Why exactly was Sisko _that_ obsessed with capturing Eddington?

I always thought that Eddington's line to Sisko about how the Federation is worse than the Borg really touched a nerve. Insulting the nation he belongs to is one thing; comparing it to the entity that not only killed his friends, destroyed his ship, and left him a widow as well as leaving Jake without a mother?

Eddington was just asking for the wrath of the Sisko at that point.

 

^ Eddington's lucky that it was the Jem'Hadar, not Sisko himself, who killed him. (Especially with that bullshit about the Federation being worse than the Borg. ) Given this, Eddington got off easy!

 

Eddington might be wrong about great many things, he joined the Maqius to prove himself that he was something more than an insignificant officer. However, his dissatisfaction with the Federation is one of the most sincere things that someone has ever produced.

No one is perfect, including the Federation. Assuming that Federation is a benevolent space power that has the best interests of the universe at heart is hilarious. They have their intrinsic agenda like everybody else, they want power and influence as much as everybody else. They will do everything in order to fuel their meritorious ego and to keep their Paradise intact. They might sugarcoat their true intentions but they are what they are – the biggest and rapidly expanding power in the universe. Oh, and they want to be everybody’s best friends, which is worse than a Borg assimilation. At least when the Borg assimilate someone they don’t require the subject of assimilation to like them.

 

^ Conversely, the Federation never forces worlds to join against their will (and in fact has strict rules as to who can join). That alone makes the Borg analogy irrelevant.

The Federation has the absolute right to make its case, so to speak. Meaning, to explain in detail the rights and benefits a world will gain if it joins. That doesn't mean the Federation is like the Borg...just realistic. But the ultimate decision is up to that world.

No more hilarious than doing the same thing with the Cardassians.

 

Big powers are neither good nor bad, they are just big, that does the trick. The rest is demagogy for the conquered subjects and the ordinary citizens.

In the case of the Federation, the Borg simile is just a metaphor, a way to ask how much of their political freedom, cultural idiosyncrasy, social conventions, and economic interests a small planet or ethnic minority should give away in order to become part of the Paradise. Speaking of realism, small worlds do not join big powers against their will, they join out of necessity and because the big powers usually instill supportive governmental structures that legalize the affiliation. When the Circle wanted to get rid of the Federation presence on Bajor, Sisko prevented it and made sure that the Bajoran government kept its pro-Federation orientation although he violated a direct order to leave the station. Still he was not reprimanded later because what he did was beneficial for the Federation.

I also find hilarious the quasi-religious conviction of the Federation fans who never question or analyze the makeup of the Federation but just insist on its rightfulness. Assuming that the entire universe consists of baddies and only the Federation and its affiliates are good is pretty childish.

In this sense, Sisko is a great character because he challenges the cliché about the sanctimonious Federation that never plays dirty. He is no angel, he has his grudges, his disappointments, his personal losses, bitter vendettas and dirty compromises. His clash with Eddington marks just another step toward his disillusionment. He adds much grittier and more realistic nuances to the usual heroic Captain model because he was constantly forced to overstep the limits of his Federation values.

 

About the only thing a prospective world has to "give up" when joining the Federation is (if it has such a thing) caste-based discrimination. Apart from that, individual member worlds keep pretty much everything.

 

From "Let He Who Is Without Sin..." it sounds like any Starfleet officer can do law enforcement duties on the planet, without prior arrangement. Not all planets would appreciate that.

 

^ Well, no, Worf was (at first) sympathizing with the group that was sabotaging Risa's weather control system. He wasn't exercising his normal duties as an officer.

Kind of like what you do with the .

 

I won't deny that Captain Sisko can be egotistical, but I think the issue was bigger than him having his ego wounded. He was intensely loyal to Federation principles and Starfleet (recall his constant talk about the significance of "the uniform"). I'm sure all the things Eddington said about the Federation really rubbed him the wrong way. It was personal to the very core because it attacked not just everything Sisko lived his life for, but also everyone he knew, including those who had died in the name of Federation principles. I mean I agree with some of what Eddington said but damn did he go about it the completely wrong way!

 

I believe Dax said they could arrest the New Essentialists after their violent demonstration in the restaurant.

 

Maybe not openly. But if you don't join, then you're left to fight the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and everyone else on your own.

The Federation won't lift a finger to help besides offering some blankets as we saw with the Bajorans.

 

^Well that's not strictly true, sure they likely won't interven in a military sense but they may be willing to act as mediators

 

Perhaps, but this doesn't necessarily mean that any Starfleet officer can just run roughshod over a local planetary law enforcement's jurisdiction.

This is a very unique situation, after all. The terrorism angle could be considered - by striking at the very heart of an important Federation world, the New Essentialists could be interpreted as a terrorist organization, and thus Starfleet might have discretionary powers to deal with such a threat.

Also true. But what else is the Federation supposed to do? Be the supreme military and police force for the entire fucking GALAXY? They only have a finite amount of resources and manpower. And the Prime Directive must also be considered, as well.

Like I said, the Federation has every right to make its case to a prospective member. They have the right to say "This is what you get if you join." But if the world chooses not to join, the Federation leaves them alone. What ELSE are they supposed to do? To compare the Federation to the Borg implies that Eddington has a better alternative. So what is it, then?

 

I think that Eddington joined the Maquis to spite Sisko but later he really became involved in their cause. He simply envied Sisko for his authority and charisma as a leader. He was not entirely happy with his career, could not stand Sisko’s patronizing attitude towards him. The problem is that he did not express his disagreement with the Federation policies when he was an acting officer and his views would carry more weight.

Still, the rest of the Maquis chose to stay on unprotected worlds and were ready to fight the Cardassians instead of allowing the Federation to safely relocate them to another planet. In fact, they were about to cancel their Federation affiliation. This is what people refuse to discuss, what was that wrong with the Federation that its citizens would make such a deadly choice.

Actually, we don’t know anything about the domestic affairs of the Federation – are there other pressure groups or dissenters like the New Essentialist, any political parties, how elections are effected, what are the law enforcement structures. We see mainly Starfleet personnel acting out of Federation space. We hear them say that they protect the Federation principles, but we have not seen how these principles really work on a Federation world. In fact, we have not seen many Federation civilians.

I don’t think that many small worlds say “no”, especially at the prospect of being taken over by someone else. They simply opt for the less oppressive form of affiliation even if it does not come from the heart. In a way, the threat that other powers pose to small worlds fuels the Federation expansion. The question is what happens when they join, does the Federation really treat them as equal members or as small insignificant colonies whose interests can be neglected for the greater good of the Federation.

 

We do visit a few Federation civilian worlds, both in DS9 and TNG. There are suggestions that there are issues there sometimes (Dorvan V for example, also in relation to the Maquis, in the closing stages of TNG).

I'm not sure I completely agree with you about Eddington. I think he was with the Maquis all along - he would have had to put his life on the line fairly regularly against the Cardassians, so it seems a bit much to do it just to spite Sisko. That's especially given that Sisko wasn't the only captain dealing with that situation.