[Star Trek] The quarantine of Vagra II was uncalled for [Skin of Evil]

Thanks to Midnight for instigating this debate. REBUTTALSPro makes two straightforward arguments: firstly, that Armus could've been rehabilitated, and, secondly, that Picard was too emotionally distraught to make a rational choice. I will now endeavor to show that both of these arguments are highly flawed. My case will be made by way of these rebuttals.1a. There was no reason to believe that it was possible to rehabilitate Armus. To quote from canon: "Armus was born as a by-product of a procedure in which a race of 'titans' brought out from within themselves all evil and negative attributes that had bound them to destructiveness. The unwanted substance spread and coalesced into a dank and vile second skin. The race rejected this 'skin of evil' and abandoned it." Humans are oftentimes salvageable because we are built capable of doing good--we have the potential for both within us. Armus, however, was made up of pure evil, and so had no reservoir of good within him that could have become a starting point for his transformation to good. A good analogy would be that humans are salt water, and that when wants to purify the water, one can boil it to separate it from the salt. Armus, however, is just salt. There is no process that can be undertaken to "purify" or redeem him, since he has no redeeming qualities in him.1b. Even if Armus were redeemable, it is not worth the risk of trying. It is clear that Amrus is an extremely malevolent being, but he is also an extremely powerful one: "Armus manifested as a black viscous liquid that could also assume a vaguely humanoid shape. Tricorder scans could not register the substance Armus was composed of. Armus was also capable of enveloping Humanoids and incorporating them into the liquid, where they would remain conscious while in liquid form. Armus was capable of then inflicting suffering upon its victims while they were in this state. Armus was impervious to phaser fire, and Data theorized that it could, in fact, feed off of phaser energy. Captain Picard assumed that Armus was immortal." [1] Ardditionally, "Armus was capable of generating, around itself, an intense undefined force field. With this energy field, it was capable of blocking sensor scans, communications and transporters. It was also capable of using psychokinesis and teleportation on at least humanoid-size organisms within the field. Armus was also capable of inflicting energy discharges that caused synaptic damage to humanoids, killing them." [1] The chance that Armus, clearly a being of great hatred and cruelty, could be rehabilitated was slim, and the chance that he could do damage if released was very high. Imagine if he had managed to seize control of the Enterprise, for instance. The trade-off favored the quarantine.2a. Pro offers no evidence that Picard was too emotionally unstable to lead effectively. Pro writes: "Crewmembers aboard the Enterprise have been killed before, but Picard never expressed this much anger at their deaths." Just because Picard was more upset by Yar's death than by any other's, that doesn't mean that her death pushed him over the threshold into irrationality. There is a difference between "more distressed" and "too distressed to make decisions." Even so, Pro's statement is just false: Picard was more distressed by the death of Data in Nemesis than he was of Yar's death.2b. Picard's decision does seem to have been a rational reflection of the situation. Even if Pro disagrees with Picard's choice, Pro cannot deny that Picard seemed to assess the costs and benefits to the quarantine by evaluating Armus's lethality and inherent villainy when making his decision.ADDITIONAL NOTEThe Prime Directive--the overriding rule applied to all of Starfleet--commands that Starfleet personnel do not interfere, or minimize interference, with alien cultures and entities. [2] Rescuing Armus is clearly a violation of that rule.CONCLUSIONPro concludes by arguing that: "Starfleet was founded on the principle 'to seek out life.' And Armus was, life, that could've been studied, and his state of anger and sadism could've been cured." But, I have illustrated here that the crew had NO means of control Armus. He was extremely powerful and immune to phaser fire. If they cannot control him, how can they safely study him? Moreover, logic tells us that it is highly unlikely that Armus could ever have been rehabilitated. Essentially, not quarantining Armus would have put the crew of Enterprise at an unjustified risk for too little gain (the "possible" rehabilitation of one sadistic murder).SOURCES1 - http://en.memory-alpha.org...2 - http://en.memory-alpha.org...