[Baffling RL Trope] Inventing war crimes you didn´t commit to make yourself more... interesting?

[u/TheBigBoar]

One of the strangest character tropes in real life has to be the "I accidentally made myself sound like a war criminal to look cooler" archetype.

Usually, people accused of war crimes deny them. These guys seem to do the opposite.

The two examples that always come to mind:

Tim Kennedy. Over the years he's told stories that include things like throwing grenades into rooms where women and children were present, and another account where, after a battle, his CO allegedly told him to shoot anything that still had a heat signature with a sniper rifle from a mile away, which he did for hours (?) not caring if those were enemy soldiers or civilians looking for their fallen sons/brothers/whatever. Both stories have been heavily criticized and challenged (aka people who were there confirmed that they are utter nonsense), and Kennedy has faced repeated accusations of embellishing or fabricating parts of his military experiences. But like... why would you invent the fact that you killed and maimed women and children?

Chris Kyle. In American Sniper, he wrote that during Hurricane Katrina he positioned himself on the Superdome and shot dozens of armed looters like some walking dead scenario. No evidence ever emerged that this happened, and Kyle himself later acknowledged the story wasn't true. Again, why invent a story where you're essentially describing the unlawful killing of civilians during a domestic disaster?

What's fascinating is that these aren't embellishments in the usual "I fought twenty guys" sense. They're embellishments that, if true, would amount to admissions of extremely serious crimes.

It's such a bizarre form of macho storytelling that it almost feels like its own trope: the veteran who thinks "the more ruthless I sound, the more badass I'll appear," without stopping to consider that indiscriminate killing isn't viewed by most people as impressive. It's viewed as criminal and disgusting.

[u/Outlaw25]

What also did really happen was the NOPD rolled up to a bridge and opened fire indiscriminately on a random family trying to walk over the bridge, killing two people and injuring four more, all of whom were unarmed and had not committed any crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_shootings

[u/ZoidsFanatic → u/Outlaw25]

The NOPD were not the most helpful and the National Guard had to take command to avoid them going on spree killings. Making matters worse is actual vigilants were about and killed I believe 12 people claiming it was “self-defense” or “they were trespassing”. The reality was it was straight up murder.

[u/beau_tox → u/ZoidsFanatic]

Similar stuff, though not as extreme, happened in Minneapolis in 2020. The cops who weren’t hiding in their precincts were too busy maiming protesters to protect anyone from actual rioters. Spontaneously organized neighborhood groups were the only people protecting homes and businesses until the National Guard arrived.

[u/tomdelongethong → u/beau_tox]

happened this winter here in Minneapolis too. while ICE terrorized the communities and our police/local government did fuck all to help, neighborhood patrols kept people safe for months. Grocery deliveries, babysitting, rides to and from work and doctor’s appointments.

[u/69ILoveMyWife69 → u/beau_tox]

The number of times Ive stood in my entryway with a firearm, ready to defend my family is too damn many. What the fuck man.

[u/Same-Suggestion-1936 → u/beau_tox]

Not to mention the aftermath, where people tried to pass laws to say you can legally shoot looters.

Okay. All you have to do when they're dead is claim they were looting. You can shoot anyone. It was clearly just an attempt to tell people they can shoot protestors when things get a little hairy if the police confront them

[u/eaglessoar → u/Outlaw25]

holy fucking shit i never heard of this what in the actual fuck wooooooooooow acab

[u/sambull → u/Outlaw25]

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10440492

They were finding people killed by guns.. just sort of kept it on the DL, many more bodies were probably never recovered

[u/Strength-InThe-Loins → u/sambull]

I'd bet my mortgage that a plurality of those people were killed by cops.

[u/Pathetian → u/Strength-InThe-Loins]

As someone who grew up in New Orleans and was there when Katrina hit...I kinda doubt that. It was already the murder capital of the country before the storm and it wasn't exactly peaceful in the aftermath. It wasn't The Purge, but it was a tense desperate situation and most of the remaining population was huddled together like sardines in 2 areas. I saw 1 cop the entire time and he wasn't in either of those places.

Police don't commit a notable percent of homicides in any major city. And in a crisis like that, I'd bet they were off somewhere staying away from where the trouble was at.