this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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Risa
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Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.
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This is what I never understood. The principle of respecting the autonomy of other cultures is good imo, but what "cultural contamination" could be worse than the total extinction of the civilization you're trying to protect?
Applying the Prime Directive in such extreme circumstances turns it from an anti-imperialist ideal to a Social Darwinist one.
And yet if your teenage ensign is given a death sentence, definitely violate the Prime Directive. The needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many and all that...
The Prime Directive shouldn't have even applied with that. They can't stop a foreign government from executing their own citizens for stupid things, but trying to execute another nation's citizens is an international incident and falls under standard international politics. The Federation seems to give Starfleet ship captains ambassadorial powers, so Picard should have started threatening sanctions and making comments about how executing Wes could be considered an act of war.
Probably not, but they said it did, so that's their problem.