Talk:Sky People/The Culling/@comment-92.10.59.49-20150626074102/@comment-26247132-20150626214630

When it comes down to it, the Ark had 700 drop ships and over 2000 people. Some people were going to have to die regardless of when the Delinquents were able to let the Ark know the earth was survivable. When Kane was Chancellor Pro Tempore for a day after Jaha was shot, Commander Shumway even encouraged him to pass the Culling immediately because sending the 100 Delinquents to earth only bought them an extra month of air. The next day, if Jaha hadn't abstained from voting, 209 people would have died, regardless of Bellamy's actions (so technically, only 111 deaths can potentially be blamed on the lost radio). And before we forget, an almost identical situation is Raven's spacewalk. It cost the Ark three months of oxygen, so let's share some of that blame equally. If Bellamy is at fault for the Culling because he tossed a radio (which only delayed contact with the Ark by a few hours anyway) then Raven and Finn are just as much at fault because they wasted three months of oxygen, requiring the Culling to happen in the first place. Otherwise, the Ark would have had enought time to fix the system failure.

"...what he did KNOW was that the Ark was dying."

No, what he KNEW was that Clarke, one of the pampered elite, said the life support on the Ark was failing and only had three months left. 11 days later, Bellamy tosses the radio. Even if Bellamy believed Clarke about the life support failing, for all he knew, they still had two-and-a-half months to find another way to contact the Ark without the radio. So, Bellamy tossing the radio was not some malicious, pre-meditated, murderous act. He was trying to buy himself some time to probably find a place to take Octavia away where the Guard wouldn't be able to find them when they came down.

With Day Trip, he wasn't leaving because he was running away; he was leaving because he felt like he had screwed things up with Octavia and with torturing Lincoln and all the guilt from shooting the Chancellor and even the Culling. (Feeling guilty doesn't actually mean you are guilty, btw.) He felt like the Delinquents would be better off without him. Clarke explained to him that they needed him and that is why he stayed. Not because he was suddenly no longer a coward or didn't feel guilty any more but because Clarke helped him realize he was making a positive difference even with his mistakes and he could make amends.