My feelings about her differ depending context, I think.
As a character I think she’s great. As a person I don’t. As a captain I can see either side, but personally I lean towards “this person should not have unchecked power” tbh. Some of her actions really are needlessly callous.
Her ruthlessness is often great when the situation calls for it, but some things like her literally torturing Paris for 30 days in one episode really rubs me the wrong way.
I feel like Janeway would be a good first officer for a more “gentle” captain. Like Colonel Tigh is to Captain Adama on Battlestar Galactica.
E: long term solitary confinement is torture, as concluded by the UN, ECHR, and a load of governments, human rights organisations, criminality experts, and doctors worldwide. This is not up for debate. Janeway tortured Paris.
Now, whether you find torture an appropriate punishment is another matter entirely, but I personally am on the side of torture being off the table for tools a captain can use to discipline their officers.
How is being sent to the brig torture? Nothing she did was cruel. He had food and a bed. He had disobeyed a direct order and received a light punishment.
It wasn’t merely the brig, it was solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement for 30 days is torture.
He wasn’t permitted to speak to anybody, we was never let out. He was never offered anything recreational to do. Janeway even went the extra length of ensuring that any food given to him was bland and flavourless. She took steps to make sure he had as little mental stimulation as possible.
Solitary confinement is widely classed as torture.
There is a huge body of research that proves solitary confinement has large negative impacts to physical, psychological, and neurological health.
The United Nations outlaws solitary confinement for more than 15 days (which is still a lot. It would be less if some US states didn’t complain about it) on grounds of it literally being torture. And that’s in the unenlightened 21st century, never mind almost 400 years ahead of us.
Even in the most awful of prisons, people are generally allowed an hour a day outside of their cells. Paris didn’t even get that.
I’m personally not of the view that torturing your crew is light punishment.
My feelings about her differ depending context, I think.
As a character I think she’s great. As a person I don’t. As a captain I can see either side, but personally I lean towards “this person should not have unchecked power” tbh. Some of her actions really are needlessly callous.
Her ruthlessness is often great when the situation calls for it, but some things like her literally torturing Paris for 30 days in one episode really rubs me the wrong way.
I feel like Janeway would be a good first officer for a more “gentle” captain. Like Colonel Tigh is to Captain Adama on Battlestar Galactica.
E: long term solitary confinement is torture, as concluded by the UN, ECHR, and a load of governments, human rights organisations, criminality experts, and doctors worldwide. This is not up for debate. Janeway tortured Paris.
Now, whether you find torture an appropriate punishment is another matter entirely, but I personally am on the side of torture being off the table for tools a captain can use to discipline their officers.
How is being sent to the brig torture? Nothing she did was cruel. He had food and a bed. He had disobeyed a direct order and received a light punishment.
It wasn’t merely the brig, it was solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement for 30 days is torture.
He wasn’t permitted to speak to anybody, we was never let out. He was never offered anything recreational to do. Janeway even went the extra length of ensuring that any food given to him was bland and flavourless. She took steps to make sure he had as little mental stimulation as possible.
Solitary confinement is widely classed as torture.
There is a huge body of research that proves solitary confinement has large negative impacts to physical, psychological, and neurological health.
The United Nations outlaws solitary confinement for more than 15 days (which is still a lot. It would be less if some US states didn’t complain about it) on grounds of it literally being torture. And that’s in the unenlightened 21st century, never mind almost 400 years ahead of us.
Even in the most awful of prisons, people are generally allowed an hour a day outside of their cells. Paris didn’t even get that.
I’m personally not of the view that torturing your crew is light punishment.