Capital Punishment—Moral and Ethical Aspects—United States

Morality’s Muddy Waters 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd i 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:50:32:50 PPMM 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd iiii 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:51:32:51 PPMM Morality’s Muddy Waters Ethical Quandaries in Modern America George Cotkin University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd iiiiii 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:51:32:51 PPMM Copyright © 2010 George Cotkin All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without written permission from the publisher. Published by University of Pennsylvania Press Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cotkin, George Morality’s muddy waters : ethical quandaries in modern America / George Cotkin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-0-8122-4227-0 (alk. paper) 1. Ethics—United States—History—20th century—Case studies. 2. Ethics—United States—History—21st century—Case studies. 3. Ethical problems—Case studies. 4. Bombing, Aerial—Moral and ethical aspects. 5. World War, 1939–1945—Moral and ethical aspects—United States. 6. My Lai Massacre, Vietnam, 1968—Moral and ethical aspects. 7. Racism—Moral and ethical aspects—United States. 8. Capital punishment—Moral and ethical aspects—United States. 9. Iraq War, 2003– —Moral and ethical aspects. 10. United States—History—1945–. I. Title. E839 .C68 2010 2009041294 973.91—dc22 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd iivv 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:51:32:51 PPMM For My Father 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd v 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:51:32:51 PPMM 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd vvii 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM Contents Preface ix Introduction 1 1 The Problems of Evil 7 Part I. In Times of War 2 A Sky That Never Cared Less 35 3 The Moral Mystery of My Lai 77 Part II. In Times of Peace 4 The Hate Stare: Empathy and Moral Luck 113 5 Just Rewards? Capital Punishment 135 Part III. Present Problems 6 Muddiness and Moral Clarity: The Iraqi Situation 169 Conclusion: Torture and the Tortured 200 Notes 207 Index 251 Acknowledgments 261 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd vviiii 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd vviiiiii 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM Preface The idea for this book came to me a few years ago, the evening I saw Hotel Rwanda. At the time I was writing a book about American cultural criticism since World War II, an engrossing and satisfying project. But the fi lm’s depiction of suffering, the moral heroism of Paul Rusesabagina, and the politics of intervention all followed me out into the suddenly un- comfortable night air. I told my wife, Marta, that I needed to write a more relevant book that would grapple with inhumanity—a work that might gen- erate moral clarity and engagement. Marta sagely counseled me to wait a couple of weeks before abandoning my work on cultural criticism. Early the next morning, however, I was at my desk, hunched over the new project. The book before you took several turns before it gradually attained its present form. At fi rst, I imagined that it would be about scholars and activists—Erich Fromm, Iris Chang, Ben Kiernan, Hannah Arendt, and Rob- ert Jay Lifton—who had devoted themselves to trying to understand and chal- lenge the evil in the world. How could they immerse themselves in the muck of hatred without paying a price? Hadn’t Nietzsche famously warned against looking into the abyss of evil, lest it engulf you? What could be learned from these fi gures of moral authority and their excavations of the landscape of cruelty? While such a book still needs to be written, I ended up on the more familiar ground of postwar American history, starting to wonder if moral questions are indeed answerable with any degree of certitude. As this work emerged, I came to realize that while we must take moral stands against real evils, such stands—and especially the means we choose to defend them—can be challenged fairly by others. We do well to acknowl- edge potential truths in other stances, for only out of debate and process can strong moral thinking emerge. Thus, although I remain personally opposed to capital punishment, I have come to respect the position of those in favor of it. While we may never agree on the death penalty, perhaps the volume of our shouting back and forth can be lowered. 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd iixx 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd x 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM Introduction Americans crave moral clarity. Some ponder how Jesus would act in a particular situation. Others seek guidance elsewhere on how to cul- tivate a moral character.1 Even when moral clarity is presumably close at hand, we stumble. Moral strictures—thou shalt not commit adultery, honor thy mother and father, and cherish human life—become matters of testimo- nial adherence rather than living reality. Of course, such strictures are invaluable as general landmarks along life’s crooked trails. They are inadequate and sometimes dangerous, however, for the tough situations we often confront. Decisions are called for in moral moments when we have to choose between two less than appealing options. Act we must but the manner may be perplexingly paradoxical. Such is the nature of moral moments.2 Alas, we often fi nd that even when we begin with the best of moral in- tentions, things go awry. Rather than questioning the paradoxes of morality or the reign of contingency (moral luck) in situations, we stubbornly ignore complexity and contradictions, determining to soldier on or to condemn a world that does not bend to our moral principles. Beyond parading our moral presumptions, we come to believe that we act more morally the less we think about it. Hence former President George W. Bush proudly proclaimed that he acted from his gut or from his religious feelings. And in the bestselling volume Blink, journalist Malcolm Gladwell celebrates how fi rst impressions or inclinations are on target more often than deeper rumi- nations about a particular problem.3 Listening to your instinct and acting without careful deliberation appear to be the common responses to present- day moral challenges. Morality’s Muddy Waters: Ethical Quandaries in Modern America rejects such easy certitude and argues that what we need instead is a healthy dose of befuddlement, and even when we are assured that our ends are correct and moral, as in ending a war or supporting democracy, the means to achieve 1124852485 MMorality'sorality's MMuddyuddy WWatersaters ((Cotkin).inddCotkin).indd 1 111/19/091/19/09 44:32:52:32:52 PPMM 2 Introduction them may be deeply problematic. Acceptance of the diffi culty of acting morally starts us on a road toward greater moral enlightenment. It opens up the process that philosopher Hannah Arendt referred to as simply “thinking,” which halts us in our tracks, makes us aware of our choices and responsibility, and strikes the chords of tragedy and irony that we need to hear more often. Like morality itself, the very concepts we employ in discussing and acting on it—empathy, evil, and character—are essential as well as troubling. Without empathy, we fail to inhabit or even appreciate the world of others. With empathy, we sometimes perceive others’ experience in a vicarious manner; we prioritize alleviating their suffering over political complexities. “Evil” gets bandied about as a meaningless epithet or rejected as a meta- physical conceit. Yet evil must remain in our moral vocabulary, for it cap- tures much of the horror that happens, both within the world and in our hearts. Moral character, based upon virtue, is, of course, necessary; without it we are blown by the winds of social convention or peer pressure. But how well does moral virtue hold up when confronted with “moral luck,” with contingencies that push and pull, that sap our moral stamina? Historical analysis of situations in modern America may help us to reenergize these concepts for moral thinking and acting. This book is about how Americans have confronted moral issues, sometimes with swagger, sometimes with nonchalance. How have people thought about their actions in moral terms before the dust of history has settled? Were their horizons of moral contemplation cloudy or clear—and why? And how do we, after the fact, consider and debate these actions and events? Ethics and morality have long graced the disciplines of literature and philosophy. Richard Rorty and Martha Nussbaum, for example, proclaimed that fi ction cultivates our ethical or moral sensibilities. This builds upon critic Lionel Trilling’s view that literature supports the moral imagination by presenting it with situations teeming with “variousness, possibility, complexity, and diffi culty.”4 Nussbaum lauds literature for its ability to evoke the empathy of readers and to place action within a nest of context.

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