CrypticMirror wrote: ↑Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:17 pm
That is what this kid was raised in, a death cult. Franklin was still right to do what he did, but wrong not to do further research in order to prevent a needless later death. With some rehabilitative care, that kid could have led a rich full life.
You get into the health field dealing with just human beings holding that mentality and you're running into minefield. This is aliens we're dealing with and the show seems to present their beliefs as typical to them. They are not pointed out as being some tiny minority like Christian Scientists let alone a group we could all agree is a full blown cult.
This isn't me saying to respect their outlook, but to recognize if it is deviant from the norm of their species or not. This is where Sci-Fi like B5 and Star Trek run afoul of the fact that aliens are genre stand-ins for different cultural groups so they operate on two levels. There is no issue in other genres like Westerns here where a foreigner is just a different human.
CrypticMirror wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:23 pm
Or teach the kid to say "My mom and dad are dead, and they're from [different part of planet name]" and nobody would ever know, and thus continue to treat him exactly like everyone else. This is why I say that Franklin wasn't wrong in what he did, he was wrong in not finding out about the consequences and being more drastic in his actions.
Didn't the kid *also* say he was against the procedure?
Oh good, because we always adhere to the whims and wishes of children, when it comes to their health...
This is true, but the question here is who decides, then? The parents or guardian of a person with impaired ability to consent have the moral right to decide. Franklin does not have the right to impose his will even if it is the medically defensible action. If he does, then consent is meaningless. He assumed if he were just able to do the surgery the family would see his way of thinking and that is his hubris, the hubris of of the technocrat.
A managed democracy is a wonderful thing... for the managers... and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible'.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Like I said, the story is shit for talking about medical ethics but excellent for talking about interactions with a foreign culture you don't understand.
