Hey! Okay, so the UN is super-complicated, really, and nobody actually fully understands it? Let alone me. It’s not like I’ve made a deep study of it.
But this question:
Why can’t UN help/become ‘middleman’ for British government and OW?
Is pretty simple. The UN has mediators who could help. But it’s also entirely possible Jack already tried that. This crisis has been going on for weeks, according to the news reel in Jack’s office. He’s been through it repeatedly with the British PM. So presumably he’s already exhausted every possible persuasive tool he has access to.
As for this one:
Overwatch is handled by UN, right?
Overwatch is PART of the UN. The UN is the General Assembly, the Security Council, AND a whole lot of other groups and councils that focus on a large number of issues around the world, including health, human rights, environment, nuclear armaments, world trade and more. Overwatch is one of those groups. This, incidentally, is the reason for the color of Jack’s coat and why they all wear that same bright blue in the comic. It’s UN blue, the signature color of the United Nations.
Finally: What is Overwatch as an organization?
After Uprising, my theory on what Overwatch is has changed. Now, I think it’s something that isn’t comparable to anything that exists in the real world.
Basically, I think Overwatch came into existence in the first place because the Omnic Crisis created a unique situation, where this little group of heroes–and I think they all were actual bona fide do-gooder ‘save the world even if it costs me my life’ heroes–earned the unconditional trust and love of the entire world.
After the Omnic Crisis, I think Overwatch was basically a UN-sanctioned superhero group. They went around wherever they liked to right wrongs and fix problems, and the world gave them all the resources they needed to do it because they saw them as superheroes.
So if Jack and the others were smart, definitely they used that incredible power and authority to tackle global-threat level problems like climate change and clean water.
But Overwatch ONLY really worked as long as people believed Overwatch could do no wrong–as long as people were were so grateful to Overwatch for solving their problem that they didn’t care whether Overwatch had solved the problem in a way all the factions involved actually liked.
Because in the real world, if you make the US happy, you probably piss off Russia or China. If you invade Egypt to fight the guy who got himself elected by buying the favor of the Egyptian military but everybody knows he’s really an oppressive racist dictator…well, you’re still outsiders invading a country and fucking with it. When you get asked to go help with a famine in the Sudan, and you get there, look around and say, “Hey, I see your actual problem here is that you’re spending all your resources committing genocide on a large minority of your population?” the response you get is, “Excuse us, did anybody ask you?”
So once the world settled down, governments started wanting to do things their own way again. And Overwatch maybe spent some of their good credit on settling a couple Syria-style incidents that were going to piss people off no matter which side they took. And long story short, that unreal worldwide enchantment with them began to wear off.
And then people find out about Blackwatch and the fact that this whole time, Overwatch has periodically just been going, “You know what, screw getting permission or even telling anybody what we’re doing, we’ll just SNEAK into Egypt and assassinate that guy.”
And you end up with the British PM going, “AHAHAHAHA you know I think we’ll take our chances with the omnic terrorists, thanks.” And Jack going, “Well, great, now I can either let thousands die or else piss off the whole world by invading freaking Great Britain after it specifically told me to stay out.”
While I’m at it, I think maybe this is what Jack and Gabriel were fighting about for so long.
I think maybe Jack would say things like, “We should at least ASK somebody before we go in to assassinate that questionably elected dictator.”
And Gabe would say, “Oh come on! If we ask for permission, we won’t get it, and then loads of people will die and a war will break out.”
And then maybe Jack would say, “Yes, that is true, but it’s still not OUR country and there is a way these things are done because consent of the governed is important.”
And Gabe would ask, “Are the governed even being given the option to consent in this case?”
And Jack might say, “No, but the governed in this case also haven’t actually signed on to having some guys in armor from another country come crashing into their country to kill a few of them.” Or, instead he might say, “Yeah, I guess that is a good point. Okay, go on in and kill a small handful of people from another country that we’ve unilaterally decided are too unpleasant to live.” Or maybe, if Gabe couldn’t convince Jack, he might or might not go off and do it anyway.
Because are your options, there. Ask for permission to meddle and save lives, and risk being turned down and having to watch those people die. Or don’t ask for permission, and become a really creepy group that decides the fate of the world from the shadows, although at least it saved thousands of lives while it was changing the course of your country’s future without the citizens’ permission.
So anyway, I think that is why Overwatch happened, and also why in the game there’s dialogue like, “Overwatch was shut down for a reason” and “Maybe people don’t need Overwatch anymore.” Because some ideas, as utopian as they may be, can only work in certain specific times and places. But I also think that Overwatch did immense good in its time, probably saved the world at least twice if you count climate change, and maybe made a small but lasting mark in the way of inspiring people to stand up and fight together against injustice and suffering.
from Tumblr http://ift.tt/2obpzQf