9th November 2006, 12:12 AM
(Spoilers! Keep out if you haven't watched the series!)
Well, in case we don't get that other thread back... I just think that there is an important distinction between innocent deaths and combat ones... though in modern warfare that line has been blurred -- with the modern idea of the nation-state where all people are targets (otherwise there is no way to justify what we did in WWII (carpet bombing cities, etc)... I'd say it was probably unjustifiable, but that was the justification...), but even so, what they do in that episode just isn't okay. I know that you say that war doesn't always have a peaceful alternative, but not everything is a worst-case scenario... England and France were bitter enemies for centuries, but haven't fought a war against eachother since the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and are now allies... and, while mutual distrust of Germany did push that at times, it wasn't the only factor. There must be a way to solve those two nations' problems that doesn't involve slaughtering random tribes of weaker people...
(as for that end part, that's different since Kino had no choice... it was a clear "shoot or be killed" situation. The situation in the town wasn't quite that clear... though I can see how they might see it that way, since they were the ones dying, as I said, trading other peoples' deaths for your peoples' certainly will make you happier, but if there's no real justification for it (ie, they haven't done anything to deserve it), is that really moral?
Oh, there are no issues about the last episode. It was completely nonsensical... I cannot imagine how any real people would decide to commit mass suicide (essentially) instead of simply leaving town and rebuilding. It's just so unbelievable... shocking, of course, and incredibly cruel, but I have serious trouble trying to imagine real people acting that way...
Well, in case we don't get that other thread back... I just think that there is an important distinction between innocent deaths and combat ones... though in modern warfare that line has been blurred -- with the modern idea of the nation-state where all people are targets (otherwise there is no way to justify what we did in WWII (carpet bombing cities, etc)... I'd say it was probably unjustifiable, but that was the justification...), but even so, what they do in that episode just isn't okay. I know that you say that war doesn't always have a peaceful alternative, but not everything is a worst-case scenario... England and France were bitter enemies for centuries, but haven't fought a war against eachother since the defeat of Napoleon in 1815 and are now allies... and, while mutual distrust of Germany did push that at times, it wasn't the only factor. There must be a way to solve those two nations' problems that doesn't involve slaughtering random tribes of weaker people...
(as for that end part, that's different since Kino had no choice... it was a clear "shoot or be killed" situation. The situation in the town wasn't quite that clear... though I can see how they might see it that way, since they were the ones dying, as I said, trading other peoples' deaths for your peoples' certainly will make you happier, but if there's no real justification for it (ie, they haven't done anything to deserve it), is that really moral?
Oh, there are no issues about the last episode. It was completely nonsensical... I cannot imagine how any real people would decide to commit mass suicide (essentially) instead of simply leaving town and rebuilding. It's just so unbelievable... shocking, of course, and incredibly cruel, but I have serious trouble trying to imagine real people acting that way...
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