What if 40K had good guys?

[Marshal Rohr]

1 hour ago, Robbienw said:

Not a function of the Imperium.  THE function of the Imperium.
 

Despite what went wrong it is what the Emperor set it up to be.

First, any government’s, real or fake, primary function is not defense, it’s enforcing the social contract. There are 54 books about how the Imperium is specifically not what the Emperor created or wanted. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Marshal Rohr

[Inquisitor_Lensoven]

8 hours ago, Robbienw said:

It does make them good guys.  Protecting mankind from corruption and extinction is an unalloyed good, there is no greater goal.

 

As I said earlier there are bad parts in the imperium, due to the scale of the empire they aren’t able to stop all corruption and infiltration, but overall as a faction they are the good guys.

 

Much of the terrible stuff done is out of necessity because the galaxy is so harsh and the opposing factions really are horrifically bad.  Survival trumps being nice to everyone all the time.  Being extreme and sacrificing parts for the whole is the only way to the ultimate goal at this point.  
 

These are human beings, it’s not realistic to say a faction can only be good if they do good things all the time.  The human race would be gone in seconds if that were the case.

 

You can argue 2 or 3 of the xenos factions are good guys, from their perspectives maybe they are, but every single xenos faction has negative intentions towards humanity, so to us they are still bad. 

 

It’s clear from the lore there is no alternative to the imperium now.  It could have been better of course if it weren’t for Magnus 

What corruption?

 

 

7 hours ago, Robbienw said:

I think you are wilfully misunderstanding what I’m saying here.  Perhaps because you like the idea of there being some kind of moral equivalence between the imperium, and objectively horrible factions like chaos for whatever reason.

 

There is no such equivalence.  Some of the other factions, chaos for example, are obviously objectively bad, no matter what they think of themselves.

 

The imperium is good because it protects mankind.  The setting is ultimately about mankind’s survival, we are humans, human survival is the only thing that matters.

 

 

 

But mankind is and always has been overwhelmingly bad…

 

5 hours ago, Robbienw said:

Not a function of the Imperium.  THE function of the Imperium.
 

Despite what went wrong it is what the Emperor set it up to be.

So when the emperor went on a crusade to destroy religion and superstition to create the imperium he decided to set it up as a theocracy? Is that why the cult of the emperor didn’t actually pop up with any real power until many years after the heresy?

 

edit

not trying to be rude or anything but how old are you? 
All of your posts sound like what I’d expect from a rather immature juvenile. Have you taken even a HS level ethics and morality class?

Edited 4 hours ago by Inquisitor_Lensoven

[Robbienw]

6 hours ago, Marshal Rohr said:

First, any government’s, real or fake, primary function is not defense, it’s enforcing the social contract. There are 54 books about how the Imperium is specifically not what the Emperor created or wanted. 

The Imperium is not a modern day government, It’s a far future empire spanning ~1 million planets and surrounded by homicidal enemies.

 

The Imperium is primarily a vehicle for mankind’s survival - this is what the Emperor set it out to be.  The Emeperor failing to achieve his full plan/set of objectives for the Imperium and humanity does not mean the Imperium is not meeting its primary objective. 

Edited 46 minutes ago by Robbienw

[Antarius]

11 hours ago, Robbienw said:

I think you are wilfully misunderstanding what I’m saying here.  Perhaps because you like the idea of there being some kind of moral equivalence between the imperium, and objectively horrible factions like chaos for whatever reason.

 

There is no such equivalence.  Some of the other factions, chaos for example, are obviously objectively bad, no matter what they think of themselves.

 

The imperium is good because it protects mankind.  The setting is ultimately about mankind’s survival, we are humans, human survival is the only thing that matters.

I'm not going to argue this with you anymore (and this isn't meant as snark in any way just to make it completely clear, this being the internet and all), but there's no misunderstanding here, wilful or otherwise. I understand your point perfectly.
I just disagree and, honestly, I think your interpretation is both self-contradictory and relies on completely ignoring key points in the lore and history of 30K/40K.

But that's ok, we don't have to agree on this 

Edited 11 minutes ago by Antarius