How Messed Up is the Prime Directive?

[Tallguy]

So I just watched Homeward for its 30th anniversary. (Go! Reminisce!) Rather than totally derail that thread I'll discuss here. I'm sure it's not a new topic. It's probably right on there with Is Starfleet a Military and Is There Money in the Federation?

Normally, it prevents economic exploitation, indentured servitude/slavery and destructive (even irreparable) cultural development. As for the metric "warp drive-capable"...a line has to be established somewhere. I understand disapproving of the PD's application in this particular episode, but that appraisal throws the baby out with the bathwater.

It's a solid idea. You can't save the little boy with Space Appendicitis because otherwise it will unravel his culture and doom a generation. Or something. Obviously you can't just step in and give Sir Robin a replicator.

Once they have warp-drive? Whooo doggy, the show is ON. Then they get transporters, subspace radio, replicators, all that 24th century goodness. Right?

But there are at least three times where the Federation has taken the conclusion that the complete and total extermination of a culture is preferable to them knowing that there is life Out There.

I don't remember Pen Pals so much, so someone fill in the gaps, please. But IIRC the only reason they save the little girl's planet is because she's talking to Data. Which he isn't supposed to do.

In Homeward there is never an argument in favor of rescuing a village sized population except from Nikolai. Everyone else is actually disgusted (seriously, DISGUSTED) at the idea. And once they've been rescued the attitude from Our Heroes (with Crusher and Picard making a race for The Worst Person on the Show) is that this is all just a tremendous bother. (I give Worf a bit of a pass. He doesn't really care about the PD. But it's a RULE. This is its own problem, to be sure.)

Beverly frets like crazy over what might happen to these people. More than she ever fretted over the fact that they were all about to die. You can't contaminate a culture that isn't going to be there anymore!

Then you have Into Darkness. As it transpires we think the tremendous sin of James T. Kirk is that he allows a super primitive culture to SEE the Enterprise. For a few seconds. Rather than allow that to happen they should rather be sentenced to Death by Volcano. AND let Spock die. (Spock MUST die.) Because now they've given up worshiping their parchment god (that they protect with lethal force) and are now a bunch of Trekkie zealots.

But it gets better: When he gets back to Earth (where we find out he has falsified his logs) it turns out that he and his crew shouldn't have sealed the volcano in the first place! Whether he could do it with or without showing themselves to the natives.

Star Trek could make a much more credible argument for the principles of General Order One if the times that we see it swing into action it didn't turn out to be literally genocidal.

 

[Finn]

That was quite a small gene pool of Boraalans to start with. Humanity went through an extreme population bottleneck, and it was with a lot more individuals (100,000 or so). Maybe Nikolai's Human genes would help with the genetic fitness.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Star Trek could make a much more credible argument for the principles of General Order One if the times that we see it swing into action it didn't turn out to be literally genocidal.

What other case might there be against enacting the Prime Directive? Other than genocide of a species, I mean?

 

[Jack Wolfe]

Regarding "Pen Pals," I fully expected Picard to tell Data, "Let me put it this way, Mr Data; we have a gas. It smells just like apple sauce. They won't feel a thing."

 

[Oddish]

As applied in "Homeward", the PD is seriously -ed up. I wanted to SMACK Deanna when she self righteously said it was intended to ensure non-interference.

"Dear Doctor" was supposed to make a case for it... it didn't. "Cogenitor' was a better argument, though I'm not sure if ignorant slavery is a better state than aware slavery.

 

[Farscape One]

Has it ever been said by anyone that maybe the true reason Nikolai wanted to save them was because he got one of them pregnant?

Which is already a massive violation of the Prime Directive. Introducing human DNA into a primitive society? And him staying to potentially do more of the same?

I'm actually amazed Picard didn't beam him away once they left the new planet for the Boraalans.

 

[Citiprime]

I think the Prime Directive gets into the idea that intervention for "good" reasons is a slippery slope that literally has no exit strategy once that box gets opened.

That culture is irrevocably changed by first contact on a societal level. All of their philosophical, religious, political, and economic outlooks about life are changed. And by intervening to "save" them, we've now set a precedent for coming to help whenever they're in trouble.

From the point Starfleet revealed the existence of aliens and the larger galaxy to the Boraalans in TNG's "Homeward," the Federation would feel responsibility for their development. And since the precedent would be set of Federation intervention for the betterment of their existence, where does that end? Every time a large-scale calamity occurred from that moment forward, the Boraalans would ask for assistance. If a Boraalan leader came to power and started committing atrocities, would the Federation be expected to put boots-on-the-ground to stop it, since we helped perpetuate their society? Do you try to "push" the Boraalans towards democracy, civil rights, scientific development, etc.? If 200 years down the road, the Boraalans attacked their neighbors in an adjacent star system, would the Federation be indirectly responsible for it and bear the responsibility for resolving it?

Speaking as an American, our country has spent the past 60 years wrestling with these sorts of questions while doing foreign interventions for both arguably understandable reasons and not-so-good reasons. There are people who feel the United States wasted lives and resources spending 2 decades in Afghanistan, and there are people who feel we should still have thousands of members of the US military in Afghanistan doing "nation-building" in order to protect women and children from the Taliban.

I can see how the Federation decided to sidestep all of these problems from get-go and not mire themselves in messes. Also, think about it from the perspective of us as the human race. If aliens had made first contact in the Middle Ages, the effect on human culture would have been immense. Our accomplishments as a species would not be our own, but be a stunted growth given to us by alien benefactors. Every time there was a threat of global pandemic or a World War, we would have asked for their help ... and been dependent like children for their guidance.

No country, interstellar state, or government that has ever existed or will ever exist can be responsible for "saving" everyone everywhere. That is both unrealistic and a god-awful policy that will justify destructive interventions with unintended consequences.

In "Homeward," the crew have to improvise and create all sort of mythological bullshit when the Holodeck malfunctions to explain "the lines" which will probably become the basis for religious dogma, and you have the one Boraalan character who is told the truth driven to suicide because he can't handle it.

What if all of them had been exposed to the truth and chose ritualistic suicide just like Vorin?

The idea that you can just beam down to a planet and say we're here to help and "be greeted as liberators" and saviors that won't create new problems is the height of hubris and arrogance.

 

[UssGlenn]

Once they have warp-drive? Whooo doggy, the show is ON. Then they get transporters, subspace radio, replicators, all that 24th century goodness. Right?

No, I don't think we ever see that. Its much more like the Vulcans treated Humans after First Contact. It's in everyone's best interest for cultures to apply their own unique approach to problems, like new kinds of warp drive, or replicators. They might come up with something better. But that can't happen if you give them your finished version.

"Dear Doctor" was supposed to make a case for it... it didn't.

Yes, the episode should have ended with Archer giving them Phlox's plan for a cure, and the advanced medical equipment and knowledge needed to enact it. Then a year later we find out their scientists screwed it up and unleashed a plague that wiped out both species. That level of guilt would definitely justify the Prime Directive.

 

[Tallguy]

Has it ever been said by anyone that maybe the true reason Nikolai wanted to save them was because he got one of them pregnant?

Which is already a massive violation of the Prime Directive. Introducing human DNA into a primitive society? And him staying to potentially do more of the same?

I'm actually amazed Picard didn't beam him away once they left the new planet for the Boraalans.

All fair points. But does it ever seem that Nikolai would have walked away even if that hadn't been the case?

But let's take it as if it's true: Then they're all monsters.

In Homeward if they hadn't been ready to let them all die and had even a modicum of preparation this would have been a breeze. Even Vorin wouldn't have died.

What other case might there be against enacting the Prime Directive? Other than genocide of a species, I mean?

Not many. It's a reasonable idea. But from TNG onward the writers don't feel like writing a PD plot unless it comes down to "But for the good of the lesser developed peoples, they must all die." (I haven't seen much of VOY and less of ENT.)

Has Star Trek ever done an episode where there ISN'T a Data or a Nikolai? Where Picard and Co. sit back and watch the world burn and then go onto the next adventure? (Maybe it will have Q?)

 

[UssGlenn]

I could see enacting a Prime Directive exception for space based threats. If you can redirect that asteroid before they know its there, go right ahead. Gets more complicated if they can detect the interference. We'd be able to tell if our Sun suddenly stopped sending out solar flares, for example. Wouldn't have helped the people in Pen Pals, since the instability was in the planet.

 

[Oddish]

There are people who feel the United States wasted lives and resources spending 2 decades in Afghanistan, and there are people who feel we should still have thousands of members of the US military in Afghanistan doing "nation-building" in order to protect women and children from the Taliban.

The Talibun isn't really an accurate comparison. They're not our problem because they oppress their own people (though they're certainly disgusting for that reason). They're our problem because they give sanctuary to organizations that choose to target us. We didn't invade Afghanistan because a bunch of backward cretins who pervert Islam were making women walk around in pup tents or making their men grow long beards. We invaded Afghanistan to hunt down Al Queda. And I expect we'll be going in there again, unless we just decide to live with having buildings knocked over every now and then.

I expect that if there was a world that periodically attacked the Federation at random, and simply wasn't going to stop, the Federation would ultimately have to impose a long term solution.

 

[Commander Troi]

Having just watched Homeward, it's definitely messed up in this ep. How can a culture develop normally if it's GONE? I'm with Nikolai here, even if he's flying by the seat of his pants.

I do think he would've wanted to save them even if he hadn't fallen in love and gotten her pregnant. He just seems like that kind of guy. He'd already "gone native" before thenI think.

The PD is *in general* a good idea. This ep (and others) show where it can be taken waaaay too far. Maybe (from what little I know behind the scenes) that was part of the point - seeing how far you can bend it before it breaks. I know some of the writers have mentioned later the constraints they worked under.

 

[UssGlenn]

They're our problem because they give sanctuary to organizations that choose to target us.

They are our problem because we supported and trained the Mujahideen during their conflict with the Soviets.

 

[Finn]

Too bad Nikolai couldn't get a few cruise liners with heavy duty holodecks and transport...maybe over 500,000 individuals at least, if not a million, and find a way for them to travel, like they did in homeward, without influencing their culture too much. Losing their sacred constellations, stars and moons(?) could be brutal. They would have needed a lot of time. I can't remember how long those storms had been going on if it was even stated?

 

[BillJ]

The Prime Directive in TNG was a joke.

 

[Commander Troi]

The Prime Directive in TNG was a joke.

I'd say it's something the writers struggled with.

 

[1001001]

Meh.

The Prime Directive is generally a good idea. There should be (and obviously are) good reasons to ignore it.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is no joke, but sure, at the far end of the spectrum, do what you can to help.

 

[Sci]

When the Prime Directive is interpreted as meaning, "Let them go extinct from natural disasters," the Prime Directive is a terrible idea.

When the Prime Directive is used as an excuse to monopolize advanced technology and avoid having competition, it's self-interested but not awful.

When the Prime Directive serves as a meaningful bulwark against imperialistic or colonialist impulses within the Federation, it's a good idea.

 

[Tallguy]

They are our problem because we supported and trained the Mujahideen during their conflict with the Soviets.

It was a private, little war.

 

[BillJ]

The idea that you can just beam down to a planet and say we're here to help and "be greeted as liberators" and saviors that won't create new problems is the height of hubris and arrogance.

Then the Federation should be honest and not peddle bullshit like “death is better than interference”.