Prime Directive Vs The Golden Rule

[MacLeod]

I recall a episode in TNG, just can't remember which, it was either Picard or Word bragging to some gatekeeper AI how the Federation gladly sat around and watched 29-30 civilizations die.

I think the episode in question is the "The Last Outpost" and I think it was Riker and Data (from memory) that admitted some of their faults.

 

[Tenacity]

Data:
"They should add that Starfleet has permitted several civilizations to fall. We have at times allowed the strong and violent to overcome the weak."

 

[suarezguy]

It appears from TOS that the intent of the "non-interference" directive was to prevent Starfleet from sticking it's nose in where it didn't belong. Don't try to overthrow an alien government simply because their way of life was contrary with Federation values. Don't interfere with their elections or leadership.

Like today. The ideal is that the United States doesn't interfere with the internal workings of Russia or Jordan or Lybia or whatever. Yes, they do attempt to do so clandestinely, but the image presented is that everyone is allowed to live their own life the way they see fit. Yes, the Federation (or the United States) is there to help in case of disasters or such. Overall, though, your world is your world (or nation or government).

That's a pretty controversial position, which some who advocate more thorough intervention would denounce as isolationism; that some consider that the ideal but even then it's far from the actual case is significant. Starfleet may have adopted a fairly extreme version of the Prime Directive because it previously/otherwise was not sufficiently able to stop its captains from overthrowing or installing alien governments.

Interesting...

Maybe Picard was just radically zealous for his religion-Prime Directivism.

Maybe. Janeway certainly interpreted it to allow a lot more involvement.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Given the number of TOS captains that went rogue (Garth, Tracey, Merik), it became very clear that the existing rules were too lax. Add in some unfortunate incidents in the early 24th century where interference led to disaster and I can see how the laws get tightened.