A Compassionate Examination of Evil
Put my standard blog entry disclaimer in here, that this entry has spoilers from Battlestar Galactica, season three. I might as well just drop it into the template for every blog entry from here on out, since that is all I seem to write about now adays.
The episode, “A Measure of Salvation”, takes a real close look at genocide of the Cylon species using a biological weapon. In the internal debates between the Admiral of the Military, William Adama; The President of the Colonies, Roslin; and their other military advisors, Lee Adama and Karl Agathon; a very strong line is drawn between those advocating the use of the biological weapon and those advocating against its use. In this case Agathon is the only one advocating against its use, and arguably his position is derived from the fact that he is married to a Cylon woman.
Here is the thing, I cannot clearly say which side of the line was right and which side was wrong. Both have completely compelling and rational arguments for their position.
Sure from a purely detached perspective I’ll say, “genocide is always wrong.” But in this case you have the Cylons, ruthless and potentially overpowering enemies, who are insistent on following you, killing your people, and want to settle on the same planet as you do. I’ll leave out the question as to who started the war, but generally at this point in the series most believe that the Cylon’s preemptively started the war against the humans.
I’m stuck rehashing pieces of the class, The Nature of Evil, led by Jon Luopa. Specifically, I’m drawn toward the idea espoused by Jon that evil is a response to the human condition. It is rational and justifiable to kill your enemy when they are threatening to kill you.
But, genocide is different. Admittedly, in this specific case it is less different, because as far as we can tell, every Cylon is engaged in warfare against humans. But, genocide generally includes non-combatants. So, the ethical choice to wipe out the Cylons is clearer and more justifiable than the rationales espoused for genocide in our world.
I remember arguing in an essay on a social studies test in ninth or tenth grade that the Catholic Church was indirectly responsible for the genocide of the Jewish people in WWII, because at one point they made it illegal for their followers to make money from interest. This left banking and lending generally to the Jewish people, which made them a perfect target for a power hungry dictator leading a people who had been devastated economically and financially after WWI. The genocide of the Jewish people by the German government, as led by Hitler can be argued as an borderline rational response to the human condition of the German people in the period between WWI and WWII.
I know myself well enough to admit, had if I been in the position of the leadership of the colonies in Battlestar Galactica faced with the decision to commit genocide, I would have.
Thats not something I am proud of, but I am not naive enough to think that I am that much of an idealist.
Biting off an issue a little closer to home: Torture.
I read an article where Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, argues for torture. He said:
[But] is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the Constitution?
It would be absurd to say you couldn’t do that. And once you acknowledge that, we’re into a different game. How close does the threat have to be? And how severe can the infliction of pain be?
I’m generally against torture. But, I’m not categorically against torture. In the instance given by Scalia of a bomb in Los Angeles, his suggestion about “smacking someone in the face” is rational. I’m also fully aware of the need for advances in intelligence interviewing, to identify “…the most effective, humane ways of questioning terrorist suspects.” As the article about intelligence interviewing illuminates, we don’t know what works and what does not.
Going back to the Battlestar Galactica episode, “A Measure of Salvation” there are two important lessons to note.
In a conversation with President Roslin, Admiral Adama notes that colonial law requires a direct presidential order to use biological weapons. What is most appalling about the United States’s recent escapade through the the muddy moral waters of torture is how, as illustrated by the film Ghosts of Abu Ghraib, judgement about when to use torture was left to the most incapable of making that decision. In my view torture should be allowed, only after a torture warrant has been provisionally issued by the President and approved in due time by the Supreme Court. The decision to torture someone should rest at the highest level, nowhere else.
I’m mindful through all of this discussion of Mahatma Ghandi’s statement that “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” In “A Measure of Salvation” ultimately one of the officers of the Galactica commits treason and prevents the biological weapon from being used. Admiral Adama chooses not to pursue an investigation as to who prevented the deployment of the biological weapon.
He chooses to stop blinding the world.