@Mojochi, I'm curious: If you believe Worf should be court-martialed out of Starfleet simply for following his own people's customs (entirely on Klingon territory, no less), do you believe the same should apply to Kirk and Spock in "Amok Time"?
To a certain degree, yes. However, clearly those circumstances are different. On Spock's part, it is not just a matter of lawful rights, but of irrepressible Vulcan biology he can't control. They literally call it madness. He never intended to murder anyone. He intends to only defend himself from a challenge to the death
if necessary, which he has no physical way to refuse, without what looked like some kind of agonizing death he was facing.
Spock isn't just observing cultural rights (Like Worf) He is quite uncontrollably compelled to act in this manner, & even begs under duress for them to reconsider allowing the ignorant Kirk to participate (Why he didn't explain it to Kirk is unknown. I just assume he is in some kind of mad fit that prevented him doing so) But realize that even Spock himself expects to be punished for killing Kirk, despite being out of control of himself. There is no mention of Worf being unable to stop his physiological reactions when he killed Duras
With that in mind, my opinion is that Spock's punishment, in the event of Kirk's death, could be reduced or rescinded because the real transgression here is on Kirk, who already disobeyed orders by taking him to Vulcan to begin with (With good reason of course) Kirk should not have agreed to this, & only did so ignorantly, but his ignorance is no excuse, & had he somehow been forced to kill Spock, then absolutely he should be court-martialed & drummed out of the fleet for it.
In both cases - Worf killing Duras, Kirk and Spock fighting to the death - it's not murder. It's a DUEL. A legal, state-sanctioned, culturally protected duel
A duel to the death IS murder. I assume they have laws about it, & that's why Starfleet officers don't have them. Hell, that's why WE don't have them. I'm not saying because Vulcan is in the UFP they must stop
kunat kalifee. I'm saying that as Starfleet officers, they cannot participate (Unless physiologically compelled to do so, like Spock was & I assume other Vulcans are, & even then, MAJOR precautions ought to be taken with that shit lol)
But more importantly, I'm also not saying that to be UFP members, Klingons must stop their practices either, but when Worf joined Starfleet, he agreed to THEIR code of conduct, which he not only violated by murdering someone during a mission that involved them, but did so using resources & access only available to him BECAUSE he is a Starfleet officer, as well as interfered in the internal politics of that world by killing a candidate for the high council. Cultural considerations be damned. If in Worf's culture they ate the 1st born child of any shipmate, & he chowed down on Molly O'Brien, do we let that slide? No. He follows Starfleet rules, or doesn't join.
As for the Romulan patient: His wish to die (rather than have a Klingon transfusion be forced on him) should be respected. Indeed, his superiors might consider it an honorable act - that a Romulan patient, on an enemy vessel, was treated according to HIS desires and customs, rather than forcing him to accept treatment he clearly did not want. It shows that the Federation respects Romulan culture, as opposed to blatantly discarding it.
Nah. You're assuming how they might respond. They demanded he be returned alive. You really think if Picard tells them that he refused treatment because of Klingon ribosomes, blah blah blah, they are going to buy that? These are Romulans, Dude lol. Explaining the death of a dead Romulan is never going to go as well as sending them a live one with your blessing.
That guy's personal wishes are moot, because THIS Romulan is a suspected criminal in violation of UFP borders, creating an interplanetary incident, whose superiors are demanding his retrieval under threat of retaliation, & Picard is granting them his return to avoid a conflict. That guy goes back alive. Idealistic respect for patient's wishes & his racist personal demands be damned. This is millions of lives maybe on the line here. In fact, if it's me? I'm a little pissed to be put in the imposition, & if I can rub it in, that in order to give them back their precious "Accident victim" we had to "Pollute his body with Klingon filth" I'm going to revel in telling them just that, after they get him back lol
Well maybe not, but it would be a great big laugh we'd all have at the HQ debriefing
