Hmm...a world where hyperintelligent women are sexually aggressive.
I know where I'm taking my next vacation.
Worthy aspects of Cardassian culture?
- Thread starter Ragitsu
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Hmm...a world where hyperintelligent women are sexually aggressive.
I know where I'm taking my next vacation.
I'm going to say something that might be offensive slightly, but I believe it is legitimate:
You can have empire building cultures like the Greeks, Romans, Persians, Mali, and British that cause a lot of harm during their expansionist phase but in significant ways do many (not all) of the places they were and advance technology. I believe history is the movement and connections of technology, otherwise it's just lore and meaningless dates and names.
But there are empire builders that leave very little in their wake but devastation, judging the tree from the fruits. To that I would say the Spanish, the Mongols, Belgians, the Turks, Russians and the United States mostly took and took, built the bones of their civilizations on the work of their betters and mostly left things worse than they began. I would put the Cardassians in the latter category. Whatever good they might have had as a culture did not survive statism and expansionism.
Not exactly.
Cardassian women aren't especially aggressive in that area. No more than the males, anyway. The only reason the awkward situation happened is that Gilora thought O'Brien was being aggressive towards her because she irritated him so much - therefore, she thought he was hitting on her. THAT is how Cardassians 'court' - they act irritable and snap at each other. Neither sex is more aggressive than the other.
Here is a great article about Cardassians our mirror species... It a nice read if you are a fan of the Cardassians...
https://treknews.net/2015/04/10/why-the-cardassians-are-treks-best-alien-race/
The episode’s director, Chip Chalmers noted “We introduced a new enemy that’s finally able to speak on the level of Picard. They’re not grunting, they’re not giggling, they’re not mutes or all-knowing entities. Here are the Cardassians who also graduated first in their class and they’re able to carry on highly intelligent conversations with Picard, but they’re sinister as hell. It was fun to introduce a whole new alien race.” In this episode, we see the critical seeds of the more well-known aspects of the Cardassian mindset being planted: their militarism, their inherent suspicion of outsiders, and their penchant for duplicitousness and strategic maneuvering.
There existed a Cardassian Institute for Art and an entire art movement on the homeworld called “The Valonnan School” that ostensibly emphasized impressionistic art. There were entire genres of diverse Cardassian literature that ranged from serialistic poetry to repetitive epics and enigma tales. And perhaps most telling, there even existed a Cardassian underground dissident movement, comprised of academics, scholars, young people, and other idealists, who opposed the stranglehold that the Central Command and the Obsidian Order had on Cardassian society and sought to restore the power of the civilian-led Detapa Council.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that someone such as Elim Garak would consider “The Never Ending Sacrifice”, a literary epic focusing on seven generations of citizens devoted in service to the State, to be the “finest Cardassian novel ever written”.
https://treknews.net/2015/04/10/why-the-cardassians-are-treks-best-alien-race/
The episode’s director, Chip Chalmers noted “We introduced a new enemy that’s finally able to speak on the level of Picard. They’re not grunting, they’re not giggling, they’re not mutes or all-knowing entities. Here are the Cardassians who also graduated first in their class and they’re able to carry on highly intelligent conversations with Picard, but they’re sinister as hell. It was fun to introduce a whole new alien race.” In this episode, we see the critical seeds of the more well-known aspects of the Cardassian mindset being planted: their militarism, their inherent suspicion of outsiders, and their penchant for duplicitousness and strategic maneuvering.
There existed a Cardassian Institute for Art and an entire art movement on the homeworld called “The Valonnan School” that ostensibly emphasized impressionistic art. There were entire genres of diverse Cardassian literature that ranged from serialistic poetry to repetitive epics and enigma tales. And perhaps most telling, there even existed a Cardassian underground dissident movement, comprised of academics, scholars, young people, and other idealists, who opposed the stranglehold that the Central Command and the Obsidian Order had on Cardassian society and sought to restore the power of the civilian-led Detapa Council.
Thus, it should come as no surprise that someone such as Elim Garak would consider “The Never Ending Sacrifice”, a literary epic focusing on seven generations of citizens devoted in service to the State, to be the “finest Cardassian novel ever written”.
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I would say the Cardassians' main positive attributes (in the time period we actually saw) of devotion to duty, family, etc, were really not that different from the Klingons' devotion to honor.
Yes, they cared about family. But only their own and only if it was officially recognized, not illegitimate children. Yes, they cared about duty and loyalty. But we also regularly saw them go against the State/their orders out of both fundamental disagreements with what they were told and just plain selfish personal gain. They cared about Justice, but only as a public perception not a real thing of value in its own right.
They were, at the core, a society all about appearances of Duty, Loyalty, Family, Devotion, etc, but which under the surface was deeply chaotic and unpredictable with no truly dependable principles by which you could judge them. Which is part of what makes them more realistic and fascinating than the average Trek race since the planet of hats version of world building where an entire species with almost no exceptions adores religion, profit, logic, etc, is totally ridiculous.
Yes, they cared about family. But only their own and only if it was officially recognized, not illegitimate children. Yes, they cared about duty and loyalty. But we also regularly saw them go against the State/their orders out of both fundamental disagreements with what they were told and just plain selfish personal gain. They cared about Justice, but only as a public perception not a real thing of value in its own right.
They were, at the core, a society all about appearances of Duty, Loyalty, Family, Devotion, etc, but which under the surface was deeply chaotic and unpredictable with no truly dependable principles by which you could judge them. Which is part of what makes them more realistic and fascinating than the average Trek race since the planet of hats version of world building where an entire species with almost no exceptions adores religion, profit, logic, etc, is totally ridiculous.
As others have mentioned, Cardassian culture is strong on family and loyalty; I don't think them an irredeemable species at all, for all of the manifest terrible qualities of their Empire. Indeed, putting aside that Garak (like so many others have mentioned) is a favourite and beloved character, Damar's arc in the final season is really quite admirable in many ways (even if he himself is not always likeable). I have sometimes struggled to understand people's love of their own nation - the Cardassians may have helped me understand that impulse a little better.
It's funny how once any kind of "state religion" was abolished, the state became a religion.
Pretty much, yeah.
It's not been that funny for those of us having to live through that transition. Oh wait... are we still talking about Cardassia?
Quite right. Formally, 'Cardassian Union', but 'Cardassian Empire' is used informally. It's a bit like the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which gets called 'Britain', or even (quite incorrectly) 'England'. The formal name and the practicalities on the ground are rather different. 'Cardassian Union' is a euphemism to hide their obvious imperialism, because evidently everyone under their control wants to be part of the union, just ask the Bajorans...(!)
As long as it doesn't include 'democratic' in its official name ... that's usually not a good sign.
"We are the Cardassian People's Front....crack suicide squad!"
*STAB*
"...that showed 'em..."
*STAB*
"...that showed 'em..."
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