The best diplomat is a fully activated phaser bank.
So says Montgomery Scott in the Star Trek original series episode "Touch of Armageddon." It's one of my favorites. The basic plot is such:
In classic "what not to do" fashion, Kirk and Spock beam down to a planet. In turns out, the inhabitants of the planet have been at war with a neighboring planet for the past 500 years. Their methods have 'evolved' to be total computer war. Attacks are mathematically executed, like a video game, except that "casualties" are decided and they must individually and willingly report to disintegration chambers and kill themselves. Thus, war has human casualties but culture, architecture, and civilization is totally preserved.
The episode comes to the conclusion that without the physical damage of war, there is no reason to ever stop. For real world examples, think of the British burning the capitol in the War of 1812, the London, Dresden, and Tokyo bombings in WWII, and the sacking of Baghdad in our current conflict. If these things had not occurred, what would we remember to stop ourselves?
Episodes like this one completely make up for episodes like the one where Kirk fights hand-to-hand with a t-rex alien in fabulous purple leather gauntlets.
In classic "what not to do" fashion, Kirk and Spock beam down to a planet. In turns out, the inhabitants of the planet have been at war with a neighboring planet for the past 500 years. Their methods have 'evolved' to be total computer war. Attacks are mathematically executed, like a video game, except that "casualties" are decided and they must individually and willingly report to disintegration chambers and kill themselves. Thus, war has human casualties but culture, architecture, and civilization is totally preserved.
The episode comes to the conclusion that without the physical damage of war, there is no reason to ever stop. For real world examples, think of the British burning the capitol in the War of 1812, the London, Dresden, and Tokyo bombings in WWII, and the sacking of Baghdad in our current conflict. If these things had not occurred, what would we remember to stop ourselves?
Episodes like this one completely make up for episodes like the one where Kirk fights hand-to-hand with a t-rex alien in fabulous purple leather gauntlets.