Yeah, who knew that teaching Nazism to a primitive culture would have damaging consequences. he couldn't possibly have anticipated that!!!
To answer my own question, there are. That's what tranquilizers (or in MU Kirk's case, airlocks) are for.
Some might argue that when your culture is irrevocably altered, in a manner of speaking you are dead. At least, the you that existed before the cultural contamination.
That doesn't make sense. You are only dead if you have, well, DIED. Anyone who is alive is, by definition, not dead. You might as well apply that to every human being in history - the "you" that exists right now is not the same as the "you" from 20 years ago, due to aging and all the cells in your body being replaced. Yet that is obviously not death, and neither is this.
No, that streaching the term out of any coherant meaning. No, I would agree that potentually the loss of culture could be tragic, but massive loss of life would make loss of culture pale on comparison. Three possibilities; 1) The new culture is better. 2) The new culture is about the same. 3) The new culture is worse. Any new culture doesn't automatically have to be China under Chairman Mao. And it's important to consider that while the volcano had the potential to exterminate the planet's population, only a small number of people actually saw the Enterprise. Unless you want to stipulate that that one group had sole control over the planet's hundreds/thousands of cultures, the actually impact is likely to be minimal.
Who cares if the aliens saw the Enterprise? It's not like it gave them any technology or anything like that. All they know is that it's a big floaty thing. Hardly going to exterminate their culture.
Oh indeed. Just generations of mass killings and wars based on those who worship the skyship and those that stick to the scrolls, that will see oceans of blood shed and religious persecution of those who won't convert to skyship worship. Nothing to worry about.
Or they could just see it as a sign that the gods want them to be at peace. Or that they have to eat a big baked potato that night or that beige is a weird color. Or that French fries increase noticeably your cholesterol level. Or anything else...
Good thing the Enterprise didn't sprout wings...though I suppose the nacelles could ultimately be interpreted (not entirely inaccurately) as such.
Normally? There's nothing normal about religion. Some kill themselves, some kill others, some kill others while killing themselves... As Trip once said, the possibilities are endless.
Why the assumption of religion. The case aside scroll could have been the recently created alien version of The Communist Manifesto by the local philosophers T'Marx and T'Engels. The Enterprise appearance put a end before it started of tens of millions of deaths and decades of meaningless suffering. Actually religion is quite normal, basically epitomizes "normal."
About religion being normal. There's nothing normal about religion. It's not normal to sacrifice things, animals and even people. It's not normal to make strange gestures and mumble things to yourself. It's not normal to use an outdated language that ,no one truly understands. None of it is normal.