What I don't quite understand here is the strict comparison you make with today. Live was very different on earth 400 years ago and I'm sure it will be again in another 400 years.
I just don't think we can make such strict comparisons with the US military of today. Besides there are other countries with other military structures and strategies.
On top of that I don't think it's quite fair to make the demands you do of people stranded 70 years from home. To me that's a completely different situation than being deployed to Iraq or some other war zone.
If Janeway had any choice, I'm sure she'd agree with you, but since her choices are limited, I'm not so sure she always would. Usually the circumstances make the situation and the circumstances here are completely different than today's US military.
She might be a captain and it might be a Starfleet ship, but I think their extremely unusual situation calls for extremely unusual solutions at times.
But I still like ya!
I realize the differences between the modern military and Starfleet, but...it's the closest parallel we've got, right at the moment. While there are limits, of course, and I hope I am not making the comparison too "strict," I am convinced it's a more valid comparison than, say, CEO of a corporation. CEOs don't generally have to worry about their facility being subject to attack, for example.
But I do think that people are people now, people were people 400 years ago, and people will still be people 400 years from now. I hope we grow and become
better people...but we will still be easily recognizable as the fallible species that we are now.
So I think 400 years from now, there will still be things that a starship captain or first officer or second officer just ought not do, not because the actions are bad but because those actions are simply not compatible with being captain, first officer or second officer.
Let me address the "70 years from home" issue, if you don't mind. I don't think we've talked much about this. I can see two big problems with sentiments (I don't think anybody's said this exactly, but I think my paraphrase is fair) such as, "How can you expect J and C to be alone for 70 years?"
I've addressed one aspect of that before, and that is that a lot of people go through life without a partner and still lead good and satisfying lives. But beyond that...
Does the crew of Voyager, does the captain of Voyager,
really expect to be isolated in the DQ for 70 years? I don't think so. They talk about the possibility, of course, but it seems to me that for most of the voyage, they are trying to cut that time, they expect to get back much sooner than that - and in fact, no matter what timeline you favor, they do get back much sooner than that.
If you're sentenced to prison for 70 years with no possibility of parole, you can reasonably expect to be there in prison for 70 years. But if you're an energetic and optimistic person who has had great success in using technology to solve problems, and you have at your command a powerful starship...do you really think
Kathryn Janeway was convinced she'd be plodding hopelessly through the DQ for 70 years? I don't. While she no doubt had to consider the possibility, and while she no doubt had her moments when getting home seemed like a remote possibility, I doubt very much that she dwelled on it, and I doubt very very very much that her attitude was, "OK. This is it. Voyager is my home for pretty much the rest of my life. Whatever I'm going to make of my life, I've got to do it here. (So if I want romance, my only choices are the people here on this ship, and gee, Chakotay's really handsome...
) No point in even considering what will happen after we get home. "
No. Her attitude was always "I'm going to get you home, and I'm going to do it just as fast as I can, and I'm going to use any reasonable means to do so." That was her attitude starting right from the end of "Caretaker."
So what I'm saying is, she didn't have to look ahead to 70 years of loneliness, if that's what command seemed to her, and I don't think she did. She just had to look ahead to getting home, and there's no way that the indominable Kathryn Janeway expected it to be a hopeless 70-year slog.
And I still like you, too.
At that point I personally felt like I was punched in the gut.
