The Perils Of Obedience Summary

In the military, people follow orders from superiors on a daily basis, even when the orders are not morally sound. The article “The Perils of Obedience” written by Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist and infamous for his obedience experiment, focuses on the frequent human nature to submit to an authoritative figure. Milgram links his results to the reason why some Nazis carried out such ruthless acts: obedience overrules ethics in most cases (Milgram 89). Relatedly, Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee Hamilton composed the article “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience” to attempt to rationalize the brutalities committed by U.S. sodiers in the village of Son My. In their article, they include that authorization, routinization, and dehumanization were …show more content…
Lt. Kendrick punishes Private Bell, a soldier in his unit, by denying him food and beverages with the exception of water for a period of seven days. By sneaking food to Bell daily, Dawson chooses to disobey: his ethics and concern for the welfare of another human being overrides a directive he believes is unjust. According to Lt. Calley, to disobey an order by a senior officer could mean a court-martial or a death sentence (Kelman and Hamilton 136). Matthew B. Tully, a former Army field artillery officer and current attorney, also includes this is his article “Ask the Lawyer: Disobey an Order at Your Own Peril,” by logically conveying that those who disobey a questionable order “run the risk of being charged with an Article 92 violation and attempt to prove the mandate was unlawful at court martial” (Tully). The risks are high because the punishment results in dishonorable discharge, up to two years in jail, and forfeit of pay (Tully). As a result of his disobedience, Dawson receives a below average mark on his next report, preventing him from ranking up to full