Monday, February 25, 2013
The Story of Pat Tillman
By Wednesday (Thursday at the latest), we will discussed the story of Pat Tillman. Here was a man who voluntarily gave up a lucrative football career to join the army because of a profound sense of duty and patriotism. He and his family understood the inherent risk of any war and accepted that death was a real possibility. However, it may be difficult to accept his death was the result of "friendly fire." The government publicly declared Tillman a hero and made it appear he was killed by enemy action.
Should the U.S. government and military have kept the details of his death a secret to his family? Is this a violation of the rules of war? Or is this simply a violation of ethics?
Please post a response by Friday, March 1 FOR BONUS POINTS.
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It is totally wrong that the military did not tell the family the full story behind their sons death. It makes me sick that they would hold back facts so that they could use this story to promote patriotism. The worse of all is that they waited months to tell the family that this was a friendly fire death. This is simple a violation of ethics. Number one, he him self did not want to become a poster boy and be a sybmol of the military, he wanted to be fighting the bad guys on the front lines. Then he gets killed and the military uses the non truth and disrespecting a dead miltary heros ideas and going against his beliefs? It is totaly 100% un ethical and wrong and it makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteTommy Janicki
Could you cite a particular ethical tenet violated by the United States? Does any part of the Just War theory apply here? Please consider.
DeleteYip the Great
I personally believe that what the military did was wrong in this situation. Pat Tillman gave up a 3 million dollar contract because he wanted to serve his country and truly was a great patriot. What he didn't want is for it to be made into a big deal and become some big symbol he just wanted to serve his country. Then after his death the military did exactly the opposite, and made him out to be exactly what he didn't want to become, a poster child for the military. He volunteered to fight for our country and I think that we should have respected his wishes.
ReplyDelete-Wyatt deTonnancourt
You say what the military did was wrong. That is fine and you give a good rationale for why it is wrong. But look at what Tommy wrote above. He says it is "unethical." There is a difference! What is the difference? If what the US military and government did was "wrong", is a simple apology in order and we all go on with our lives? If what they did was "unethical", should someone go to prison, lose a job, etc.? What is the degree of "wrongness" here?
DeleteYip the Great
The military was definitely wrong in this situation. it does not matter who the person was, or what they did before they were in the military. a family should know exactly how their son or father was killed. unless they choose not to know they should be told the truth and the whole truth, you cannot lie about the death of someones family member.
ReplyDeleteThe military was definitely wrong in this situation. it does not matter who the person was, or what they did before they were in the military. a family should know exactly how their son or father was killed. unless they choose not to know they should be told the truth and the whole truth, you cannot lie about the death of someones family member.
ReplyDeleteThe military was unethical in the way they went about covering up Pat Tillman's death. Yes, he gave up a $3 Million+ contract in order to join the army, but that shouldn't matter. He did something very self-less, and I can respect that, but the military wanted to turn him into a poster boy, which he was strongly against. What the military did that was wrong was when they lied in order to have a poster boy for the military. With this issue, anyone who went about covering up what actually happened to Pat Tillman should have been punished.
ReplyDeleteNick De Gennaro
Speaking from a principled standpoint no crime should go unpunished, no murderer should walk free, and no family should be lied to about the true becoming of their family member who has given up his or her life for what we call our great nation. The truth is our nation is great however it is time that we wipe the cobwebs off of its first-class ideals. Because our nation is so great we need to begin to showcase it’s superiority at home and at war. Pat Tillman’s tragic story covers both of these bases in that while at war his demise was brought about by careless mistakes on behalf of the “higher-ups” and the truth behind his death was left to disappear amongst altered autopsy reports and fashioned military cover-ups. If America itself is to gain the respect and trust of other nations it should first gain the same trust and respect of its own people. Would you send your loved one to war fearing that you cannot trust the militaries word as to what became of them? Will another family fall victim to a lie told so that the government could continue to pick the proverbial fruits from a dead soldier’s endlessly giving tree?
ReplyDeleteJust as a police officer has ethics so that he or she does not falsify evidence the United States military should have ethics so that it does not lie about the deaths of their own soldiers or about any other matter. If the military continues to hide behind false truths then how will we as citizens be able to trust its decisions, its actions, and its members? Pat Tillman’s death should be the final straw amongst other military straws already snapped by its insufferable tactics. We need to establish, here and now, consequences for all those who believe that lying on behalf of the military is allowed and ethical because simply put; it is not. Mr. Yip made an excellent point when he talked about what if anything that we as individuals can do to stop such tyranny. The answer is anything that we can. No example set is too small to make a difference. As for Pat Tillman’s family there is no retribution for the loss of their son however we can prevent further of these happenings if justice is served domestically and militarily.
---Nick Palumbo
I think that what the military did was definitely unethical and I do think that there should be some kind of punishment to whoever ultimately made the decision to keep the information of Tilman's death from the family. Not only was not giving the information of Tilman's death unethical, but so was making him a poster boy since it was so against his beliefs. He signed up for the military because he was patriotic and wanted to serve his country and kill bad guys. In return the military should have honored his wishes by not making him into a poster boy.
ReplyDeleteGilisa Paternina
Man is not nocturnal. He can only blindly follow when in the dark. But when exposed to the light, he thrives. He becomes a powerful entity capable of doing what seems to be an infinite amount of possibilities when he is enlightened. Man should be feared, and he is, by his own government. The immense power of man strikes fear into the heart of the government. And so, the government hides man. They cover him in a shroud of darkness that seems so inescapable, and makes him follow them wherever they please. To appease his urges, the government synthesizes light, and deceits man into believing what he is seeing is enough. He rarely ever questions it because it is enough for him. The true potential of man is rarely ever realized. He has become satisfied with the synthesized light that he receives. However, when man no longer is able to accept the manufactured light he is given, he will go seeking for the light that has been concealed and buried from him for so long. And when man is able to uncover this light, he yields the ability to overthrow his master.
ReplyDeleteMany would say that this idea that keeping someone in the dark is morally unsound. That keeping them from the light is truly unethical. In the case of Pat Tillman, his family was kept from the light for many months after their son’s death. The people, that brought into the world and raised such a charismatic, patriotic person, didn’t even know how he died. Rather, they were fed a blatant lie by the government. And rather than respecting Pat’s wishes, the government parades the face of a fallen patriot around for the nation to see. In the decadence, he became less of a man, and more of a symbol for true American honor. There is nothing wrong with that per say, but the reason behind the madness truly was unethical. Tillman was used to help enlist more soldiers into one war that he believed in, but another that he did not. The latter, was a war that he deemed illegal. Yet, the government felt it was appropriate to disregard what Tillman believed, and use his face against him. Turning a dead man on himself. What could be more unethical?
I like your metaphor and I can connect and relate it to The Allegory of The Cave.
Delete---Nick Palumbo
I believe what the US military did is unethical and down right wrong. What the army did wrong was not the fact that pat is dead because of miscommunication and friendly fire, but because all the higher ups covered up pats death from his family and the rest of the world for months. Not only did the military try covering his death up, but they also made him the face of America once he died. "nfl star turns down contract, join military, and dies fighting for his country." Thats a true american hero. But how would the people react when they find out that not only his death was a result of friendly fire, but that the government lied so that they could save their own asses. I believe as leaders and protectors of our country we should be able to trust these people that what they're telling us is true, but knowing the world as it is this is impossible due to politics, corruption, and selfishness.
ReplyDelete-Ben Guyette
What the military did in this incident is wrong. Incidents of friendly fire have happened throughout other wars as well. The death of Pat Tillman should not have been treated any differently. However through lying to his family it ruins the credibility of all who are involved. Tillman was noble enough to give up a career in the NFL to serve his country in its time of war. So the least that the commanding officers could have done was told the family straight to their face that Pat had been killed by friendly fire. Another problem that i had when reading the story was that the private who was on the mountain with Tillman was told by the higher up officers to keep quiet about what had happened. If we as Americans allow the government to cover up the truth like this than soon we may be told any truth at all.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Brehio
The military's incident with Pat Tillman was wrong. The Tillman family was lied to by the United States Military, they didn't know his son died from friendly fire. Pat Tillman had his whole life ahead of him, and the military didn't have the balls to tell the Tillman family, "i'm sorry but your son died from friendly fire." I think that this is just an awful story. The military shouldn't be lying to families about how their loved ones died, they want the truth.
ReplyDelete-Connor Lanoie
I believe that the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death was inexcusable and indisputably unethical. It was a violation of both the rules of war and of ethics. I personally believe that the soldiers who unintentionally shot Tillman during ‘friendly fire’ should not be punished; the higher-ups who supervised this cover-up story should be. Serving jail time would not be the appropriate solution in this case because no technical rules have been broken. These military ‘leaders’ hid information from the Tillman’s about Pat’s death and lied to the public. I believe that the higher-ups that helped organize the cover-up should be demoted from their position of power. Additionally, they should be forced to apologize to the public as well as to the Tillman family. I agree with Ben when he says that we should be able to trust in our government to lead and protect our country but this can become increasingly difficult when stories like the cover-up of Pat Tillman’s death is uncovered.
ReplyDelete- Jillian