The Fog in Pratical Ethics

This film put a serious test to my assertions that dirty hands are not inherent. To explain my reasoning of where I stand, I will analyze Thompson's, "Many Hands" article in light of Robert McNamara.

McNamara used LBJ to justify his actions repeatedly, which falls perfectly into place of the Hierarchical Model. "I was simply doing my job." Thompson rejects this argument, with the position that JFK took public responsibility for the "Bay of Pigs" blunder, yet privately blamed the C.I.A. I have my squirms with the film that they did not go into that subject further. Yes, McNamara took the job under Kennedy and wanted to perform his best, but that should not vindicate responsibility from someone if immoral acts are committed.

Collective responsibility doesn't work for McNamara either. Thomson uses the example of a mining disaster to explain this. Everyone cannot be held accountable for a mine exploding. It limits democracy, for example, McNamara is held responsible for agent orange in Vietnam, as are everyone involved in the war. Where is the democratic accountability. I think certain individuals get a free ticket in the Collective Model.

Personal Responsibility is where I think the Thomson is right with McNamara. McNamara implies that he resisted LBJ and if someone else were in his position, the war would have been much worse, while at the same time subconsciously taking some responsibility. I think McNamara cannot escape the excuse from a null case. He knows that he himself probably could have done more. I was also struck by his lack of volitional responsibility when he met with his Vietnamese counterpart and learned that he really was ignorant about why Vietnam was fighting back. We don't go to war without full information people!!!

These are not perfect rules and Thomson acknowledges that. Although, The Fog of War fits somewhat easily into these categories. Might we be missing one? How about the complexity of many hands, assuming this does not merge too much with collective responsibility. McNamara repeatedly made observations that it was just too hard or complex to answer some of the tough questions. So is there a way we might catalog lack of responsibility in complex situations, such as wars?