ese farmer who defends a dying cow with a pitchfork. In order to confront the events of My Lai, we must report the happenings very accurately. We must learn from out mistakes, not repeat them (Armstrong)In regard to the battle of communism and capitalism during the 50s and 60s, a Vietnamese native said, "The French respected out traditions," (Armstrong 132). The war destroyed their traditions almost completely. My Lai came to symbolize the brutality of a war waged by an advanced technological power against a largely agricultural people. Professor Morgenthau uses the analogy of, "What has been sane becomes psychotic, and what has been psychotic becomes sane," (Armstrong 110).Armstrong is convinced that the leaders of the world are bound and confused by the communist depravity (Armstrong 105). Meaning, its hard for them to change their old ways. Hard to have to admit that they were wrong and be a hypocrite. Armstrong also feels that to diffuse the rage of seeing their friends killed in Vietnam, the GIs felt the need to find an enemy who would stand still and take the beating, such as women, old men, and even babies (Armstrong 106). The troops held racism against the Vietnamese in the general category of Oriental, that they were inferior and not used to a civilized government. The American troops were caught in an Asian revolution and are confused by their inability to distinguish the enemy from the people (Armstrong 105). Another theory is that the anger of the troops at those friends not fighting turns into racist perceptions of the Vietnamese as non people, inanimate objects that are expendable. This is also due to our (US) governments compensation for our "blindness", which conveys to the GI that Vietnamese are a dime a dozen. Not until we realize and firmly establish the motive behind the killings can we be sure that a similar event will not happen.All of these things are horrable and most injust. Its hard to believe t...
