Dang it, now I'm craving space chocolate...
Spoilers Screen Rant: Star Trek: Discovery just commited war crimes
- Thread starter CardassianAssassin
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Make sure to stop by space Amsterdam for some space weed.
I guess it's time to send Star Trek: Discovery to prison. I hope Captain Gabriel Lorca of the USS Discovery offers a conditional pardon to the war criminal known as Star Trek: Discovery.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried to get the producers sent to the hague.
Contemporary America, ladies and gentlemen.
Explains a lot that's gone on, lately.
This Guardian article alludes in passing to the violation, as does this piece at sciencefiction.com, and you don't have to look far to find conversations about it at Reddit, TVTropes and elsewhere. Yes, this is a real thing.
BTW, Georgiou had a choice here - she didn't have to violate dead enemy soldiers to save her own crew; she'd already come up with the solution of piloting a shuttle containing a bomb to the enemy vessel to destroy it. So the claim of necessity is itself a lie.
Explains a lot that's gone on, lately.
This Guardian article alludes in passing to the violation, as does this piece at sciencefiction.com, and you don't have to look far to find conversations about it at Reddit, TVTropes and elsewhere. Yes, this is a real thing.
BTW, Georgiou had a choice here - she didn't have to violate dead enemy soldiers to save her own crew; she'd already come up with the solution of piloting a shuttle containing a bomb to the enemy vessel to destroy it. So the claim of necessity is itself a lie.
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Didn't they have to sacrifice one of the crew to pilot the shuttle?
Yes, it required a volunteer.
Unless you missed it somehow...Patton was wrong. An army whose soldiers are unwilling to risk imminent death cannot win a war.
Yup. It required a sacrifice.
You do understand that this in no way justifies the commission of a war crime, right?
But they were willing, until a better option presented itself.
And I would have considered this a war crime if the other side was working under the same set of rules. But the klingons didn't.
It was not a "better option." It was a crime.
This is not complicated. Really, it's not.
One might say that they did what the bad guys do, because doing anything else was too hard.
My guess is that no one in the writer's room ever gave any thought or did even minimal research on this.
The writing is, in several respects, that atrocious.
It's not a crime if there is no such law. There is no indication these rules are still in affect. In the real world I have an expectation that my human enemies will follow these rules and I can take them to international cort for violating them.
There klingons have no such expectations. They should have considered that the bodies might be booby trapped.
Edit to add: a shuttle could be shot down. This had a much higher chance of success and therefore the right choice from a tactical stand point. They are trying to stop a war...
There klingons have no such expectations. They should have considered that the bodies might be booby trapped.
Edit to add: a shuttle could be shot down. This had a much higher chance of success and therefore the right choice from a tactical stand point. They are trying to stop a war...
Perhaps the writers (if they bothered to look it up at all) relied on this particular view (from US military code):
United States of America
The US Military Commissions Act (2009) amends Chapter 47A of Title 10 of the United States Code as follows:
Ҥ 950t. Crimes triable by military commission
“The following offenses shall be triable by military commission under this chapter at any time without limitation:
…
“(20) INTENTIONALLY MISTREATING A DEAD BODY.—Any person subject to this chapter who intentionally mistreats the body of a dead person, without justification by legitimate military necessary [necessity], shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
Source (International Committee of the Red Cross)
"without legitimate military [necessity]" might be construed as a justification here.
To be fair, the rest of the entries on that same webpage do not appear to (via an admittedly cursory read on my part) make such an exception.
United States of America
The US Military Commissions Act (2009) amends Chapter 47A of Title 10 of the United States Code as follows:
Ҥ 950t. Crimes triable by military commission
“The following offenses shall be triable by military commission under this chapter at any time without limitation:
…
“(20) INTENTIONALLY MISTREATING A DEAD BODY.—Any person subject to this chapter who intentionally mistreats the body of a dead person, without justification by legitimate military necessary [necessity], shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct.
Source (International Committee of the Red Cross)
"without legitimate military [necessity]" might be construed as a justification here.
To be fair, the rest of the entries on that same webpage do not appear to (via an admittedly cursory read on my part) make such an exception.
Its only a wacrime if the whole federation adopted the earth rules. Its not "the earth federation" Vulcans, Tellrites and Andarions helped form and write the rules. Both Vulcans and Andorains would be fine with this very valid tactic. It was after all, logical.
Next people will be suggesting that they should not have attacked the Sarcophagus ship as it was a burial site and a place used for religious expression.
As the individual sarcophagus on the haul formed part of the ships defensive systems, blowing up the ship would necessitate disturbing, damaging and even destroying Klingon corpses anyway.
As the individual sarcophagus on the haul formed part of the ships defensive systems, blowing up the ship would necessitate disturbing, damaging and even destroying Klingon corpses anyway.
One of the key issues in military training is the inhibitions most people have on taking a life, even when under threat. Even amongst trained personnel there remain a significant number who will either posture without making a kill (shoot near but not at a target for instance) or freeze altogether.
I guess that makes the writing for the episode TOS - "Errand of Mercy" atrocious?
I mean hell, the Klingons were executing 200 Organians every two hours after Kirk and Spock were freed from holding. I mean hell didn't that writer research that such things in an occupation would be considered a war crime? What was he thinking writing something like that?
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