Janeways Ethics and the Kazon

[speaker-to-trolls]

When I am furiously trying to procrastinate I often watch some of Chucks (can I call you Chuck?) old OVEG videos, I wathced 'Alliances' a little while ago and started thinking about Janeways attitude toward the proposed alliance of the title, e.g. :I'll destroy this ship before giving any part of it to the Kazon". The impression which I got from the review is that this was an unreasonable attitude, but thinking about it I think it's really quite a tough decision, and ultimately one which I think Janeway came down on the ethically correct side of.

On the one hand, she could try to trade with the Kazon and significantly reduce the danger and expense her crew have to endure in getting through their patch of space, good things all around, moreover you could argue that the conflicts of the Kazon and their neighbours are not really her problem, her responsibility is to her crew.

However, the Kazon are a bunch of bigoted barbarian thugs who are probably mentally unprepared for the huge societal implications of gunpowder. The fact that they have space travel and advanced weapons is a miserable accident and one which has caused nothing but pain for everyone around them. Giving them anything more is only going to make this situation worse since there is no real way to stop them from acting like the savage little bandit princes they are (Voyager doesn't have the time, means or inclination and the Kazon clearly won't mature on their own), it'd only be causing misery and chaos for billions of people for the sake of a few hundred. Yes, those billions aren't Federation citizens, not Janeways responsibility, technically, but doesn't Starfleet have responsibilities to all people it encounters? That's what the Prime Directive is for, afterall, protecting less advanced cultures from the harmful impacts of a reckless use of alien technology (we'll leave aside the abuses of that idea).

Now you could say giving the tech to one faction would be a good compromise, the problem is that there are too many unknown variables and it could lead to more stability and less abuse, it could lead to more chaos and violence, you can't know. In this situation, where it wouldn't be possible to affect or even observe the results, I think erring on the side of caution would probably be the best course available.

Thoughts?

PS: Apologies to Chuck Sonnenburg if you think I've misrepresented you.

[Sonnenburg]

The problem is the entire way the event is handled. Hogan is a civilian speaking out of emotion after just losing a friend. Janeway is the captain who promised to do whatever it takes to get the crew home. His position may be wrong, but telling him "Your life is less important than my technology," and then giving an aside to Chakotay about how stupid the Maquis are smacks of arrogance and cluelessness. What's worse, the episode is given a contrived plot so that she must be in the right, because God forbid Jeri Taylor make a script where her Mary Sue is in the wrong.

"Remember, all of you, especially those of you civilians who never wanted to join Starfleet and must follow my commands: you live and die on my whim, and today I've decided your lives are worth less than a replicator. Back to work, he's not getting any deader!"