superior to other theories of mind such as dualism and the identity theory. Now, what brought about this superiority? Functionalism argues that everything is physical. The functionalists, unlike the other theories of the mind can do away without knowing how the brain came about its consciousness. The functionalists are satisfied to simply say that the function of our brain is to be conscious or consciousness. They do not put great effort in discovering what causes the consciousness of our brain which made them superior from the other mind theory. Another advantage functionalism may have over the other theories is its ability to equate conscious states with the functions of our brain, thus functionalism allows examination of our conscious states which plagues other theories. I said that it plagues other theories because they give too much privacy to matters of mind, believing that mind is a private matter and thus cannot be compared to other minds (such as the problem in Cartesian dualism). Functionalism, on the other hand faces no such problems because they give way to analyzing other minds or other experiences. The ability to test things empirically offered by functionalism shows its edge against dualism and the identity theory of the mind. Another advantage functionalism has over dualism and the identity theory of the mind is that the theory of functionalism offers understanding of the mind. However, no matter how great functionalism may be as compared to other mind theories it still has its drawbacks. It does not entirely solve the problems of the mind. Functionalism does not give us a clear explanation of the obvious distinction of the physical and conscious states. Besides, another objection arose from their claim that we can really differentiate one mind from the other. Surely, no one can fully understand how other minds work. Besides different people experiences things differently no matter how alike their experience may seem. For example, I may feel deep depression upon losing a pet but then I cannot really say that the depression Anne felt when she lost her dog is the same as mine, now could I? Thus, no matter how more advantageous functionalism may be over dualism and the identity theory it is still not wise to go on believing functionalism as a whole. One must still see the pros and cons of certain thoughts or theories. REFERENCES: â€Å"Assess functionalism† â€Å"Dualism and Mind† â€Å"Identity Theory† http://www.utm.edu â€Å"Functionalism† http://plato.stanford.edu/entries   

Parallel Activities Of Project Management - 1154 Words

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