In the Star Trek universe, Vulcans appear to be emotionless, but are not. The premise is that they actually have very passionate, violent emotions – so much so that the ancient philosoper-prophet Surak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surak) decided they could live as a civilized society only if they learned to rigorously suppress their emotions and live strictly according to “logic” (a poor word choice by the writers, IMO; “rationality” would have been more appropriate).
The Romulans supposedly descend from Vulcan dissidents who rejected Surak’s teachings and went off to colonize their own planet. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulans#History) If so, one might expect them to show “primitive Vulcan” characteristics – IOW, to be much like the Klingons, proud and angry and quarrelsome and just barely capable of cooperative social life. But they’re not. In fact, they appear slightly less emotional than humans (though still more so than Vulcans), and they fit more-or-less happily into a very regimented, authoritarian, militaristic society. How did that happen?
It’s not discussed in the Star Trek canon anywhere, as far as I know. One would assume, though, that the Romulans had their own philosophers who stressed emotional control (if not the emotional suppression that the Vulcans did), subordination to authority, etc.
I mean, according to your Wikipedia link, if it’s accurate, the Romulans split off from Vulcan society “aound 400 AD” There’s no reason to think that in the almost 2000 years from then to when Star Trek starts, their culture would have stagnated, and they’d have the same lifestyle and values as the people who settled Romulus. We have really different values than our ancestors did 2000 years ago.
And who’s to say that the group that rejected the philosophy/religion of Surak didn’t reject it because they had their own rival school that stressed these “Romulan” traits?
Burn me for a heretic, but maybe Surak was wrong?
Plus, if Enterprise is to be considered canon, Vulcans lost the teachings of Surak a long time ago and strayed far from the mark, but still didn’t degenerate down to the point of burning villages… oh, that’s right… they did… never mind. Still, there’s plenty of room between “computer with pointy ears” and “ravening berserker” for some pretty violently emotional people who still have a functional society.
Aren’t our observations biased by our sample consisting mostly of members of the Romulan military? We’d expect these individuals to have a higher-than-average deference for authority. How many Romulan civilians have had speaking parts? Five? Ten?
Actually, IIRC, Romulans were pretty emotional - they had a layer of calm, collected cool, yes, but once bested, or even their pride burst, they often became as raving with anger as any Klingon. I’d imagine that the difference that the original Vulcan dissenters left for was that Surak promoted pure rationality and a burying of all emotions, while the dissenters (IMHO) felt that they could channel their emotions into productivity.
Whatever the reason, considering what happened to the two groups after that, i’d say the dissenters got it right.
Romulans are very emotional but are also possess the same vulcan mental abilities. Thus, they can keep their emotions more in control but their emotions definately drive their decisions. It just allows them to be more devious as their ambition without restraint allows for many possbilities vulcans would never consider.
The Vulcans’ emotions are only so passionate and violent because they keep them bottled up most of the time. Like when a mild-mannered office worker “goes postal.” He doesn’t have any appropriate way to release his anger and frustration, so it builds up until it explodes.
Probably, ancient Vulcans really weren’t any more violent than the Romulans are today, but modern Vulcans just don’t understand that their emotional instability is caused by their refusal to express emotion, so they have a distorted view of history. Also, they have a subconscious need to justify their (very extreme) philosophy, and this requires them to demonize their ancestors as a bunch of uncivilized cavemen.
That’s my theory, anyway.
Romulans supress their emotions for very different reasons. They live in a totalitarian society. Acting on impulse or letting emotions cloud your judgement will likely cause you to make a serious mistake. Expressing emotions openly allows your enemies to know what you’re thinking and to find your weak spots.
You might hate the Tau Shiar because they took your father. Hatred of the Tau Shiar is treasonous, so you hide it. Your old teacher might be like an uncle to you. But, if he is charged with conspiracy, treason, etc than all of his friends automatically fall under suspicion. So, you hide the depth of your affection. The professor knows that if you are brought up on serious charges, all of your friends will be investigated, so he does the same.
In Reunification, we see some Romulans who are very open with their emotions. One man takes a set of Vulcan alphabet* blocks from his house and shows them to Spock on the street. While it’s a touching moment and shows that his parents were as committed to reunification with Vulcan as he is, it also shows what an idiot he is. The alphabet blocks are illegal. Secret police and spy equipment are everywhere. It is the duty of every Romulan to report the blocks to the police. An investigation could have exposed the whole cell. He acted based on emotion, without thinking things through.