Confederacy as Commentary on How Bad the Prime Universe Could Be
- Thread starter MikeReed013
- Start date
"Utopianism" is an outdated and impossible thought experiment, but don't let perfection be the enemy of "good enough", which is most of the UFP still really is in comparison to most of its Fascistic, Mercantile, or Theocratic rivals and neighbors in the local spiral arm of the Milky Way....
Especially when you see leadership problems in Starfleet.
A military (or paramilitary) institution will inevitably attract a disproportionate number of power seeking narcissists, sociopaths, and psychopaths.
I think it makes logical sense that there would be a clandestine organization within the Federation to protect against and counter those of other powers. Going by their portrayal in DS9 and Picard S3 I do think it's funny that they manage to be more secretive than the Tal Shiar (their existence isn't even widely known) while being more manipulative, ruthless, and dangerous than the Obsidian Order.
The 48th rule of acquisition - "The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife.", Quark's description of what a hungry humanity is capable of in The Siege of AR-558 - it's like the Ferengi know us better than we know ourselves.
It makes logical sense for the Federation to have intelligence agencies doing sneaky spy work, investigating threats. Starfleet officers go undercover on alien worlds all the time. Sisko infiltrated a Klingon space station in disguise and bombed a Maquis planet in the same season. And then a season later, when he heard about Section 31, his first reaction was 'We need to send a spy to infiltrate Sloan's group'.
DS9's Section 31 is where you end up when you fall off the moral tightrope that Sisko is walking and he recognises their danger immediately. I don't mind that Section 31 exists, they're just another Badmiral group, but if you buy into Star Trek's premise and its message at all, then they have to be rejected by society the moment they're dragged into the light, and ultimately proven to be unnecessary.
DS9's Section 31 is where you end up when you fall off the moral tightrope that Sisko is walking and he recognises their danger immediately. I don't mind that Section 31 exists, they're just another Badmiral group, but if you buy into Star Trek's premise and its message at all, then they have to be rejected by society the moment they're dragged into the light, and ultimately proven to be unnecessary.
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How evolved.
i just don't think they are unnecessary. a necessary evil at times. we saw in SNW's balance of terror sequel/prequel/remake that the correct, moral move is not always the one that leads to survival. I still would argue that the rest of starfleet's ignorance of what 31 is doing, is what LETS them have that moral high ground and arrogance. they truly have no idea, but it keeps them on the up and up, fighting the good fight, staying pure.
sisko is one bad day away from joining, no, leading 31. lol.
