Culpability in SGA
16 November 2005 21:15![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mandragoraI've recently been seeing a trend in SGA fandom of some people saying, "Oh, but it wasn't that bad that Rodney destroyed five sixths of a solar system because Sheppard woke up the Wraith, and Beckett destroyed half the population of Hoff and Rodney should totally be cut some slack because what did he do that was really that bad? I mean, it's not as if we know whether that solar system was even inhabited." Well, yeah, that's precisely the point. We don't know and it may have been and, if so, God knows how many people Rodney killed. Actually, I think it unlikely that it was inhabited, because if it had been probably that would have been explicitly stated. However, whether inhabited or not, blowing up a solar system as a result of actions that could have easily been avoided is pretty bad.
One thing I like about SGA is how it doesn't flinch from making its protagonists flawed and human and prone to mistakes. And you know what, we all make mistakes.
To clarify, I'm using negligence in the legal sense here. A person making a mistake is not necessarily negligent. Whether they are depends on whether the result of their actions was reasonably foreseeable as being likely to cause harm to others and it's sufficiently serious as to not come within the category of easily made mistakes. Let me put it this way, if your doctor hasn't killed a patient yet, that's most probably because they're either very young or very lucky. But even if a doctor's actions result in a patient's death, that's not necessarily negligent, especially if it's recognised that the suggested course of treatment is high risk but necessary.
So, let's analyse the mistakes made by Sheppard and Beckett and McKay and see which ones are (arguably) negligent in the legal sense.
SHEPPARD
Sheppard first, because he made the first mistake. Some would say that was waking the Wraith. Now, the result of his killing the Wraith female certainly had the effect of waking all of the others, but by every reasonable standard John was actually doing nothing wrong. He killed her because she was threatening him and he'd just seen her drain Sumner like sucking an orange. By military standards what he did was absolutely the right action - take out the threat and then go and rescue your people. He killed her because she'd already shown that simply wounding her wouldn't stop her. The only way to stop her was to kill her.
He had no way of knowing that killing her would awaken the rest of the Wraith. Therefore although his actions had that result, it wasn't reasonably foreseeable that this would happen. Not only that, no other member of the military in John's position would have acted any differently. Ergo, no negligence. And that is why no one blames John for what he did and why it's never been suggested on the show that he's in any way culpable. Because he wasn't.
I believe that John feels guilty as hell on a personal level about waking the Wraith but as an intelligent man he knows that on a military level he did what he had to do at the time.
But I would say that John made another mistake on that mission that actually was potentially negligent and they were just damn lucky that they all got away okay. He was the only person who could pilot the jumper and yet he went off alone, potentially stranding not only his team but also the people they were trying to rescue. It was a bad military decision -- Ford should have gone instead, as he offered -- and John's refusal is symptomatic of one of his weaknesses as a military commander, which is that he's not willing to send his people to do what he won't do himself, even when he should. Another example is John flying the nuclear bomb to the hive ship. He should have sent another pilot who had the ATA or natural Ancient gene in his place and stayed and done his duty as military commander. Which is to say, in command. But John won't order people into those situations unless he's right there by their side and yet sometimes the military commander has to give that order, but John won't.
Another mistake -- Hot Zone. John was bang out of order when he challenged Weir and it was partially due to luck that he succeeded in saving the day, after his actions had actually spread the infection that was otherwise contained. Yes [name of man who panicked] might have got through on his own, but John's actions were premature at the very least. His intentions were good, mind you. He just wanted to save his people. However, he has a certain degree of arrogance that makes him believe he is right and others…may not be.
So, yes, John haring off on his own on the Rising rescue mission was not only a mistake but potentially negligent. If he'd failed, everyone else would have been stranded on the hive ship and Atlantis would be out of yet another military commander. If you want to criticise him for that, well, quite frankly, he deserves it. Ditto, his actions in Hot Zone. But not for waking the Wraith. That really wasn’t his fault.
BECKETT
Next we come to Beckett, and Perna and Hoff. The Hoffans were on the trail of something that could potentially be huge, a real life saver. A way to make people immune to the Wraith. So of course the Atlantis expedition had to explore it and follow it through. They were desperate, stranded (at the time) and oh so threatened by the Wraith, hanging on by a thread. Carson put his expertise to work and he and Perna came up with something that was very promising.
And what happens then? Well, Carson, quite properly, wants to test it, go slowly, see what the side effects are, if any. It's the Hoffans who insist on pressing ahead without proper testing (or, really, any testing at all). Incidentally, it's also possible to adhere to proper testing procedure and release a drug that results in horrific side-effects and still not be negligent in law. That's because the side-effects may not have been reasonably foreseeable, you see.
An example, the thalidomide drug that was released in Britain in the early 1960s. It was designed to combat morning sickness but sadly resulted in terrible birth defects, babies born without limbs, and just tiny little flapping hands and feet at the shoulder or groin. But if that case had come to court the drug manufacturers, Distillers, most likely would not have been held to be liable in negligence. Why? Because they tested the drug thoroughly in accordance with the testing standards laid down at the time. As a result of the birth defects it was realised that the testing procedures weren't rigorous enough and they were subsequently tightened. But the fact is that Distillers tested the thalidomide drug as they ought to have done by the legal standards of the day. Therefore, not negligent.
As for Carson, no he wasn't negligent. He wanted to test the drug properly and, if memory serves, refused to have anything further to do with it once the Hoffans refused to cooperate. Yes, the effect of the drug was that half of the Hoffans died but Beckett isn't responsible for that. Not legally and I would argue not morally, either. Because he's a kind, decent man I think he feels guilty, but he's not responsible for what happened, because if the drug had been tested properly as Beckett wanted the result could have been avoided.
However, I can think of an example when IMO Carson not only made a mistake but it tipped over into negligence. And that's with the Wraith Elia. The stupidity inherent in taking the experimental retrovirus from Atlantis onto the planet is mind-boggling. Carson knew that there was a Wraith there and that she was keen to be well-thought of. No, he didn't know that she would take it and inject it into herself, but why did he take the retrovirus with him in the first place? Surely it would have been better to have made contact with Elia first, talked to her, carried out some experiments using samples taken from her, continued to refine the retrovirus and, maybe, only then actually only trying it on her in controlled circumstances.
Now if it had been Season One and the Atlantis expedition was facing imminent doom and Carson had decided to risk the retrovirus on Elia after asking her permission because it was a tiny sliver of hope, well, frankly I'd have cut him more slack. But in Season Two, matters are by no means hopeless, what with having a ZPM, being in regular contact with Earth and the Daedulus being on hand to assist. Yes, they need to find a way to protect themselves against the Wraith, but there's time now to do this. Therefore, their actions will be held to a higher standard as they're no longer fighting for their lives.
Was it reasonably foreseeable that Elia would steal the retrovirus and inject herself? No. But it was reasonably foreseeable that taking an experimental not-yet-perfected experimental retrovirus out of the laboratory might lead to unfortunate consequences. So, yes, Beckett was negligent and when John tells Carson that it wasn't his fault when he was turning into Bug!John, well, actually it was.
MCKAY
Last, but certainly not least, we come to Rodney. He makes his humongous mistake on Doranda in Season Two, in which as I wrote above their situation is by no means as desperate as in Season One.
Part of Rodney's motivation for pressing ahead is with Project Arcturus is altruistic. He doesn't want Collins to have died for nothing and he's also cognisant that if Arcturus works that's pretty much the end of the Wraith problem. Although Rodney has a healthy sense of preservation (except when his ego gets in the way), I do believe that he genuinely cares about others and wasn't thinking only of protecting himself.
But, a large part of his motivation is the desire for recognition, for that Nobel prize and the awed admiration of his scientific peers. And it's that desire which IMO ultimately overwhelms him into ignoring every dictate of good practice and common sense and going ahead with the experiment after he had been explicitly warned of the danger by Zelenka.
He could quite easily have not gone ahead at that time, consulted with Radek, listened to what Radek had to say and then made his mind up. But he chose not to. Instead, he remained convinced of his absolute superiority and apparently blind to the fact that anyone can make a mistake. He made mistakes in his calculations in Duet, after all, and yes, there was the whole sharing consciousness with Cadman thing, but that should have shown him that he can be wrong.
Rodney choosing to continue his experiments in the circumstances -- which included the fact that their power needs weren't pressing at the time, and neither were their weaponry requirements and, yes, it would be great to have but it wasn't a matter of life and death -- was pure negligence. And negligence with very little redeeming value, at that. Unlike John, he wasn't desperate to save lives at the time John made his negligent mistakes, and it wasn't a matter of not really thinking as in Carson's case. No, Rodney acted as he did to prove that he was the best. He must be right because he's so fantastically bright. Only, in this case, he was very wrong.
As for John's actions in not shutting it down sooner, Rodney asked him to trust him, and John did. Yes, he made an error in judgement in trusting Rodney for as long as he did, but Rodney was telling John the whole time that he was right. In my view the responsibility for what happened on Arcturus should be laid at one person's door -- Rodney.
MOST NEGLIGENT?
Who was most negligent? Not Carson, IMO, because his actions were born of nothing more than a failure of forethought. As for John, well, his actions were partly caused by arrogance -- thinking he's right and that other people don't see things as clearly as he does. But he was actively trying to save lives at the time. He most definitely deserved Elizabeth's anger for his actions in Hot Zone, although I can quite understand why she didn’t discipline him for them at the time -- she needed him onboard too much and already knew that in any power struggle the military was going to side with John. Plus, John got lucky and saved the day.
But it's his intentions, and the fact that lives were in imminent threat, that I take most notice of, both in Rising and in Hot Zone. Action needed to be taken immediately both times and if it's less well-thought out than on mature reflection, well, the law takes account of all the circumstances when determining negligence.
But In Rodney's case there was no immediate threat. There was time to reflect and consider. Rodney is equally (perhaps more) as arrogant as John when it comes to being convinced of his own abilities, but he didn't have John's reasons for pressing on right now when Rodney insisted on continuing with Project Arcturus. Rodney was adamant that a highly risky experiment continue when there was no pressing need to do so and when the sensible, prudent, non-negligent course would have been to back off, listen to the misgivings evinced by other, highly qualified people, and then possibly reconsider.
In conclusion therefore, IMO the most negligent from a legal perspective has got to be Rodney. And that is why he was, quite rightly, subject to the anger of his colleagues -- Weir, John, presumably Radek. Because, you know, Rodney really deserved it.
One thing I like about SGA is how it doesn't flinch from making its protagonists flawed and human and prone to mistakes. And you know what, we all make mistakes.
To clarify, I'm using negligence in the legal sense here. A person making a mistake is not necessarily negligent. Whether they are depends on whether the result of their actions was reasonably foreseeable as being likely to cause harm to others and it's sufficiently serious as to not come within the category of easily made mistakes. Let me put it this way, if your doctor hasn't killed a patient yet, that's most probably because they're either very young or very lucky. But even if a doctor's actions result in a patient's death, that's not necessarily negligent, especially if it's recognised that the suggested course of treatment is high risk but necessary.
So, let's analyse the mistakes made by Sheppard and Beckett and McKay and see which ones are (arguably) negligent in the legal sense.
SHEPPARD
Sheppard first, because he made the first mistake. Some would say that was waking the Wraith. Now, the result of his killing the Wraith female certainly had the effect of waking all of the others, but by every reasonable standard John was actually doing nothing wrong. He killed her because she was threatening him and he'd just seen her drain Sumner like sucking an orange. By military standards what he did was absolutely the right action - take out the threat and then go and rescue your people. He killed her because she'd already shown that simply wounding her wouldn't stop her. The only way to stop her was to kill her.
He had no way of knowing that killing her would awaken the rest of the Wraith. Therefore although his actions had that result, it wasn't reasonably foreseeable that this would happen. Not only that, no other member of the military in John's position would have acted any differently. Ergo, no negligence. And that is why no one blames John for what he did and why it's never been suggested on the show that he's in any way culpable. Because he wasn't.
I believe that John feels guilty as hell on a personal level about waking the Wraith but as an intelligent man he knows that on a military level he did what he had to do at the time.
But I would say that John made another mistake on that mission that actually was potentially negligent and they were just damn lucky that they all got away okay. He was the only person who could pilot the jumper and yet he went off alone, potentially stranding not only his team but also the people they were trying to rescue. It was a bad military decision -- Ford should have gone instead, as he offered -- and John's refusal is symptomatic of one of his weaknesses as a military commander, which is that he's not willing to send his people to do what he won't do himself, even when he should. Another example is John flying the nuclear bomb to the hive ship. He should have sent another pilot who had the ATA or natural Ancient gene in his place and stayed and done his duty as military commander. Which is to say, in command. But John won't order people into those situations unless he's right there by their side and yet sometimes the military commander has to give that order, but John won't.
Another mistake -- Hot Zone. John was bang out of order when he challenged Weir and it was partially due to luck that he succeeded in saving the day, after his actions had actually spread the infection that was otherwise contained. Yes [name of man who panicked] might have got through on his own, but John's actions were premature at the very least. His intentions were good, mind you. He just wanted to save his people. However, he has a certain degree of arrogance that makes him believe he is right and others…may not be.
So, yes, John haring off on his own on the Rising rescue mission was not only a mistake but potentially negligent. If he'd failed, everyone else would have been stranded on the hive ship and Atlantis would be out of yet another military commander. If you want to criticise him for that, well, quite frankly, he deserves it. Ditto, his actions in Hot Zone. But not for waking the Wraith. That really wasn’t his fault.
BECKETT
Next we come to Beckett, and Perna and Hoff. The Hoffans were on the trail of something that could potentially be huge, a real life saver. A way to make people immune to the Wraith. So of course the Atlantis expedition had to explore it and follow it through. They were desperate, stranded (at the time) and oh so threatened by the Wraith, hanging on by a thread. Carson put his expertise to work and he and Perna came up with something that was very promising.
And what happens then? Well, Carson, quite properly, wants to test it, go slowly, see what the side effects are, if any. It's the Hoffans who insist on pressing ahead without proper testing (or, really, any testing at all). Incidentally, it's also possible to adhere to proper testing procedure and release a drug that results in horrific side-effects and still not be negligent in law. That's because the side-effects may not have been reasonably foreseeable, you see.
An example, the thalidomide drug that was released in Britain in the early 1960s. It was designed to combat morning sickness but sadly resulted in terrible birth defects, babies born without limbs, and just tiny little flapping hands and feet at the shoulder or groin. But if that case had come to court the drug manufacturers, Distillers, most likely would not have been held to be liable in negligence. Why? Because they tested the drug thoroughly in accordance with the testing standards laid down at the time. As a result of the birth defects it was realised that the testing procedures weren't rigorous enough and they were subsequently tightened. But the fact is that Distillers tested the thalidomide drug as they ought to have done by the legal standards of the day. Therefore, not negligent.
As for Carson, no he wasn't negligent. He wanted to test the drug properly and, if memory serves, refused to have anything further to do with it once the Hoffans refused to cooperate. Yes, the effect of the drug was that half of the Hoffans died but Beckett isn't responsible for that. Not legally and I would argue not morally, either. Because he's a kind, decent man I think he feels guilty, but he's not responsible for what happened, because if the drug had been tested properly as Beckett wanted the result could have been avoided.
However, I can think of an example when IMO Carson not only made a mistake but it tipped over into negligence. And that's with the Wraith Elia. The stupidity inherent in taking the experimental retrovirus from Atlantis onto the planet is mind-boggling. Carson knew that there was a Wraith there and that she was keen to be well-thought of. No, he didn't know that she would take it and inject it into herself, but why did he take the retrovirus with him in the first place? Surely it would have been better to have made contact with Elia first, talked to her, carried out some experiments using samples taken from her, continued to refine the retrovirus and, maybe, only then actually only trying it on her in controlled circumstances.
Now if it had been Season One and the Atlantis expedition was facing imminent doom and Carson had decided to risk the retrovirus on Elia after asking her permission because it was a tiny sliver of hope, well, frankly I'd have cut him more slack. But in Season Two, matters are by no means hopeless, what with having a ZPM, being in regular contact with Earth and the Daedulus being on hand to assist. Yes, they need to find a way to protect themselves against the Wraith, but there's time now to do this. Therefore, their actions will be held to a higher standard as they're no longer fighting for their lives.
Was it reasonably foreseeable that Elia would steal the retrovirus and inject herself? No. But it was reasonably foreseeable that taking an experimental not-yet-perfected experimental retrovirus out of the laboratory might lead to unfortunate consequences. So, yes, Beckett was negligent and when John tells Carson that it wasn't his fault when he was turning into Bug!John, well, actually it was.
MCKAY
Last, but certainly not least, we come to Rodney. He makes his humongous mistake on Doranda in Season Two, in which as I wrote above their situation is by no means as desperate as in Season One.
Part of Rodney's motivation for pressing ahead is with Project Arcturus is altruistic. He doesn't want Collins to have died for nothing and he's also cognisant that if Arcturus works that's pretty much the end of the Wraith problem. Although Rodney has a healthy sense of preservation (except when his ego gets in the way), I do believe that he genuinely cares about others and wasn't thinking only of protecting himself.
But, a large part of his motivation is the desire for recognition, for that Nobel prize and the awed admiration of his scientific peers. And it's that desire which IMO ultimately overwhelms him into ignoring every dictate of good practice and common sense and going ahead with the experiment after he had been explicitly warned of the danger by Zelenka.
He could quite easily have not gone ahead at that time, consulted with Radek, listened to what Radek had to say and then made his mind up. But he chose not to. Instead, he remained convinced of his absolute superiority and apparently blind to the fact that anyone can make a mistake. He made mistakes in his calculations in Duet, after all, and yes, there was the whole sharing consciousness with Cadman thing, but that should have shown him that he can be wrong.
Rodney choosing to continue his experiments in the circumstances -- which included the fact that their power needs weren't pressing at the time, and neither were their weaponry requirements and, yes, it would be great to have but it wasn't a matter of life and death -- was pure negligence. And negligence with very little redeeming value, at that. Unlike John, he wasn't desperate to save lives at the time John made his negligent mistakes, and it wasn't a matter of not really thinking as in Carson's case. No, Rodney acted as he did to prove that he was the best. He must be right because he's so fantastically bright. Only, in this case, he was very wrong.
As for John's actions in not shutting it down sooner, Rodney asked him to trust him, and John did. Yes, he made an error in judgement in trusting Rodney for as long as he did, but Rodney was telling John the whole time that he was right. In my view the responsibility for what happened on Arcturus should be laid at one person's door -- Rodney.
MOST NEGLIGENT?
Who was most negligent? Not Carson, IMO, because his actions were born of nothing more than a failure of forethought. As for John, well, his actions were partly caused by arrogance -- thinking he's right and that other people don't see things as clearly as he does. But he was actively trying to save lives at the time. He most definitely deserved Elizabeth's anger for his actions in Hot Zone, although I can quite understand why she didn’t discipline him for them at the time -- she needed him onboard too much and already knew that in any power struggle the military was going to side with John. Plus, John got lucky and saved the day.
But it's his intentions, and the fact that lives were in imminent threat, that I take most notice of, both in Rising and in Hot Zone. Action needed to be taken immediately both times and if it's less well-thought out than on mature reflection, well, the law takes account of all the circumstances when determining negligence.
But In Rodney's case there was no immediate threat. There was time to reflect and consider. Rodney is equally (perhaps more) as arrogant as John when it comes to being convinced of his own abilities, but he didn't have John's reasons for pressing on right now when Rodney insisted on continuing with Project Arcturus. Rodney was adamant that a highly risky experiment continue when there was no pressing need to do so and when the sensible, prudent, non-negligent course would have been to back off, listen to the misgivings evinced by other, highly qualified people, and then possibly reconsider.
In conclusion therefore, IMO the most negligent from a legal perspective has got to be Rodney. And that is why he was, quite rightly, subject to the anger of his colleagues -- Weir, John, presumably Radek. Because, you know, Rodney really deserved it.
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Date: 20 November 2005 21:21 (UTC)It is, and it's mostly not mine. *g* I can't find the post I read a while ago about subverting the archetypes, but I agreed with it when I read it. Should have stated that earlier but brain was a bit fuzzy at the time. I wish I'd bookmarked it, because I'd like to read it again. Some of the examples above are mine, because when you think of it like that you come to realise just how TPTB are doing it and it's all rather clever, actually.
On Rodney, I think he's the BSO (beloved slash object) of SGA fandom. Of course, contrary creature that I am, that just makes me want to ensure that John gets equal treatment and isn't dissed as the Big Meanie. This typically happens in most slash fandoms where the fannish love seems to be given mostly to the sidekick, or scientist etc and the character who is set up to be the hero-type gets turned into some kind of bully. It's been happening quite a lot recently in John/Rodney, McShep, McKay/Sheppard, call it what you like and I'm pretty weary of seeing the same old.
Elizabeth has definitely grown on me. I think she's got a horrible job and although she's made some mistakes (but then who hasn't) she's doing okay so far. I think I know what you mean about the portrayal. She seems rather cold a lot of the time, but I put it down to her being terrified and feeling out of her depth a lot of the time. She signed up as being head administrator of a scientific expedition and instead she's ended up in dire peril and having to give the military a lot more say than was planned. Mostly, she's coped but I think the insomnia is because she's under so much pressure day today.
Ah, the practice. Ex-City litigator, used to do heavyweight litigation matters for huge corporations. Many international cases, where there were proceedings in multiple jurisdictions. My experience included a lot of fraud and as a result I've changed emphasis recently from civil fraud to criminal -- it gives me a lot more freedom as it's possible to freelance as a criminal lawyer. I mostly undertake the serious fraud cases but because I'm nowadays a criminal lawyer I'm required to do a certain amount of work at the coalface, so to speak. So I'm in court a fair bit representing clients on pretty much anything going, as well as supervising the serious fraud cases. It can be highly amusing and is less boring than being stuck in the office all day.
Like most lawyers I'm not exactly wedded to it, but it wouldn't be easy to change careers now and I guess there's worse things to be. I see you've changed careers yourself. Not surprising. I mean the City is punishing enough, but Wall Street is worse.