Was Sisko a Javert

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' started by WesleysDisciple, Mar 27, 2013.

  1. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    You mean that friendly government that had Gul Dukat as the Chief of Staff of their military?
     
  2. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    And so? Point?

    They were still driven to ruination by an unprovoked Klingon invasion and Dukat alone made a deal with the Devil to drive the Klingons (and some emboldened terrorists) out. Take away the Klingon invasion, and do they still accept the selling of their soul to the Dominion?

    Central Command may well have drawn the Federation into another war - would the Detapa Council?

    (The answer is yes, because the Founders were behind the whole thing, from Klingon invasion to weakening Central Command's position by luring the Obsidian Order on a fool's errand and wiping them out, thus allowing the Detapa Council's coup in the first place. So Gowron telling Founder-Martok he's a loon and the Khitomer Accords are more important would have just meant Founder-Gowron and the mysterious death of General Martok. Some other method would have been found. The question remains though: would Cardassia have wholeheartedly accepted signing up without the Klingon Invasion?)



    ETA: Also, regarding the OP. No, absolutely not. That was just Eddington self-aggrandizing and needing to make himself and epic hero. As somebody noted, Sisko was willing to forgive and to give second chances, to Kas for example. The one time Javert decided to show mercy, the mental break drove him to suicide.

    Javert is committed to the law at all costs, which in his black/white world is always just.

    :wtf: The fuck?

    The one time Javert showed mercy it drove him insane and he killed himself. He was also utterly unmoved by the plight of innocent Cossette when it came to upholding the law for Fantine's "crime."
     
    Last edited: Oct 27, 2013
  3. Agony_Boothb

    Agony_Boothb Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Even if the cardassians had not joined the dominion, or the founders sowed dissent between cardassia and the klingons there is a chance thay they may have fallen back on their old behaviour.

    From the moment they signed the armistice back in 2367 the cardassians were already prepping for another war. In 'the wounded' they were using a science station as a weapons supply depot. this station was within striking distance on 3 federation sectors. despite the protests of innocence by the cardassians, picard knew that it was true and in the 'interests of peace' did nothing about it apart from telling the cardassians the federation would be 'watching'. then in 2369 the cardassians had another military build up in mcallister nebula with the intention of a surprise attack on minos korva, a federation world. the federation again let this incident slide.

    the cardassians clearly didn't give a shit about the peace treaty, yet the federation was bending over backwards to appease them.
     
  4. Thestral

    Thestral Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Sure, there was a chance - there's always a chance, and it certainly seemed likely. Though it's worth noting neither of those incidents went any further.

    But then, that was under Central Command. It wasn't predetermined.
     
  5. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Not everything is about credibility. Yes, the Maquis were screwed over and had every right to blame the Federation as much as the Cardassians. But that doesn't automatically mean that the Federation had any better options available to it at the time, nor that starfleet should be expected to overlook direct provocations that could start a new war.

    This is not even remotely proven. The Klingon war was limited in scope and time period - not at all proof of how powerful starfleet was. It also took place years later - it's entirely possible the Federation was already spending those years beefing up Starfleet in preparation for a possible round 2 with Cardassia (and later in preparation for the Dominion).

    That's entirely true. But that doesn't automatically mean it was the wrong thing to do.

    Hypothetically, the treaty was already signed by this point. Endlessly demanding more concessions would've led straight back to war, the Federation would've instantly started backing the Maquis and everyone would be saying how great they were for it and how upright and moral they were, as proven by the fact that they gave the Cardassians every chance and only went back to all out war when they were left no other choice. And possibly also how sad it was that they were so weakened by fighting Cardassia that they allowed the Dominion to waltz right over top of them.

    The territories were not contested until the war. Wars always create contested territories - that's the point of war. What the treaty did was determine exactly what would be done with the contested territories in order to prevent further warfare.

    And the Federation wasn't doing all that much to seriously take down the Maquis until the Maquis started attacking Federation ships and stealing Federation supplies - and risking an instant rekindling of the war by launching biogenic weapons on a planetary scale.

    Yep. Because war is a pretty crappy thing, and the Federation had had enough of it. It's not an ideal attitude necessarily, but it's certainly an understandable one. And no matter how many times people want to bring up the Czechoslovakia example, it still doesn't prove that the Cardassians really were planning to, or even capable of actually overrunning the Federation the way Hitler overran Europe.
     
  6. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I doubt they would have cared. The area was going to be Cardassian territory, whether or not there were colonists living in it.
     
  7. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I just rewatched 'For the Cause' and it occurs to me that Sisko's extreme dislike of Eddington in particular - as opposed to the Maquis in general - isn't just a result of the fact that Eddington 'beat' him, or even that Eddington's betrayal happened on Sisko's watch. It was also a result of the way in which Eddington engineered everything: trying to push a hard line against Kassidy while he himself was far deeper involved than she was, and even using her as bait to get Sisko off the station.

    Finding out within a few days of each other that both of them were helping the maquis right under his nose must have been a major blow to him. I'd imagine, in a lot of ways, Kassidy's betrayal hurt far worse than Eddington's, but, especially after she came in voluntarily, he couldn't help but transfer the bulk of his anger and resentment towards Eddington. And Eddington, with his ridiculous over-righteousness 'you're worse than the Borg' certainly did make it very easy to do so. It would've been easy for him to unconsciously blame Eddington for exposing Kassidy.

    It could have even been a part of his own internal doubts about Federation policy re: the Maquis, with Kassidy (who was shipping medical supplies) representing an idea of the Maquis he had a hard time condemning, and Eddington, with his terrorist tactics and threats of further assaults on the Federation, representing an idea of the Maquis he could only despise. The fact that Eddington's Maquis won out over Kassidy's is what ultimately brings him down to his extreme anti-Maquis view.
     
  8. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    It definitely was personal and not about the Maquis with Sisko. His best friend Cal Hudson pulled a similar one over his head and he let it go. His girlfriend did the same and he later married her without ever bringing it up again. So it never was the Maquis itself that irked him, but Eddington personally.
     
  9. Grendelsbayne

    Grendelsbayne Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    While I, obviously, agree he had personal issues with Eddington, I think you're rather overstating things here. Cal Hudson's involvement with the Maquis was completely unknown to Sisko until after Cal was already dead. It's hard to hold a grudge against a dead man.

    And Kassidy's betrayal was not just handwaved out of existence. She gave herself up voluntarily and served her time.
     
  10. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Did you not watch the Maquis? The man literally phasered Sisko when he didn't join up.
     
  11. Agony_Boothb

    Agony_Boothb Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Sisko pretty much says it himself that it's for personal reasons:


    "He worked under me for a year and a half. I saw him almost every day. Read his reports. Had him to dinner. I even took him to a baseball game in the holosuite once. And I never saw it! It's my job to be a good judge of character, and what did I do? Not only did I not see it, I put him up for a promotion."
    "He played his hand well."
    "He played me all right. And what is my excuse? Is he a Changeling? No. Is he a being with seven lifetimes of experience? No. Is he a wormhole alien? No. He's just a man, like me. And he beat me!"
    - Sisko and Dax, discussing Eddington while Sisko punches the bag

    Sisko's reaction to Eddington's betrayal comes off as irrational when compared to his reaction to Cal Hudson.


    Sisko and Hudson had known each other 20 years by the time of the 'the maquis pt 1'. Not only did Hudson shoot Sisko but engaged him in ship to ship combat, which could have resulted in Sisko's death even if that wasn't the intention. Sisko then lets Hudson go. Does Sisko go under cover, does he take runabouts to try and track Hudson down? No, Sisko just leaves him be and probably laments a broken friendship.


    Even though Sisko had a friendship with Eddington, they weren't best buddies and Eddington wasn't part of Sisko's inner circle. So why did he get so vengeful and make it personal, because Eddington kept outsmarting him. It just makes Sisko look petty and unprofessional.
     
  12. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Er...the whole point was that Sisko was being petty and unprofessional with regards to Eddington. He let him get under his skin.
     
  13. Tuvok

    Tuvok Lieutenant Red Shirt

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    Trust me buddy there was plenty for everyone.

    Sisko flaw is his pride , which is good. Every one needs one, and maybe the fact the man he trusted turned on him.

    While watching the For the Cause and for the Uniform I noted Eddington flaw is his belief in his own moral superiority , like when he was criticising the Federation { for lets be honest valid points} he sense of greater standing in the whole scheme of things.

    Which is all good , when defending your home. Not so good when you start bionuking pretty much innocent colonies to regain your land. And planning to do so again and again because hey , its all good where the good guys.

    None where innocent.

    Not the Federation who abandoned them, needs of the many out weighs the needs of the few. Which to be honest was the right thing to do logically, because its an unfair universe and you do what you can to prevent unneeded war. In fact they could have forced the Colonists to be relocated but of course they didn't. The Federation can never be the bad guys, they just leave their citizens living next to them undefended looks less bad right ?

    Not Sisko, whose pursit of Eddington was blinded by pride. And if maybe wasn't so angered could have caught him before things got to bio nuking stage.

    Not the Marquis who turned from plucky defenders to terrorist bombing worlds from orbit with poison.

    And certainly not Eddlington who could play the innocent and misunderstood hero all he wants, but did betray his uniform , his office, stole from the Federation, attacked unarmed transports fleeing a World he bio nuked and sneered at those he thought didn't have the bones to do what had to be done. Yet bitch about it when it's done to him.

    Ironically , I don't blame the Cardassian military . Because Victim blaming is when you smear the innocent party to assign blame and deflect guilt, this is face palming when you a bunch of people living next to a group of people known for treachery , mass murder and brutality . And being surprised when said group of mass murdering bullies start in on you. When you can you know, relocate.

    Space is big.