I want to live!

- EvilKirkā€™s last words

Whatever else you want to say about EvilKirk, itā€™s pretty clear that he didnā€™t want to be merged back into the single Kirk. Despite this, there is no shortage of reasons why it was a good idea to merge the Kirks: the Enterprise needed its CO back, GoodKirk wanted to do it, and it seems possible that the strain of remaining split would have eventually killed EvilKirk anyways. However, the fact remains that EvilKirk did not consent to the procedure which ended his existence.

Clearly the circumstances here are quite different and thereā€™s basically no argument to be made that allowing EvilKirk to continue to exist would benefit any involved party, EvilKirk included. But for the purposes of this comparison, the only fact that really matters is that EvilKirk was just as passionate about his desire to continue existing as Tuvix was.

Yetā€”and itā€™s obvious where Iā€™m going with thisā€”ā€œSpock murdered EvilKirkā€ is not a meme.

So what gives? Did Spock murder EvilKirk or not? If yes, why does he get a pass while Janeway is condemned?

  • TeaHands@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    arrow-down
    1
    Ā·
    1 year ago

    I always got the impression that the Kirks were both destined to wither away and die if kept separate, but itā€™s been a while so I might be wrong there.

    Thereā€™s also the issue that EvilKirk was a danger to everyone else on the ship. You could make the argument that if he survived, he could have learned to control his behaviour, but Iā€™m not sure thatā€™s the case for a personality entirely made up of those negative traits.

    Itā€™s definitely a moral grey area, whereas with the Tuvix situation itā€™s more black and white. There was no danger to anyone else, he was well-liked and a credit to the ship, there was basically no reason for Janeway to split him back apart other than ā€œI want toā€.

    • Guy Fleegman@startrek.websiteOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      12
      Ā·
      1 year ago

      Janewayā€™s decision was far from arbitrary. She did it to save the lives of Tuvok and Neelix, who were unable to advocate for themselves at the time.

      • Shift_@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        Ā·
        1 year ago

        YES!
        EXACTLY!

        Everyone wants to save Tuvix because they like him. But nobody wants to save Tuvok or Neelix. They didnā€™t consent to dying so Tuvix could live. If you agree Tuvix is a person, then you cannot disregard that so were Tuvok and Neelix. Where was their funeral? Does Tuvokā€™s family not get itā€™s husband and father back because the crew liked Tuvix better? The two people whoā€™s opinion mattered the most couldnā€™t be consulted. If Tuvix is a person, his judgement on the matter is simply too biased as his sense of self preservation would interfere with objective decision-making.

        To save Tuvix was to murder Tuvok and Neelix.

        • vegivamp@feddit.nl
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          Ā·
          1 year ago

          To save Tuvix was to murder Tuvok and Neelix.

          They couldā€™ve attempted to recreate the Riker accident. Copy the datastream before itā€™s split. Surely thereā€™s the technical knowledge to do it.

          Itā€™s also interesting that at the end of the episode, they never go into Tuvok and Neelixā€™ memories of the whole thing - they donā€™t seem surprised to be in sickbay instead of the transporter room, so theyā€™re clearly aware of what happened. They could have at least asked them at that point whether theyā€™re happy to be back of if they would like to be merged again - theyā€™ve shown that itā€™s just a matter of having the orchid in the same transport.

          In fact, that theyā€™re not confused by the - for them individually - new memories, like Tuvix was when he first came into being, could actually suggest that they were both actively present to some degree inside Tuvixā€™ personalityā€¦

          Aside from all that, the way they explain the orchidā€™s effect means that it would never have been safe to have Tuvix in a shared transporter stream: the orchidā€™s means of reproduction is basically to merge with another species through the use of a particular enzyme, so it stands to reason that Tuvix is the orchidā€™s offspring and also possesses that enzyme.

    • Lumidaub@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      Ā·
      1 year ago

      he could have learned to control his behaviour, but Iā€™m not sure thatā€™s the case for a personality entirely made up of those negative traits.

      But what does it even mean to be ā€œmade up of negative traitsā€? Would he have been completely unable to learn? To realise that, maybe, sometimes, there is benefit in not being ā€œevilā€, even for entirely selfish reasons? And who says that GoodKirk couldnā€™t also learn to be more assertive? (psychotherapy must be easily available in our socialist future, especially for high-ranking Starfleet officers, as well as plenty time off for mental health reasons)

      Itā€™s not like Kirkā€™s positive and negative traits are inherent, he wasnā€™t born with them, but they are a result of his lifeā€™s experiences. So could one make the argument that both would just need time to adjust?

      • TeaHands@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        Ā·
        1 year ago

        See this is exactly what I mean. The Kirk example is a grey area, that in real life would lead to way too many questions than could be answered in a single TV episode. Itā€™s an interesting thing to think about though, and gets into the whole nature vs nurture debate that we saw tackled a bit in episodes like the DS9 one with the baby Jemā€™Hadar. If youā€™re ripped apart into two beings like that, are you essentially ā€œbornā€ good or evil and would you have the capacity for change?

        Could each Kirk have gone on to become psychologically stable? Maybe, maybe not. Did merging them save one combined life that wouldā€™ve otherwise soon expired, or did it murder two individuals who couldā€™ve gone on to have long happy lives? Lots of questions, ripe for debate. A grey area.

        Whereas in the Tuvix example, thereā€™s nothing really grey about it. And regardless of which side you come down on in the Kirk debate, thatā€™s why I believe Janeway gets all the flak and Spock does not.