Re: Noncombatants in the Dominion War
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 8:02 pm
Which would then have been visible, or at least mentioned, to some extent in NEM.
Daystrom Institute Technical Library
https://mail.ditl.org/forum/
Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.Rochey wrote:Which would then have been visible, or at least mentioned, to some extent in NEM.
Given that a) they were going there and b) Troi was from Betazed, the planet getting trashed, or heavy casualties among the civilian population would have been a pretty natural topic of conversation, even if it were only something along the lines of discussing any new buildings, architecture, memorials, etc. The fact that atrocities were never mentioned in either Nemesis or DS9 is pretty good evidence that they didn't happen.me,myself and I wrote:Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.
Just to be a kill joy, one possible reason it was not mentioned is: The Writers Are Stupid.Captain Seafort wrote:Given that a) they were going there and b) Troi was from Betazed, the planet getting trashed, or heavy casualties among the civilian population would have been a pretty natural topic of conversation, even if it were only something along the lines of discussing any new buildings, architecture, memorials, etc. The fact that atrocities were never mentioned in either Nemesis or DS9 is pretty good evidence that they didn't happen.me,myself and I wrote:Only if we saw Betazed or it was useful to the plot. A line like "We're having another ceremony on Betazed where they've finally rebuilt the capitol city." really doesn't add much to the plot. If it was planned that we the viewer were actually going to see Betazed or talk to someone living there, then yes it would've (or w/ trek writers, more like "should've") been addressed.
Perhaps, after the birth of Lwaxana Troi, nothing the Dominion could have done at Betazed would have been counted as a greater atrocityRochey wrote:Or maybe it wasn't mentioned because it didn't happen.
The burden of proof is upon you to show that these attrocities happened.
I'm not saying these attrocities happened, I'm saying it's possible they did and attempting to explain why it was not mentioned later. Do I have any proof said atrocities occured, none only then the examples listed. I concede that I do not have concrete evidence.Rochey wrote:Or maybe it wasn't mentioned because it didn't happen.
The burden of proof is upon you to show that these attrocities happened.
Agreed. The Founders' stock-in-trade is having solids live under their governance, even genetically modifying certain species to serve them directly. Why would they change that mindset simply through having expanded their territory?GrahamKennedy wrote:I can't really see the Dominion inflicting mass casualties for no reason. From what we know they aren't on a mission to eliminate all other life in the galaxy or anything, they just want to have the solids nice and firmly under control. They clearly don't shy away from mass murder when it suits their purpose - the Blight, destroying Cardassian cities in reprisal for rebellion, etc. But we also saw the Karemma and others living under the Dominion's control.
Besides, if they had gone on a mass destruction spree against the Federation, it could hardly have won them friends amongst the rest of the quadrant. All those non aggression treaties might have started to look a little unwise if it became clear that Dominion policy was to conquer and slaughter en masse.
I think the Dominion strategy during war is probably not any different than many standard modern military forces. The U.S. specifically targeted civilians in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts since they were the basis of guerrilla resistance, and I think the Dominion's considering of wiping out Earth was probably not different. The U.S. wrecked virtually all major cities or towns in North Korea during the war, and this is not really considered a big deal. Putting the Dominion War in a relative scale, destroying Earth would probably be comparable.Deepcrush wrote:The only people I've ever seen with any kind of Law Of War has been the UFP. Most everyone is the kill everything type.