GO24 is about wiping out all life on a planet—that much is clearly stated, but very little about how it's executed. Scotty, probably anticipating his captain, may added the theatrical touch of the cities dying first.

I always figured GO24 to be some sort of "existential threat" order. After all, the TOS galaxy is a place where gods-of-the-week and ancient superweapons exist. If you're toodling around and you find a planet covered in Von Neumann's Universal Replicator-flavored gray goo, /and/ that gray goo immediately starts trying…

They certainly mention a Praetor. The Roman analogy, right up to the ludicrous sense of duty, was baked in from the start.

Seems to have been a generational issue (hah). Old sci-fi was more than happy to throw godlike or ascended beings around ("Arena" in 1944, "Childhood's End" in 1953, /Forbidden Planet/ in 1956 for an example where limitless power goes wrong) but by the 1980s that trope had played out. We'd learned /enough/ about space…

Well, yeah. That's how social evolution works. Our most progressive, open-minded, color-blind thinkers today will be considered horrible bigots in the future, or have other moral failings in the same way we anachronistically judge the past.

I think I was less defending myself from the MLP/nerd stereotype (which I embrace) than the 'friendzone hipster' stereotype.

Sadly, [HIPSTER ALERT] I've been wearing these things and slant hats for about 15 years now and then a bunch of entitled jerks ruined 'em for everyone.

Wow, I imagined that in Twilight's voice and it really… hurt.

He made us chocolate cake?