Stargates.
Adults are as God to children. We control life and death. We can bring light, hop and love to a child. Or we can bring despair and terror and shatter a child into a million pieces. Adults can make children do terrible things and children have no power of their own to stop them. Adults have the duty, the responsibility, the privilege to bring light, love and hope.
The Ancients, in not interfering, in not protecting the people who are essentially their children, are visiting upon them despair, terror and worse then death. The removal of free will. They know what's happening in the universe, what the Ori want of humans, and they make no move to stop it. They stand idly by and watch. The assholes.
And okay, that was a bit dramatic, but you catch my drift, right?