I don't like Ashley because she's a suspicious, mistrusting individual that calls herself a realist in explanation for her reasoning. I am a realist, but I don't go around mistrusting people because they're not in the military, they're from another country or they're another species. That is the fundamental difference between me and Ashley, and also why I wouldn't do well in the military. I'd rather be burned trusting someone who failed that trust than to mistrust people wrongly. If I get burned I get burned - their loss really because if I did right by them then that's the best I could do and I'm happy with that, but I don't care if your in the United States army or if you're from Russia, the Middle East, or another planet - I'll treat all of them with the same level of courtesy and consideration.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you - I basically live by that motto.
For this reason Ashley's argument or whatever you want to call it "No matter how much you love your dog, it's not human" is flawed, no matter how you look at it. Aside from the fact that it's an horrible analogy to make and very insulting to boot, to everyone involved, it's just plain wrong. People can be scumbags, there's no question about that. They come in human shape just as well as they might turian, krogan, asari, quarian - you get the idea. How you conduct yourself is entirely up to you though.
I wouldn't trust my officers any more than I would my alien allies, because they're all just people in the end, and people are flawed. Just because you wear a uniform doesn't make you a good person or a loyal individual with your best interest at heart. I care about people, not uniforms, not human or alien or animal. That reminds me - I wouldn't be caught dead saying something like "I can't tell the animals from the aliens'. It's just a classless thing to say. The only purpose of saying it is to be insulting because even if you really CAN'T tell the difference, you wouldn't say it like that if you actually meant well.
I've heard many telling cues from the racist in denial over the years, the most popular being, "I'm not a racist, but...". That's generally what people say when they're about to say something racist so...why are you saying it then, if you're not racist? Now "It's not racist, not really" is in the same territory of 'quantifying' something you said as not racist when you know that it is. If it wasn't racist, why do you feel it is necessary to defend yourself?
The bottome line to me is, Ashley is just the big B. I'm a strong advocate of 'Walk softly and carry a big stick'. Ashley does not walk softly. She is meant to be a strong female character, but she is trying too hard to make people see that she kicks ass and she's so tough. I support strong female characters that are kind, unassuming people who don't boast about kicking ass and don't even necessarily want to, but they become a force to be reckoned with when the situation calls for it. Tali, for example, is much closer to this. She's a sweetheart, but she can take care of herself and she doesn't make a big deal about it. I appreciate that.
Lastly...there is one line that I got recently while playing that I'd never encountered before and it really took my by surprise. I didn't like Ashley much to begin with, but this really threw me for a loop. It was in the discussion about Liara and how Ashley didn't trust her. First off, Ashley states that she doesn't trust Liara and if you say that you do, Ashley goes on to say that Liara was probably really bad at lying anyway. So basically she doesn't trust Liara, and yet she doesn't think she can lie either, so what exactly doesn't she trust? That was quite the 180 degree change in direction, but alright.
Ashley then goes on to say something to the effect of, "I could ask her about her sex life. That would probably be enlightening." The way in which this line was delivered was not friendly. It was meant to be mean. 'I don't trust you so I'm going to find out all your secrets for my Commander'. I had a hard time finding the joke in it. "You're no fun Commander" didn't sound very playful either. I was really surprised by this dialog arc and it really didn't improve my opinion of Ashley's character.
Modifié par Faerlyte, 29 avril 2011 - 09:03 .