I would also like to note I can also understand his 'lessons' a bit more thoroughly after having looked through concepts like proportionality outside of the movie. The man seems incredibly intelligent, and I have been more persuaded to think that McNamara [and collegaues] probably did about everything they could in the interest of preserving American lives. I still wonder if there was a better way in the interest of the preservation of Japanese lives (in fact, I am CONVINCED there must have been a better way after reviewing the massive-scale destruction of civilian targets). This is a case where the ends may have justified some of the means, at least to an extent. Japan isn't very big... couldn't we have just found more military targets?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Fog of War Pre-write
So, I commented in my last post that I was interested to watch the movie from a different perspective and it has definitely been a bit enlightening. I think I actually empathized better with McNamara's choices, after having to have thought through many more things on my own. I understand that we wanted to win the war, and still find wars unethical as a whole, but it is much easier to understand the reasoning behind the people who made those decisions once I fully comprehend their moral conflict.
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I completely agree with the fact of empathizing with McNamara on some issues, however, I feel it is still important to keep in mind the basic concept of dirty hands. I may empathize and even understand some of the decision he made during time in power but that does not me he is absolved for any responsibility. He still has dirty hands but to what degree can be debated. A really good point was brought up in class today about what happens after the guilt has been placed. I feel as American we are too easily satisfied with dealing out guilt but no real punishment at least when it comes to our political leaders. I feel this corresponds with article about "Many Hands" and having the leader take the blame but with no real consequences.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I certainly feel that McNamara’s hands are dirty, and that they are not the only ones, I do have great empathy for him. As I mentioned in class discussion, his “rules,” which aren’t actually his own, mostly seem to be quite cold and calculating. When speaking about the loss of human lives, rules such as “maximize efficiency” and “get the data” seem to be inhumane. The rules chosen by the documentary’s producers, though, contrast sharply with the very human McNamara. The bonus feature we viewed, which outlines McNamara’s actual ten rules helped to resolve the disparity between the man and his supposed tenets. Number Six especially, Corporate executives must recognize there is no contradiction between a soft heart and a hard head” helped me understand Robert McNamara. Though he was first a businessman with a profit-driven mind, he also had a “soft heart,” expressing grief over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the mistakes he me in the Vietnam War. Only by reading his rules in his own words was I able to fully empathize with the man, and come to realize that though he has dirty hands, like Hanna said today, “we all make mistakes.”
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