Xandurpein wrote...
Well... all I can say is that this is EXACTLY how things work with military hardware today on Earth. I see no reason whatsoever to belive we will change in space. There is simply too many things that can assisst an enemy if they know exactly how this or that gadget has been tweaked. I don't expect it to be obvious for those who don't know anything about military electronics, but it's true. It's not many years the soviet Union did everything they could to stop the west from knowing the details of weaponry that was built from blueprints originally stolen from the West. It's just the way things work.
Except none of your squad is an enemy. It's already been gone over why Tali and the Quarians are not a threat, and I don't think Tali has it in her to betray you especially given that you basically become her BFF. Same with Wrex, and both Garrus and Liara, and they're even Council races too so no problem there. There is no basis at all for distrusting any of your allies, and in fact the least trustworthy squad member you have isn't even Tali, but rather Garrus, given his all-too-timely arrival and seemingly too perfect motivations for hunting Saren, and especially the way Turians are represented to you within the entire game.
The problem with this close-minded attitude is it's xenophobia and baseless paranoia, masking as protective military concern. I have no problems with having potential spies creep around the Normandy because if anyone betrays me, I know exactly who they are and where they're going, and they're no real threat in the face of my real enemy. You try to speak as if you understand militaristic thinking, so the concept of triage should not be foreign to you - when we're fighting a war against a legion of sentient starships that want to annihilate all organics, I don't have time to worry about who can potentially betray me and become a minor economic annoyance to my species decades down the line, so shut up Ashley.
You're right in that in the universe of ME, the alien races are more akin to rival political entities rather than actual foreign species, and that is exactly the reason why it is xenophobia. The real reason why Ashley distrusts all the aliens isn't because she's looking out for humanity (and btw, there are far better ways of doing that then "beware the alien, the mutant, the heretic" etc), it's because of her close-minded "everyone is against us" belief. This kind of backwoods, primitive fear has no place in even modern society, so it definitely has no place in the ultra-future of ME especially given that humans are apparently the unwanted, weird new kid on the playground while the Turians are like the cool clique that runs the school.
Let me put it this way. Here is how Ashley would think if she was really a combat-hardened patriot looking out for the human race:
"The aliens are great, but we're both humans Shepard. I think we should help them as much as we can and listen to the Council, but only because it furthers our own standing and strengthens us in their eyes. They should be dealt with only as long as it ends in mutual benefit. If an opportunity comes along where we can put ourselves first and improve our position, I think we should take it, but until then we need to tread carefully and cooperate as much as possible so as not to hurt our chances and prestige."
Here is how she actually thinks in the game:
"The aliens can't be trusted, because they're aliens. I don't think they should be on the Normandy. The Council sucks too, because they're aliens. The only reason why being an alien is bad is because I'm not an alien, and they're different from me so they can't be trusted. Did I mention the Council sucks? We can't trust any of them and if we get the chance I think we should forget them all, humans first! I haven't really put any real thought into this, you should just agree with me because you're also a human. Also, dog analogy."
As a final point, imagine if Ashley was a Turian, with the exact same personality and thoughts in the game. As in, she doesn't trust you because you're not a Turian, and she doesn't think any other race should be allowed aboard the Normandy, and that if given the chance she would allow the humans to die to better the Turians. No one would have any problem at all thinking of her as an enemy, after all we're humans and she's a Turian and they can't be trusted, right? But since Ashley is a human, apparently we're just supposed to blindly identify and agree with her. That's garbage, and her kind of xenophobia isn't acceptable regardless of her species or circumstances.