Starship Troopers: Fear

SPOILER WARNING

I just saw Starship Troopers for the first time. Granted, the Arachnids were pretty terrifying and trying to kill all of humanity and would suck people's brains out, which is all pretty gross, but towards the end when there is a raid on one of the Arachnid lairs, the humans manage to capture one of the brain bugs.

image credit: Paul Verhoeven (Director)

Neil Patrick Harris (he's pretty young in this movie) apparently has some telepathy powers and can tell what these things are thinking. There is a great moment of silence among the soldiers as he reaches out and touches the brain bug, feels it's body heave as it breathes, and then declares "It's afraid."

At this point, from the tone of his voice and maybe just because I'm naive, I'm thinking that they're going to let it go, to begin peaceful negotiations, and show that we have some shred of reasonableness within us... But no. Everybody there cries out in joy and starts shooting the air, celebrating as the brain bug cowers from the gunfire. They then take it back and proceed to run experiments on it, in the vein of "know thy enemy," which includes drilling into the side of it's body and other things that would probably be equated to torture on a human.

It saddened me to see that they show such hatred. I accept that hatred exist but in the name of greater morality, in the name of finding a naturally space faring species, why couldn't they have pity?