Simonbob
Well-known member
1. The actual Klendathu Invasion. They literally just tried to Imperial Guard the entire planet with infantry dropships. This wasn't a case of the "Normandy Beaches" where they had to send in infantry first, it was their first choice. Even against an enemy seen to be nothing but insects, this is just callous. And stupid.
That, I'll agree with.
2. Whiskey Outpost. They suspected there might be a Brain Bug on Planet P, yet they basically sacrificed Razak's Roughnecks (later Rico's Roughnecks) just to confirm their suspicions. Carl even admits this, basically saying "I'm sorry this was your unit; this mission had a very low survival-rate" and justified it with a "we're in it for the species" speech. They knew, dude.
I disagree that this is proof of anything other than needing to risk to win. War can be like that.
3. Razak himself shooting one of his troopers instead of the Hopper. Yes, it can be argued that he was mercy killing the trooper who was being torn apart (which I agree with), but the fact he did it after literally a second to consider whether the trooper was worth saving by killing the Hopper and expected (and had it done) the same mercy to be given to him? It says something about the MI and their priorities. At a stretch, you could even say they see themselves as disposable cogs in the machine, which is backed up by the constant propaganda to get more bodies in the MI and Fleet.
That's more mixed. I know that just giving a trooper morphene and letting them die has happened, and that was legal. It's pretty much the same thing.
You're mixing war stuff with fascism, sometimes.
4. It's heavily implied that unless you're a citizen in the film (having served in the MI or Fleet), you're a second class, well, citizen. You can't even have children, can't vote, and many after-career jobs are blocked from you (shower scene, the classroom scene early on in the movie, et cetera). If you're a civilian? Well, tough shit; enjoy being the ignored underclass unless you're rich (Rico's parents) enough to basically coast through life without the "responsibilities" of being a citizen (which is still frowned upon, given Dizzy's reaction in training when Rico tries to quit). Again, this is indicative of the cultural attitude that you're looked on as being a parasite if you're not a citizen.
Johnny's parents weren't citizens, they were rich, could travel, etc.
They were against him enlisting, too. That's not very underclass-ish.
I think you're wrong, based on the film. I also think that any real world attempt would have civilians as an underclass. But, we don't see that in the film, exactly.
5. Dude, the entire Federation is a fucking parody of a fascist and hyper-militaristic state! The classroom scene even goes on about the "collapse of Democracy" and basically hyping up their current, militaristic government as being superior!
The film was so good at it that people actually thought, and some still think, that the film was pro-fascism! facepalm
Also, just look at the uniforms; the creatives behind the film have said that they based the designs on Nazi Germany's uniforms, and this is even more blatant with the uniforms of the higher ups, like those in command and intelligence (such as Carl and his not-SS).
That was the directors intent. But, the director failed at that, and didn't understand what facisim is.
It's not like our current "democratic" system's working all that well.
6. Hell, the propaganda alone for the civilians/citizens on Earth is a perfect example: I'm pretty sure those "Mormon Extremists" were just regular Mormons who were trying to live away from the Federation, and they were so desperate to do it they tried their luck in the AQZ.
Edit: Or were they just normal Mormons labeled as being "extremists" because they're persecuted by the State for just being non-conformist?
We don't know anything about them. Are they just misunderstood? Are they monsters? Are they just idiots? No clue.
We don't have enough details to tell, so they should be ignored.