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Posted by: anton1792
Justified in attacking Humanity in a manner of self-defence, yeah. Justified to the point of removing any military capacity that Humanity has got maybe, and perhaps even to the point of subsuming them into their autocratic Ecumane and removing any sovereignty that they have. However the fact remains that they burned every last single Human world until there were none left and killed every last single Human until there were less than a few hundred - from the billions that there were - for simply being Human.
I doubt every Human was in agreeance with the attacks. People do not share the same opinion on anything and I doubt there would be landslide majority for this. What if their leadership ordered this, driven into a totalitarian madness by the Flood threat? What if, as actually happened, Humanity was not doing this out of malevolence? There are other factors which (Demonstrably) could have contributed to Humanity's actions that the Forerunner seemingly did not bother to investigate or consider. They assumed that all of Humanity were in on this, that they were warmongers and jumped to conclusions. Had they taken the time to properly investigate I do not see how they could not turn up a single shred of evidence for the Flood. It really seems to me that the Forerunners were just itching at the first chance to strike and forever destroy their competition.
In the book it was revealed that Humanity considered itself to be the rightful inheritors of the Mantle, which the Forerunners considered to be a heresy. Obviously they would have to believe and follow its tenets otherwise who the heck do they think they are trying to kid by saying that they are the rightful heirs? That would be like trying to convince someone that you are a God fearing Christian whilst publicly practising Satanic rituals. The whole "Humanity are just as bad or worse" fails to account for this. It also bases itself on the way that we act as a society just now, which will not always be the case. 100 years ago slavery and debauchment of an entire ethnic group was the norm as well as the viewpoint that woman were second class citizens. Now all that has changed, and more on what we now consider to be ethical. Though somehow, Humanity in 500 years, or the way it was as a highly advanced society in the distant past capable of rivalling the Forerunners must obviously be the same as we are now: Squabbling and xenophobic. That flops completely on account of completely ignoring the moral zeitgeist.
A final point, in reference to the idea that the Forerunners ultimately saved us. That is not entirely accurate. It was the Librarian - And the Librarian alone - that is to be thnked for why there are any Humans still around. Were it up to the Didact, he would have massacred every last one at Charum Hakkor and no one would have stopped him. Had it been left to anyone else, Humanity might not have even seen the Ark, and have been left behind. The Forerunners teach their children how Humans are essentially nasty, warmongering apes to be looked down upon. No Librarian = No Humans post Array firing.
Well, we're all entitled to our own opinions, this is ready to be put to rest. I think that the Forerunners were exactly as they wanted to be, a race who protects life (or biodiversity) in the galaxy. Their only shortcoming was their arrogance and foolish self-pride, which, in the end, resulted in their annihilation.