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RageIncarnate
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Broken Aesop
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* BrokenAesop - The \\\'dilemma\\\' that this movie pitches to its viewers is that both the protagonists of the film are both simultaneously correct and wrong in their actions, and in equal measure. Ramsey\\\'s desire to uphold the chain of command and take offensive measures is as per his duty as captain, yet he is in direct violation of nuclear protocols and could have launched nuclear weapons at a nuclear power and thus sparked a nuclear war. Hunter\\\'s use of authority to subdue the captain and take control of the submarine is still technically a mutiny, but for all practical purposes, he just averted world war 3. However, at the end of the movie, the Board of Inquiry expresses that both men have committed transgressions that are implied to be equivalent in magnitude, yet both are said to have had equally good intentions. The Board is then left to decide what to do, while the epilogue message indicates that this incident caused the ability to launch nuclear weapons to be reverted solely to the hands of the President of the United States of America. [[{{ValuesDissonance}} Wait...]] [[{{FlatWhat}} what]]. Equally good intentions? Equivalent transgressions? The potential slaughter of 6 billion human beings is equivalent to the mutiny - lawful mutiny, that too - of a single submarine? Isn\\\'t there some term that can be used to describe committing genocide under military authorisation? Yes, it\\\'s called a war-crime. And even though it didn\\\'t happen, it VERY NEARLY did. Is not the attempt at a warcrime a crime in itself? How did Ramsey get away with what appeared to be merely a slap on the wrist? Or does he later get tried as a war-criminal as he well should be? The movie doesn\\\'t say, and just ends with this supposed \\\'dilemma\\\' hanging.
** The way things turned out, this is correct. However, if things had turned out the other way - if it turned out the rebels still held the base, had obtained or cracked the launch codes, and were indeed about to launch their missiles - then the failure to launch a preemptive strike according to the orders in hand would have been the event that killed tens of millions (if only the rebels\\\' targets were hit) or billions (if the U.S. retaliated against Russia). In their frame of reference, the entire world was one big Schrodinger\\\'s Cat. The Board had to determine the relative correctness of their actions according to procedure, at the time and under the circumstances they were taken, without knowing how it would turn out.
*** But the point is that Ramsey *did not* act according to procedure. His decision was made on his own initiative, with incomplete information on a protocol that required complete information to execute. He had a potential launch order, but he needed a confirmation of that launch order before he could act. Hunter pointed this out, but he decided to go ahead with the launch, under the assumption that the confirm has also been sent but his submarine had not received it because of their \\\'technical difficulties\\\'. Also, as Hunter pointed out, there were other nuke-armed submarines out there, and they could have launched their missiles at the target in the event that the launch order was positive.
**** Sorry, but the launch order had already been given - \\\"the release of nuclear weapons has been authorized\\\". That was the only order they needed to launch. The interrupted message was to stand down from the previously-given order. The fact that it appeared to pertain to nuclear missile launch was what convinced Hunter that they should pause the already-underway countdown, because there didn\\\'t seem to be any other reason for any further communication on that subject.
***** The nuclear launch protocol is multi-staged - and even explained to be such in the movie - of which launch authorisation is not the last stage. Hunter insists that they wait for the launch confirmation to be given. [[spoiler: That\\\'s what Ramsey agrees to wait for near the end of the movie. Hunter and Ramsey are waiting for the launch confirmation to come through, and they have agreed to either launch or abort, depending on what the confirm says. The problem is, this is what they SHOULD have done at the very beginning of this whole [[GoshDangItToHeck gosh dang]] issue. However, Ramsey took it upon himself to interpret the authorisation as a confirm. He\\\'s even called out on it by the review board at the very end of the movie, but only as a technicality - for \\\'violation of nuclear launch protocols\\\'. Then he\\\'s given a slap on the wrist of what amounts to attempted omnicide]].
***** That\\\'s not how it looked to me. Ramsey\\\'s reaction to the incomplete message was not to say \\\"it must mean \\\'launch\\\'\\\" but to say \\\"it doesn\\\'t mean anything at all\\\", and therefore we proceed as before, continue the countdown for launch already underway. But this is turning into an EditWar and I\\\'d rather not. Perhaps if someone other than we two could step in... otherwise, perhaps an admin should punt this to a discussion page (I don\\\'t know how).
** The way things turned out, this is correct. However, if things had turned out the other way - if it turned out the rebels still held the base, had obtained or cracked the launch codes, and were indeed about to launch their missiles - then the failure to launch a preemptive strike according to the orders in hand would have been the event that killed tens of millions (if only the rebels\\\' targets were hit) or billions (if the U.S. retaliated against Russia). In their frame of reference, the entire world was one big Schrodinger\\\'s Cat. The Board had to determine the relative correctness of their actions according to procedure, at the time and under the circumstances they were taken, without knowing how it would turn out.
*** But the point is that Ramsey *did not* act according to procedure. His decision was made on his own initiative, with incomplete information on a protocol that required complete information to execute. He had a potential launch order, but he needed a confirmation of that launch order before he could act. Hunter pointed this out, but he decided to go ahead with the launch, under the assumption that the confirm has also been sent but his submarine had not received it because of their \\\'technical difficulties\\\'. Also, as Hunter pointed out, there were other nuke-armed submarines out there, and they could have launched their missiles at the target in the event that the launch order was positive.
**** Sorry, but the launch order had already been given - \\\"the release of nuclear weapons has been authorized\\\". That was the only order they needed to launch. The interrupted message was to stand down from the previously-given order. The fact that it appeared to pertain to nuclear missile launch was what convinced Hunter that they should pause the already-underway countdown, because there didn\\\'t seem to be any other reason for any further communication on that subject.
***** The nuclear launch protocol is multi-staged - and even explained to be such in the movie - of which launch authorisation is not the last stage. Hunter insists that they wait for the launch confirmation to be given. [[spoiler: That\\\'s what Ramsey agrees to wait for near the end of the movie. Hunter and Ramsey are waiting for the launch confirmation to come through, and they have agreed to either launch or abort, depending on what the confirm says. The problem is, this is what they SHOULD have done at the very beginning of this whole [[GoshDangItToHeck gosh dang]] issue. However, Ramsey took it upon himself to interpret the authorisation as a confirm. He\\\'s even called out on it by the review board at the very end of the movie, but only as a technicality - for \\\'violation of nuclear launch protocols\\\'. Then he\\\'s given a slap on the wrist of what amounts to attempted omnicide]].
***** That\\\'s not how it looked to me. Ramsey\\\'s reaction to the incomplete message was not to say \\\"it must mean \\\'launch\\\'\\\" but to say \\\"it doesn\\\'t mean anything at all\\\", and therefore we proceed as before, continue the countdown for launch already underway. But this is turning into an EditWar and I\\\'d rather not. Perhaps if someone other than we two could step in... otherwise, perhaps an admin should punt this to a discussion page (I don\\\'t know how).
