If the question is "Which is the greater good, self sacrifice or
honesty within the B5 universe," I'd have to for a third option. Both
of those are behaviors in service to a given cause. And it's the
selection of the greater *cause* that is most important; is it a
constructive cause, or a destructive one? Are you helping humanity step
forward, or step back? This isn't situational ethics, because the ethics
going in have to be the same: building the future, helping those who
cannot help themselves, spreading hope, fighting repression and pushing
for freedom and responsibility as linked concepts.

Our characters in B5 are flawed; sometimes they fall short of their
own goals. The Minbari don't generally lie; but the often tell only part
of the truth. If G'Kar has gotten away with something in the pilot, and
can't be brought to standard justice, some other way of meting out
justice will be found, even if that means fibbing to him about a
transmitter he's swallowed...i.e., lying.

But even Sinclair said it: everybody lies. Everybody means
everybody. Even if it's only a case of, "Listen, I tried to make it to
the party, but traffic was just a mess, I got up late, the dog ate my
homework."

I make some distinction between this and my own personal view; the
work of the author does not always represent what the author believes on
a 1-1 basis. (If it did, there'd be NO religion in B5.) Personally, I
think I put loyalty and honesty at the top of my pantheon. I've worked
very hard to maintain a certain reputation, and it means a lot to me.
And anyone here who knows me knows that if you try and go after someone
I consider a friend, you will have to go through me first.

The problem with putting self-sacrifice at the tippy top of your
own personal Maslow's Pyramid of Self-Actualization is that it only
functions as a subset of something else. Self-sacrifice...to do *what*?
You are willing to die for a cause. Is that cause right? Are you too
easily and readily prepared to sacrifice? The other, less terminal form
of self-sacrifice is giving to other people, working to make life better,
but I don't tend to believe that's sacrifice as much as simple personal
responsibility. We should do it as freely and as easily as we breathe.

jms