It's interesting that you use the term "fighting back" while also not wanting to get into who started it. "Fighting back" implies it is simply defence, that we are not the aggressors, making it okay. At the same time, you seem aware that the drive to take control of the meta-alloys is a large part of this "war". And each act of Thargoid aggression can be traced back to a prior act of human aggression, with the barnacle destruction being the first in this most recent conflict. Are the Thargoids not allowed to fight back against us?
In truth, it is more complex than that, there are other factors at play. The above is still true, but it's more about the relationship of each individual species with each other, the surface level, and I don't think this is such a simple story that there will be Good and Bad species. Humanity isn't a cohesive whole, and neither are the Thargoids. Looking at the relationships within each species is much more insightful.
For example, the meta alloys stuff is just a simple bit of war profiteering, but there is the other purpose of this war to train us up, to militarize humanity so we are ready for when the actual threat arrives. The elites controlling society decided that an engineered war could do that without having to risk their own power by just revealing their advance intel. That is why this war is happening. And a lot of people have died for that cause, ultimately to protect those in power. So who do you think the real enemy is here? What is the difference between acting out of necessity and acting out of selfishness?
