Narrator: "TAG," the A.I. who flies the Mercenary Warship Touch-and-Go, testifies.
TAG: I have evaluated the premise that our company fell victim to a sting operation.
Petey: Please proceed, Tag. You have the full attention of the court.
TAG: The premise fails several tests, including the most simple: There are easier, safer, and more practical ways to run a sting.
TAG: Tactically, then, the sting hypothesis does not make sense.

And yet we have proof of Government misconduct.
TAG: Method and opportunity have both been amply demonstrated. I sought motive.
TAG: So, beginning with the observed end result, I attempted to discover all tactical or strategic scenarios in which the U.N.S. or Celeschul Law Enforcement would want HTRN destroyed and the Toughs held publicly accountable.

I found such a scenario, and it is compelling.
TAG: In the last thousand years of human history, there have been numerous violent social upheavals.
TAG: Each of them was preceded by decades of popular entertainment that later generations would consider depraved.

The motive, then, is both simple and ambitious. HTRN was taken off the air and destroyed in order to prevent civil war.
Petey: Tag, do you honestly believe that a U.N.S. civil war could be prevented by destroying "Reality Television?"
TAG: That does not matter. What is important is whether or not human Governments believe it.