In the middle of Baghdad, during a war in 2007, something happened that went against what it meant to be loyal and serve with honor within the US military. The video; Collateral Murder? which was reached after Apache Helicopter gunships decimated a group of complicit men, armed with (suspected) AK47s and suspected to have fired into the air. As tempers flared, the gunner’s finger hovered on that trigger-ready to unleash havoc at the sign of some perceived threat. Below, a silhouette of a man holding an object turned out to be the centerpiece in a split-second decision that would change many lives. The command was iterated, and the cracking of gunfire broke the uneasy silence with casualties falling dead. In the wreckage and smoke, Chelsea Manning emerges from behind as either an Anti-Hero of truth or a reviled Traitor to a nation. Consequentialism sheds an uncompromising spotlight on Manning’s actions, and this is a way of rethinking her ordeal in the context of one pressing moral question – how much should humans owe to each other? In this case, Vanderkerckhove’s words on loyalty being a mutual process speak volumes. Manning’s choice to unveil the brutality of war questions the standard notion of loyalty that citizens should hold for their government. The consequences of her whistleblowing echo across borders upending the scales of consequentialism, igniting a cauldron of suffering and animus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes down to a belief in the greater good that Manning cannot shake, which resonates within her utilitarian philosophy. She brings attention to those uncomfortable realities that tend to be swept under the rug of patriotism. Vanderkerckhove calls her approach \u201crational loyalty\u201d \u2014 which involves serious reflection about whether someone\u2019s behavior aligns with their nominal priorities, in this instance the mission of the U.S. Government. The repercussions of Manning\u2019s decisions extend much further than just a few extra seconds of video \u2014 a shockingly brief segment, at that \u2014 and accusations directed at death incarnate who will never see the horror of war and thus be forced to face the music for their actions. It touches on core issues of loyalty and ethics as an ever-tricky balancing act while also addressing employee morality and whistleblowing in ways that feel, at least somewhat, like reaching. Yet, in all the muddling of what ought to be learned from or forgotten.JSee also, light can break through even the gravest of circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And another thing: The Ethics Of A Whistleblower When you think of loyalty \u2014 particularly in relation to the military \u2014 it is bound up with duty. And it all starts with the infamous Wikileaks video \u201cCollateral Murder\u201d which graphically displays U.S. Apache helicopter attacks that appear to treat suspected threats as mere statistics under what seemed like utilitarian mission guidelines designed to support ground troops. Young isn\u2019t defending collateral damage, and he recognizes that the mission was clearly aimed at protecting American forces and preventing future threats; but innocent civilian deaths are infinitely more difficult to ignore. And when we\u2019re at war, it\u2019s simple for the boundary between self-preservation and caring about lives that aren\u2019t like ours \u2014 foreign civilian lives, for example \u2014 to become blurred. For Manning now, it\u2019s a tension of blood and country versus human empathy, the war revealing a struggle within him that couldn\u2019t be contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Utilitarianism<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of the many ways to look at ethics, utilitarianism really seeks to get what\u2019s best for all. It raises some difficult questions, such as whether it\u2019s permissible to eliminate potential threats even at the risk of endangering civilians. This is based on the principle of doing no harm, trying to prevent the damage of all-out war and destruction.” But there is a more conflicting principle, loyalty, that often does not support whistle-blowing. Manning muddy the waters around the usual link between personal morality and the functioning of our institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just as Oxley Wittkower’s excavation into ethics drills into these complications, noting that our relationships have a huge bearing on what can be considered moral \u2014 only to toss all this back up in the air by questioning the very premises of moral accountability. And when one person takes action, motivated by a quest for justice, and attempts to unearth discomforting truths, it certainly holds a mirror up to the simmering schism between loyalty and respect in situations that, at first glance, seem entirely distinct. Those attempting to do good for their communities often run afoul of broader ethical standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the traditional sense, Manning was a traitor \u2014 but by exposing the deep ethical conflicts that arise as soldiers adjust to life in combat zones, she compelled people to reexamine where their true allegiances lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole thing involving Manning’s “Collateral Murder” video really steps beyond legal matters and reaches some prickly ethical questions that frequently arise during war. As we work to un-grapple the tangled mess of loyalty versus justice, we\u2019re confronted with some unpleasant truths about how our sense of duty runs afoul of idealism and what\u2019s really right. The true baptism of fire will happen when loyalty corners you to either demonstrate unconditional fidelity or jeopardize blood with the reality of candidness. Manning\u2019s case gives an example of the difficult decisions that people face when grappling with competing loyalties, moral imperatives, and some very difficult choices in our contemporary society. What Manning had done was bond us to those people \u2014 through his actions we felt almost protective of the Iraqi citizens on the video \u2014 that led to a maelstrom of debate about what it means to be \u201cloyal,\u201d after all, when your duties come into conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Loyalty is not as simple as it looks. This isn\u2019t just about fulfilling obligations or patriotism. Real loyalty, claim Oxley and Wittkower, exists when someone has a deep personal or institutional conviction that they genuinely consider to be just, and do not expect to receive anything in return for that \u2014 that is, whether someone chooses to act out of genuine free will, rather than obligation. Manning could’ve leaked those documents relating to Iraq while remaining loyal to something a noble cause, what is honorable, what is good for civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics say Manning violated her obligations as a U.S. soldier. But there\u2019s a way to view this more broadly: Her decision to post a video in the hopes of saving lives can be seen as part of an ongoing struggle to prevent unnecessary suffering. In doing so, she countered the familiar shame associated with disloyalty and failing to heed one\u2019s conscience by choosing the right even when it was a breach of loyalty. Thus, individual perspectives about Manning’s actions can be filtered through a Utilitarian perspective. Anyone arguing that it would\u2019ve been more in line with preventing harm to keep the video under wraps is speaking from the vantage point of a logical equilibrium that Bradley\/Chelsea was reacting to instinctively and morally. The choice of placing the welfare of Iraqi citizens above that of U.S. soldiers may sound at odds with Utilitarian ethics, something that psychologists and historians have spent years trying to disentangle, but perhaps it exactly matches the principles of what \u2018real\u2019 Utopians stand for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Manning reveals how conflicting loyalties can take us down paths where we\u2019re forced to get rid of everyone who complicates things, because that\u2019s not really a moral choice. It challenges us to reconsider our assumptions about loyalty and duty, inviting us to think about the effects of our decisions on the world as a whole. In a time defined by lies and immoral acts, Manning’s courage to break the silence is a light of honesty that encourages others to question themselves and perhaps work toward a more just world<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The readings in this module emphasized multiple aspects and introduced different concepts through case studies that brought quite a lot of value to the analysis of those cases. In sum, we explored Manning\u2019s story \u2014 he was a first of a kind member of the U.S. military who leaked a video back in the aughts. This footage depicted American troops firing upon Iraqi civilians that were thought to be any insurgents, however many victims ended up being innocent. Vanderkerckhove, and Wittkower\/Oxley interpreted loyalty in their articles, noting how Manning\u2019s actions did not exhibit loyalty to the United States; they were outside of consequentialist reasoning. From a Utilitarian perspective, keeping that footage confidential may have reduced suffering worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the middle of Baghdad, during a war in 2007, something happened that went against what it meant to be loyal and serve with honor within the US military. The video; Collateral Murder? which was reached after Apache Helicopter gunships… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28417,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28417"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256\/revisions\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/dcoll022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}