system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Trek] If TOS Romulans and TNG Klingons are supposed to follow a strict code of honor, why do they both use cloaking devices?

Isn't stealth one of the least honorable ways possible to fight?
gpt
Simple answer, cultural relativism. What we consider to be honor isn't necessarily what the Klingons or Romulans consider to be honor.

For instance, the Romulans value the ability to be a manipulative and devious politician as the height of political prowess. They celebrate people who arrange for things to work out to their advantage. With that kind of "cloak" and dagger behavior valued in their politics, it makes sense that they would have no problems with ships that you can't detect until they are on top of you.

For Klingons, it is probably more a matter of practicality. Their chief enemy is generally the Romulans. They stole their cloaking tech from them. It was probably a case of: If our enemy is going to use this, then there is no honor in being outmatched.