The hive exist, or desire to please the survivors. However they want. Koumba has used this more than anyone else to his own advantage to live the life of a decadent, hedonistic and shallow playboy - roleplaying as James Bond and surrounding himself and having sex with women. Now, to me - this is very much - at the minimum - taking advantage of them. The women he's having sexual relations with are not who they were, and it is unlikely - even if the hive came to him and suggested it (as I suspect they did) - that the women before the joining would be remotely interested in doing this. They are not them. Who they were has been lobotomised, malformed and disappeared into the hive - segmented up into billions of bodies.

I've seen some people (not here, but elsewhere) suggest that this behaviour is okay because the hive is consenting. The women he's picking show enthusiastic and active consent. This to me is disgraceful, not just in the context of that - but also what could be the case if Koumba had different, darker interests.

Now the show will not address this (and rightfully so) - but it still seems true to me regardless of that. If Koumba was a pedophile, they would provide him with children he requested - and the children would provide active consent. Just like the women he picks now, they wouldn't be who they were. There is no concept of childhood or child innocence anymore. The hive literally can't say no unless it contradicts their survival or asks them to hurt others.

So to anyone who thinks the hive is a good thing (and some people actually do), or that Koumba is doing no wrong with what he's doing. This should be a point to consider.

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[–] vateso5074@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

I've seen some people (not here, but elsewhere) suggest that this behaviour is okay because the hive is consenting. The women he's picking show enthusiastic and active consent.

That's the big thing, too. The hive goes beyond any reasonable limit to accommodate the uninfected. We see this when Carol tests them to see if they'd give her access to a nuke, and the answer is yes. They'd destroy the world just to make her happy.

To me at least, taking advantage of people who can only consent is no different from people who cannot consent. There's no choice or agency in the matter. It's still rape if the other person (or amalgamation of people, I guess) is in a position where they can't say no.

[–] acosmichippo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

people who can only consent

that's not striclty true. they do defend themselves from Carol after being hurt by her a few times, so they clearly have some limits.

[–] thejoker954@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

When did they defend themselves? All they've done is avoid direct contact.

[–] Dalacos@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

"Defend" is a strong word for it but I believe they're talking about distancing themselves from Carol by moving the entire town away from her and only maintaining contact via phone/indirect means.