In the pursuit of safety, acceptance and the public good, many atrocities have been committed in places like Abu Ghraib and My Lai, where simple, generally people harmless became cunning torturers and murderers of innocent people. Many claim that they simply followed orders, which illustrates a disturbing trend in both the modern military and modern societies as a whole; when forced into an obedient mindset, many normal, everyday people can become instruments of destruction and pain, carelessly inflicting pain and death on the innocent. Two articles, in particular, help to clarify and explain this trend. The first is “The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror” by Crispin Sartwell, which explains how so many ordinary people can be transformed into hordes of willing and eager killers. In the case of Rwanda, Sartwell notes how the Hutu government ordered the mass killing of Tutsis for the "greater good" of its people, forcing people to see Tutsis as schemers and murderers to avoid personal harm to themselves and others. their loved ones. those. The other article was "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" by Erich Fromm, in which Fromm illustrates how many can be forced to become an automated man, who simply does what he is told by his superiors, allowing him to become a murderer without consciousness. Fromm also discusses the importance of group mentality on morality and how, when subjects are seen as a group, they can be demonized and easily passed off as subhuman. Although both Crispin Sartwell's article "The Genocidal Killer in the Mirror" and Erich Fromm's piece "Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem" come from two very different time periods, the Cold War era with its fears apocalyptic times and the post-Col period.. .... middle of paper ......Events like these will continue to happen until man learns to evolve into a new creature, which relies on itself for its confidence and sees others as individuals, rather than as members of a group. Without this necessary evolution, events like the My Lai massacre will continue to happen on a larger scale, making the past pale in comparison to what is to come. Works cited by M, Erich. "Disobedience as a psychological and moral problem". Writing and reading for ACP composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 258-63. Print.Sartwell, Crispin. “The genocidal killer in the mirror.” Writing and reading for ACP composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 252-54. Print.Szegedy-Maszak, Marianne. "The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism." Writing and reading for ACP composition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Custom, 2009. 210-12. Press.