That's different. The Borg are an imminent threat. Janeway's first priority is her crew. If some drone wants to go home, she doesn't have to let them, and there are certain times where she shouldn't.
Poll Rugal Pa'Dar
- Thread starter Kilana2
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That's different. The Borg are an imminent threat. Janeway's first priority is her crew. If some drone wants to go home, she doesn't have to let them, and there are certain times where she shouldn't.
You could make the same argument about Kurn wanting Worf to kill him.
I tend to think Kurn should have been allowed to die if that was what he wanted.
^ Indeed. Kurn was acting under normal Klingon tradition. He wasn't forced to have those beliefs, he willingly embraced them. And if the "Rodek" identity ever wears off, I wouldn't blame Kurn for being pissed.
Rugal, OTOH, was specifically taught by his adoptive parents to hate his own people, because it was their way of gaining revenge on Cardassia - on ALL Cardassians. It was a deliberate act of malice on their part. I mean, I understand why they did it...because of the occupation...it's just that Rugal's beliefs about his own people were not "normal". No living being is supposed to hate their own race (or species). No matter what some Cardassians might have done, Rugal was not responsible for this, and shouldn't be made to think that he is.
I mean, in our own time, it's obviously wrong to blame all Muslims for 9/11, all Germans for the Nazis, all Japanese for Pearl Harbor, all white people for slavery, etc. etc. This is just another example of that. Rugal is being forced to hate who he is. That's just wrong.
Rugal, OTOH, was specifically taught by his adoptive parents to hate his own people, because it was their way of gaining revenge on Cardassia - on ALL Cardassians. It was a deliberate act of malice on their part. I mean, I understand why they did it...because of the occupation...it's just that Rugal's beliefs about his own people were not "normal". No living being is supposed to hate their own race (or species). No matter what some Cardassians might have done, Rugal was not responsible for this, and shouldn't be made to think that he is.
I mean, in our own time, it's obviously wrong to blame all Muslims for 9/11, all Germans for the Nazis, all Japanese for Pearl Harbor, all white people for slavery, etc. etc. This is just another example of that. Rugal is being forced to hate who he is. That's just wrong.
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How is returning one Borg to the Collective going to make any difference? She drops Seven off on a planet where the Borg will find her and that's that; no threat to Voyager.
What if Seven had said she would rather die than remain separated from the Collective?
And anyway, that's rather beside the point of whether and when it's appropriate to respect the wishes of the individual, unless I'm missing something. Are you saying it's okay to respect the wishes of an individual unless they want to go to "bad people", and if that's the case, what's the difference between the Cardassians and the Borg? Where do you draw the line?
The longer Seven spent on Voyager, the more information she could gather on them. Returning her to the collective could have put Janeway's own crew at risk. What if, for example, Seven had planted Borg technology on Voyager, allowing the Borg to track it? As far as we know, she didn't actually do this, but Janeway didn't know that, and couldn't take the chance.
And before anybody brings up Hugh, that's also different:
- Hugh was obviously not hostile. He was never a threat.
- Picard and the Enterprise had the benefit of being home, with the full resources of Starfleet to back them up. Janeway and Voyager were stranded alone in a hostile quadrant with no backup. In that case, any Borg must be considered a threat.
- Returning Hugh to the collective was a tactical decision, because of Hugh's new found individuality.
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You just answered your own question. Seven was fairly hostile from the moment she came aboard, so I assume Janeway was already considering the possibility that Seven would try to sabotage the ship. Seven could have left Borg tech in the computer without anyone else ever knowing about it. Janeway had to assume that she would do, or already had done, this. So it made sense to keep her on the ship, that way the Borg couldn't take advantage of any sabotage that Seven may or may not have committed.
Well, ONE witness said Rugal was his adoptive parents' revenge, and then the witness disappeared before further questions could be asked. This is called "hearsay", inadmissable in U.S. and most other country's courts, and possibly a plant by Cardassians to push Sisko to send Rugal to Cardassia.
^ Yes, possibly. But also possibly not. Sisko couldn't take the chance.
The claim of the witness who conveniently disappears shortly after doesn't hold up to scrutiny (in my opinion). I know appearances can be deceiving, but nothing of Rugal or his father seems to fit with the claim that Rugal is "Told day after day that he's worthless Cardassian scum. Beaten if he even looks the wrong way." Coming from someone who only visited them a few times, that sounds more like a story than an observation. If they really mistreated him so openly, there'd be more than one person who observed it.
One person says that Rugal is taught to hate his own people, his father says he told him the truth about Cardassians. Both are correct. How can you expect Rugal's father (let alone every other Bajoran) to say that that Cardassians are not a violent, oppressive people? Sure, "Some of them are good people, I'm sure" but do you really think people who suffered under them for decades would acknowledge that when it has been such a short time since it was over?
One person says that Rugal is taught to hate his own people, his father says he told him the truth about Cardassians. Both are correct. How can you expect Rugal's father (let alone every other Bajoran) to say that that Cardassians are not a violent, oppressive people? Sure, "Some of them are good people, I'm sure" but do you really think people who suffered under them for decades would acknowledge that when it has been such a short time since it was over?
Presumably, they were living in Bajoran orphanages. In that same episode, we were shown other Cardassian children that were left behind on Bajor. Some were living in that orphanage that Bashir and Garak investigated.
It's a pity that Rugal never got the chance to actually talk to Garak.
At least in Bajoran orphanages they were safe from the Dominion attacks that laid waste to Cardassia, especially Lakarian City.
The first time I saw that scene when Garak put his hand on Rugal, I thought Garak looked like a creep. Garak doesn't seem like a person who would be good with children.
Those Cardassian orphans could be a part of the future of a new rebuilt Cardassia. But I don't know if they would even be accepted in Cardassian society if they were to somehow make it back to Cardassia.
To put it mildly!
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