self-justification theme
A character struggles to convince themselves (as well as others) that their actions are just even though the motives seem self-serving and the justifications weak.
Examples
In tng1x17 "When The Bough Breaks", when Radue's proposed exchange was turned down, he rationalize kidnapping the Enterprise children instead. He dubiously held that the children would be better off with foster parents on Aldea than with their real human parents, and that his proposed bargain had been a fair one anyways.
7 total · 4 major · 3 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| tng1x22 | major | The Brekkians, Sobi and Langor in particular, rationalized keeping the Ornaran people addicted to a powerful narcotic with a self-serving argument about how doing so was in the best interest of both peoples. |
| tng6x03 | major | Alkar justified using Troi as a receptacle for his negative emotions by maintaining that it was for the greater good. |
| tng6x09 | major | Farallon's self-interest make her very reluctant to recognize the exocomps as being sentient in spite of Data's evidence. |
| tng7x12 | major | Admiral Pressman justified abandoning the Pegasus crew by maintaining that they were "a bunch of mutinous cowards" who were "too blinded by fear" to comprehend Pressman's noble objective. In reality, the crew mutinied in a last ditched effort to prevent Pressman from violating the Treaty of Algeron. |
| ds96x11 | minor | Dukat rationalized the atrocities he'd overseen as Prefect of Bajor by maintaining that his superiors didn't allow him to rule Bajor with a "softer hand" as he wanted. |
| theamericanshortstory08 | minor | A hotel guest used that the Swede had acted aggressively toward others as a justification for having killed him. |
| tng1x17 | minor | Radue tried to rationalize his kidnapping of the Enterprise children. |