"actually you might not consider this a moral failing, though I do"
In the context of the show, I don't see it a moral failing, no.
Let me be absolutely clear, I don't think genocide is an acceptable solution to war or any kind of dispute at all. I'm truly a pacifist and I believe there is nothing war can achieve that couldn't be better achieved without it. All cases of genocide we have had in history are abominable and are a shame to all manking. Whether we are talking of conventional war or terrorist attacks, war itself is just stupid. To quote Gandhi "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
The idea of exterminating a whole population because of their religion, or race, or origin, or political views or whatever is not an example of moral failing , it is an abhorrent crime.
However, I don't think the situation humanity was facing in the show can be compared. If they had gone through with their plans they wouldn't have done it out of hatred or prejudice or even to win a war (justified or not - as far as wars can be justified). They were talking about the very survival of their species. They were talking about a situation where humanity had suffered an unannouced attack that had killed not thousands or millions , but billions of people. The sole survivals were being hunted down and, realistically speaking, had no chance of surviving at all in the long run. They had no way of effectively defeating the cylons and making them abandon the war. How long could they continue to run before they ran out of food, water, fuel, medicine? If the cylons didn't destroy them in one single attack, their numbers would continue to decrease until there was nobody left. In that context, if the only way to survive against an enemy that was not willing to negotiate, or allow escape, or offer any sort of peace treaty, if the only way was to completely destroy your enemy, would that be such a crime? Such a moral flaw? I'm not so sure. It does sound noble. But is it realistic?
Everybody agrees that murder is a crime and should be severely punished. However, killing someone in self-defense is not considered a crime. I think they had reached a point where the situation was so hopeless it could be compared to a self-defense killing.
We remember how disappointed and disillusioned Lee was when his father and the president decided to assassinate Cain for the better good. It wasn't the idea of killing someone (even in cold blood) that shocked Lee so much. Rather it was the fact that they hadn't reached a point where there was no other way to deal with disagreement. It was sort of a preemptive attack. I loved that Adama decided not to go through it it. His line about not being enough to survive (one has to be worthy of surviving) is one of my favorite one in the whole series. After all, what hope did humanity have if they could take each other's lives so easily?
There was nothing easy about the situation they were facing when they considered the "genocide" approach, though.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 07:24 pm (UTC)In the context of the show, I don't see it a moral failing, no.
Let me be absolutely clear, I don't think genocide is an acceptable solution to war or any kind of dispute at all. I'm truly a pacifist and I believe there is nothing war can achieve that couldn't be better achieved without it. All cases of genocide we have had in history are abominable and are a shame to all manking. Whether we are talking of conventional war or terrorist attacks, war itself is just stupid. To quote Gandhi "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?"
The idea of exterminating a whole population because of their religion, or race, or origin, or political views or whatever is not an example of moral failing , it is an abhorrent crime.
However, I don't think the situation humanity was facing in the show can be compared. If they had gone through with their plans they wouldn't have done it out of hatred or prejudice or even to win a war (justified or not - as far as wars can be justified). They were talking about the very survival of their species. They were talking about a situation where humanity had suffered an unannouced attack that had killed not thousands or millions , but billions of people. The sole survivals were being hunted down and, realistically speaking, had no chance of surviving at all in the long run. They had no way of effectively defeating the cylons and making them abandon the war. How long could they continue to run before they ran out of food, water, fuel, medicine? If the cylons didn't destroy them in one single attack, their numbers would continue to decrease until there was nobody left. In that context, if the only way to survive against an enemy that was not willing to negotiate, or allow escape, or offer any sort of peace treaty, if the only way was to completely destroy your enemy, would that be such a crime? Such a moral flaw? I'm not so sure. It does sound noble. But is it realistic?
Everybody agrees that murder is a crime and should be severely punished. However, killing someone in self-defense is not considered a crime. I think they had reached a point where the situation was so hopeless it could be compared to a self-defense killing.
We remember how disappointed and disillusioned Lee was when his father and the president decided to assassinate Cain for the better good. It wasn't the idea of killing someone (even in cold blood) that shocked Lee so much. Rather it was the fact that they hadn't reached a point where there was no other way to deal with disagreement. It was sort of a preemptive attack. I loved that Adama decided not to go through it it. His line about not being enough to survive (one has to be worthy of surviving) is one of my favorite one in the whole series. After all, what hope did humanity have if they could take each other's lives so easily?
There was nothing easy about the situation they were facing when they considered the "genocide" approach, though.