Normally you wanted to try and reserve making (or passing) judgement on cultures. You tried not to interfere too. Most of the time he succeeded. Then again, he didn't have a perfect track record. Along with Jack, Daniel had helped bring down Ra, not only to stop him but to free the Abydonians... which would also have given their culture quite a shock. And then there was the Jaffa on Chulak and the Shavadai on Simarka.

So maybe remaining neutral as he was supposed to and keeping his hands out of these other culture's business was something he could work on. It seemed now as going to be a hard time to start. Bad enough this was his sentence from the Taldor, but to make children, teens fight this? Just to send a message? It was twisted. Daniel shook his head. He sounded dry when he spoke. "'Civilized', right. This is almost what I would've imagine Ancient Rome to come to if the Empire hadn't fallen. Gladiatorial combat and cameras; why sit in the hot sun around an arena when you can watch from the comfort of home?"

It was a blink and you'd miss it, but Daniel caught the mask coming over the woman's face. Like she couldn't care less. So dissent was that big elephant in the room. Safer to shut up and keep your opinions to yourself. Daniel never could keep his mouth shut.

Daniel's smile was a wan one. "I'm supposed to fight to the death with a bunch of other prisoners, and I'm an archaeologist, not a trained soldier. What have I got to lose at this point over my opinion?"

He would defend himself, try to survive, because Sha're was out there, depending on him. But realistically, his chances weren't the greatest, even if Daniel made up for lack of experience with sheer stubbornness.