I want to live!
- EvilKirk’s last words
Whatever else you want to say about EvilKirk, it’s pretty clear that he didn’t want to be merged back into the single Kirk. Despite this, there is no shortage of reasons why it was a good idea to merge the Kirks: the Enterprise needed its CO back, GoodKirk wanted to do it, and it seems possible that the strain of remaining split would have eventually killed EvilKirk anyways. However, the fact remains that EvilKirk did not consent to the procedure which ended his existence.
Clearly the circumstances here are quite different and there’s basically no argument to be made that allowing EvilKirk to continue to exist would benefit any involved party, EvilKirk included. But for the purposes of this comparison, the only fact that really matters is that EvilKirk was just as passionate about his desire to continue existing as Tuvix was.
Yet—and it’s obvious where I’m going with this—“Spock murdered EvilKirk” is not a meme.
So what gives? Did Spock murder EvilKirk or not? If yes, why does he get a pass while Janeway is condemned?
I always got the impression that the Kirks were both destined to wither away and die if kept separate, but it’s been a while so I might be wrong there.
There’s also the issue that EvilKirk was a danger to everyone else on the ship. You could make the argument that if he survived, he could have learned to control his behaviour, but I’m not sure that’s the case for a personality entirely made up of those negative traits.
It’s definitely a moral grey area, whereas with the Tuvix situation it’s more black and white. There was no danger to anyone else, he was well-liked and a credit to the ship, there was basically no reason for Janeway to split him back apart other than “I want to”.
he could have learned to control his behaviour, but I’m not sure that’s the case for a personality entirely made up of those negative traits.
But what does it even mean to be “made up of negative traits”? Would he have been completely unable to learn? To realise that, maybe, sometimes, there is benefit in not being “evil”, even for entirely selfish reasons? And who says that GoodKirk couldn’t also learn to be more assertive? (psychotherapy must be easily available in our socialist future, especially for high-ranking Starfleet officers, as well as plenty time off for mental health reasons)
It’s not like Kirk’s positive and negative traits are inherent, he wasn’t born with them, but they are a result of his life’s experiences. So could one make the argument that both would just need time to adjust?
