(excuse the double comments, my fingers got away from me :P)
Moreover, and as I have said before, Lex is apparently locking up only those people who would otherwise be locked up by the authorities anyway for having committed crimes.
Just because the authorities should be locking them up anyway, doesn't give someone else the right to step in and try to do their job. There is a system for a reason, because no individual has the right to play God, and one person's view of what the authorities would or should lock someone up for, doesn't always tally with the majority of the rest of their society.
Not to mention, even though Moira believes she's abused her power with Chloe and she does highly questionable things when she feels cornered by Lex, there's no reason to believe that in canon Moira has done anything along those lines of being worthy of prosecution before Lex pushed her. Considering Lex's team has pulled innocent people, who are meteor infected but haven't done anything wrong, off the street (and the show isn't devoted to cateloguing each and every mutant Lex captures) I don't see that you can argue that every mutant Lex grabs is a good thing. We have dubious methods, we have a number of instances of Lex acting without the consent of the infected people involved, and we have him acting without any authority to do so. Perhaps you don't see damning evidence there, but I at least see room for doubt and for questioning.
I think there is validity in believing that a greater person or organisation should 'dirty' its hands for the greater good of all. I don't always agree with it, but I can see the reasoning behind it. However, surely there needs to be checks and limits in place, some kind of accountability, and authority given for these actions in the first place. I see none of that with Lex. And even if you believe absolutely in his good intentions, if he has the right to march in and do what he likes in his quest to save the world just because he is able to do it, then so does anyone else. There's no rules or reasoning that give him the right to do what he does other than that you trust his judgement and motives, and that makes him dangerous, because motives change. Judgement changes. There's no reason that anyone else, without the same motives you agree with, can't walk in there and do the same thing. That in and of itself put Lex's actions into question, in my book, because he will not submit to that kind of rules and believes himself above everyone else. Then to add morally dubious actions on top of it?
I dunno, I love Lex, and I can see why and where you're coming from because a part of me still wants woobie, good Lex and Clex and all that good stuff. But, objectively, he's doing some questionable things and he's doing them the wrong way. He's not good Lex anymore, even if he believes he's doing the right thing. The fact is, he's not just getting his hands dirty, he's slowly but surely causing some extensive harm, and he doesn't appear to be bothered by it. This isn't just a case of being willing to undermine your own ethics for the greater good, this is actually letting your ethics go. And when he's letting your ethics go, you have to question when his motives are going to change. 'The ends justifies the means' doesn't carry a whole lot of weight if one day you stop needing the justify those means. That's where Lex is getting dangerously close to.
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Moreover, and as I have said before, Lex is apparently locking up only those people who would otherwise be locked up by the authorities anyway for having committed crimes.
Just because the authorities should be locking them up anyway, doesn't give someone else the right to step in and try to do their job. There is a system for a reason, because no individual has the right to play God, and one person's view of what the authorities would or should lock someone up for, doesn't always tally with the majority of the rest of their society.
Not to mention, even though Moira believes she's abused her power with Chloe and she does highly questionable things when she feels cornered by Lex, there's no reason to believe that in canon Moira has done anything along those lines of being worthy of prosecution before Lex pushed her. Considering Lex's team has pulled innocent people, who are meteor infected but haven't done anything wrong, off the street (and the show isn't devoted to cateloguing each and every mutant Lex captures) I don't see that you can argue that every mutant Lex grabs is a good thing. We have dubious methods, we have a number of instances of Lex acting without the consent of the infected people involved, and we have him acting without any authority to do so. Perhaps you don't see damning evidence there, but I at least see room for doubt and for questioning.
I think there is validity in believing that a greater person or organisation should 'dirty' its hands for the greater good of all. I don't always agree with it, but I can see the reasoning behind it. However, surely there needs to be checks and limits in place, some kind of accountability, and authority given for these actions in the first place. I see none of that with Lex. And even if you believe absolutely in his good intentions, if he has the right to march in and do what he likes in his quest to save the world just because he is able to do it, then so does anyone else. There's no rules or reasoning that give him the right to do what he does other than that you trust his judgement and motives, and that makes him dangerous, because motives change. Judgement changes. There's no reason that anyone else, without the same motives you agree with, can't walk in there and do the same thing. That in and of itself put Lex's actions into question, in my book, because he will not submit to that kind of rules and believes himself above everyone else. Then to add morally dubious actions on top of it?
I dunno, I love Lex, and I can see why and where you're coming from because a part of me still wants woobie, good Lex and Clex and all that good stuff. But, objectively, he's doing some questionable things and he's doing them the wrong way. He's not good Lex anymore, even if he believes he's doing the right thing. The fact is, he's not just getting his hands dirty, he's slowly but surely causing some extensive harm, and he doesn't appear to be bothered by it. This isn't just a case of being willing to undermine your own ethics for the greater good, this is actually letting your ethics go. And when he's letting your ethics go, you have to question when his motives are going to change. 'The ends justifies the means' doesn't carry a whole lot of weight if one day you stop needing the justify those means. That's where Lex is getting dangerously close to.