At least 347 and up to 504 civilians, almost all women, children and elderly men, were murdered by U.S. Army soldiers. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated, and some soldiers mutilated and raped children as young as 12.

only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., the leader of 1st Platoon in C Company, was convicted. He was found guilty of murdering 22 villagers and originally given a life sentence, but served three-and-a-half years under house arrest after his sentence was commuted.

Research has highlighted that the My Lai Massacre was not an isolated war crime. Nick Turse places it within a larger pattern of American atrocities enabled by deliberate policies from commanders, such as “free-fire zones” and “body counts”, as well as widespread racism amongst American military personnel. Many other atrocities were also covered up by commanders.

Why you should know about this: It is important to know about history so that we can learn from it, avoid the mistakes and atrocities of the past, and know which institutions have a history of performing atrocities, trying to cover them up, etc. and what that looks like.

  • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOP
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    10 hours ago

    Stories make people feel things, like anger. Anger gives people lots of energy and motivation to act.

    The LA riots for example were sparked by the lack of justice after the police’s brutal assault on Rodney King.

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      stories are based on acts. nobody gives a shit how little jenny was raped. all they react to is the act of rape.

      nobody gives a shit if Trump raped children because it’s all a part of the story now.

      you heard the story a hundred thousand times by now. you’re sick of it, and don’t want to hear about it anymore.

      this is what mainstream media is used for.

      stories are used to satiate the masses.

      • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOP
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        9 hours ago

        you heard the story a hundred thousand times by now. you’re sick of it, and don’t want to hear about it anymore.

        Speak for yourself.

        Look, you can disagree all you want, that’s fine, but let’s try to be a bit more constructive. What would you propose instead, to try and fight against the Epstein class?

        • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          capture actual footage of the culprits attempting to circumvent justice in a way that commoners can understand.

          get video footage of Trump gloating about how stupid MAGA is and how he’s just using them to build his kingdom of filth.

          record backroom deals with CEOs that are killing people for greed.

          and release them on multiple platforms for the general public to see and react.

          it’s not a story if it’s plain as day that these people want you dead, it’s just a fact.

          • bearboiblake@pawb.socialOP
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            7 hours ago

            Sounds good to me, good luck with all of that! Let me know if I can help or support you in your activist efforts.