[David R. George III]

flemm wrote:

---

In passing, I don't personally think that depicting Sisko as a neglectful parent is, in itself, problematic. Certainly there would need to be some strong motivation for this, but whatever, there is no reason why that should be off-limits as a creative choice.

More problematic, I think, is portraying such a selfish course of action as necessary and selfless. That really strikes me as the core issue in the Sisko story: the constant insistance that Sisko is leaving to save his family and not to avoid his own personal sorrow, while his motives don't really stand up to much scrutiny (at least imo).

I know you disagree with my creative choices, and that's fine. But what actually boggles my mind is that you characterize Sisko as a neglectful parent, and that Sisko's motives don't stand up to much scrutiny.

First, assume what is presented in Rough Beasts of Empire: Sisko genuinely believes what the Prophets told him, that him spending his life with Kasidy would bring him nothing but sorrow, and further, that based on his experiences, that sorrow will ultimately bring something terrible upon Kasidy and Rebecca. Try not to think about whether Sisko is correct in his assessment, because really, that's irrelevant. He believes what he believes, both because of all of his experiences with the Prophets, because of their apparent abandonment of him, and because of the terrible losses he suffered in a relatively short period of time. The point is that Sisko believes that remaining with Kasidy will result in tragedy for Kasidy and Rebecca, and he believes that if he doesn't spend his life with Kasidy--which he can do by leaving her--that such tragedy can be avoided. (Again, the contrapositive of "If he spends his life with her, he will know nothing but sorrow" is "He will not know nothing but sorrow if he doesn't spend his life with her," which is logically true.) Put it a different way: if Sisko knew that staying with Kasidy would result in the death of his daughter, wouldn't it be neglectful for him to stay?

Second, Sisko's motives are made plain in Rough Beasts. He doesn't want to leave Kasidy; he believes that he must do so in order to save her and their daughter. He's not interested in avoiding his own sorrow, but in avoiding tragedy for Kasidy and Rebecca.

I know you don't like it. I know you wish the story had gone a different way. All of that is fine. But in terms of what is actually contained in the novel, your pronouncements don't stand up to scrutiny. Your assumptions and conclusions do not accurately reflect Sisko's mind-set.