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The Prime Directive

Since the Iraq mess got started I’ve been wondering if maybe Gene Roddenberry hit it right on the head with Star Trek’s Prime Directive. The Prime Directive basically states that the Federation will not interfere in the development of other civilizations. So Kirk and company can’t go down to some primative planet and give them fusion reactors for example, or topple a government they don’t like. Now any fan knows that there have been numerous violations or bendings of this, but it is still a starting point.

Anyway, the Iraq mess is more proof that we never really know what is going to happen or how people will react, good intentions or not. Perhaps it would have been better to let the Iraqis eventually remove Saddam, if that was their choice. Who is to say that more people would have suffered or not? The invasion took this choice away from them and may have delayed the true creation of a freer Iraq.

We do need to have relationships with other nations. And we should make our opinions known to them. But maybe it’s time to stop interfering in their internal affairs and leave them free to develop the civilization they want to have. American style democracy is not what everyone wants. I think, because we are all humans, we want to have a say in how we are governed. But the shape that takes is necessarily different for each culture. And some cultures are closer to their ideal than others. American guns, ships, and tanks can only mess this up when used as they were in Iraq. I hope that we’ve learned a good lesson.

Since the Iraq mess got started I’ve been wondering if maybe Gene Roddenberry hit it right on the head with Star Trek’s Prime Directive. The Prime Directive basically states that the Federation will not interfere in the development of other civilizations. So Kirk and company can’t go down to some primative planet and give them fusion reactors for example, or topple a government they don’t like. Now any fan knows that there have been numerous violations or bendings of this, but it is still a starting point.

Anyway, the Iraq mess is more proof that we never really know what is going to happen or how people will react, good intentions or not. Perhaps it would have been better to let the Iraqis eventually remove Saddam, if that was their choice. Who is to say that more people would have suffered or not? The invasion took this choice away from them and may have delayed the true creation of a freer Iraq.

We do need to have relationships with other nations. And we should make our opinions known to them. But maybe it’s time to stop interfering in their internal affairs and leave them free to develop the civilization they want to have. American style democracy is not what everyone wants. I think, because we are all humans, we want to have a say in how we are governed. But the shape that takes is necessarily different for each culture. And some cultures are closer to their ideal than others. American guns, ships, and tanks can only mess this up when used as they were in Iraq. I hope that we’ve learned a good lesson.

2 replies on “The Prime Directive”

[…] Yesterday I was thinking about the 4000 plus soldiers the United States has lost during the last 5 years of war in Iraq. I thought, wow, that’s 4000 good soldiers whose services have been lost. Have they been wasted? It certainly seems that way to me. Almost 4 years ago, I wondered here if it were time for the US to adopt a Star Trek style Prime Directive. After 4000 dead soldiers and many times more Iraqi civilians, a non interference amendment to the US Constitution seems like an even better idea. […]

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