Bajorans Under Cardassian Rule
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Slaves? I hope you're kidding. The rightful Bajoran government with true patriots like Secretary Kubus worked together with the Cardassian Union, to better the lives of everyone.
I don't like Bajorans even a little bit therefore I completely agree with Dukat's point of view that Cardassians are a superior race who via the occupation helped improve the Bajorans from being an inferior race. Granted in my view they were still an inferior race after the occupation ended, however, not as much so as before the Cardassians came and helped them out.
Of course "on paper" the show probably intended that Bajorans are supposed to be sympathized with simply because they are slaves who were victims. However, due to how annoying Bajorans are and how completely awesome Cardassians are, the show does a very poor job of evoking sympathy for the Bajorans.
Build Dukat 10 000 Dukat statues of himself on Bajor IMO, he deserves them with a pat on the back too for being consistently fascinating and entertaining. Whereas Bajorans (aside from one or two like Kai Winn) are the complete opposite of that.
Of course "on paper" the show probably intended that Bajorans are supposed to be sympathized with simply because they are slaves who were victims. However, due to how annoying Bajorans are and how completely awesome Cardassians are, the show does a very poor job of evoking sympathy for the Bajorans.
Build Dukat 10 000 Dukat statues of himself on Bajor IMO, he deserves them with a pat on the back too for being consistently fascinating and entertaining. Whereas Bajorans (aside from one or two like Kai Winn) are the complete opposite of that.
It's a remarkable thing, Navaros, but I cannot remember a single post made by you in the history of my membership on this board that I have ever agreed with. Ever.
Well, there was no question that the Occupation involved the Cardassians using Bajorans as slave laborers in ore processing. That fact was mentioned (and prominently illustrated) in a number of episodes. It's not clear to me how pervasive this slavery was, however. We do know that the Occupation was brutal and that almost all Bajorans' basic freedoms and civil rights were extremely compromised. The only Bajorans who were spared such awful treatment were the ones who sold out to the Cardassians -- I believe they were called collaborators.
Okay, if Bajorans were real people, I of course would sympathise, because many of them were used for slave labour, and because of the simple fact that I don't like the idea of some people prancing into some other people's country and bossing the natives around.
But, the Bajorans as a tv species are annoying and I don't pity them much at all. Because they're really, really irritating and think they're better than everyone else.
But, the Bajorans as a tv species are annoying and I don't pity them much at all. Because they're really, really irritating and think they're better than everyone else.
Slaves, perhaps not. But certainly a disenfranchised native class, like in many colonial systems: The colonizers at the top as the elite, the mass of the majority impoverished at the bottom.
Likeable? Yes. Not as interesting as the Cardassians, true, but in lots of fiction the villains are more compelling than the heroes. The Bajorans could be interesting, though this was mainly through Kai Winn.
Likeable? Yes. Not as interesting as the Cardassians, true, but in lots of fiction the villains are more compelling than the heroes. The Bajorans could be interesting, though this was mainly through Kai Winn.
Hold on. Let me get this straight:
The species that has had a stable society with a history going back millions of year, which has never (so far as we know) invaded or occupied any other world or violated the rights of any other word, is inferior. And the species that can't set up a stable government, that degenerated into military dictatorship, that plundered its own museums for cash, that decided to invade and occupy other sovereign worlds, violating their rights and launching unprovoked wars... They're superior?
'Cause, from my POV, the species that goes around killing innocent aliens and violating other species' rights has far less of a claim to superiority than the species that's boring but harmless.
I appreciated their plight. It was pretty much a holocaust. They were portrayed very well. I don't see how one could not be endeared to them. The Bajorans were the heart and soul of DS9.
Well. I did like the Cardassians. But I also liked the Bajorians, though at times, they were too head strong. And a good point was made that it seemed at times that all races think themselves superior. Which is understandable, because that race is raised in their culture, and in that, see themselves as the ones who are right. It's just like any country in our world. Americans often think themselves to be in the right, British, Iraqis, etc. We are all raised by our parents usually by the ideals of our forefathers.
As far as, if you take a logical look at the Cardassian Occupation, it was more than that. Say the same thing had been done by any race to another. Say Romulans taking over Earth, using the Terrans as slave labor, curtailing their rights, stripping the planet of natural resources. And finally, leaving the planet to die with those on it.
It's not hard to see that yes, the Cardassians were in the wrong. However, we're talking about the military of Cardassia, not the common people.
A whole other level that can be brought to this conversation, is do you believe that Dukat actually was trying to be easier on the Bajorians on Terok Nor/DS9, or was he just as brutal and devious a dictator as his predicessor?
I personally believe he was, but for his own selfish reasoning of trying to get the Bajorians to trust him more and make them feel like, with him, if they cooperated, there would be no more brutality.
Yes, I see Dukat as a tragic villian. ^.^ *Awaits flames*
As far as, if you take a logical look at the Cardassian Occupation, it was more than that. Say the same thing had been done by any race to another. Say Romulans taking over Earth, using the Terrans as slave labor, curtailing their rights, stripping the planet of natural resources. And finally, leaving the planet to die with those on it.
It's not hard to see that yes, the Cardassians were in the wrong. However, we're talking about the military of Cardassia, not the common people.
A whole other level that can be brought to this conversation, is do you believe that Dukat actually was trying to be easier on the Bajorians on Terok Nor/DS9, or was he just as brutal and devious a dictator as his predicessor?
I personally believe he was, but for his own selfish reasoning of trying to get the Bajorians to trust him more and make them feel like, with him, if they cooperated, there would be no more brutality.
Yes, I see Dukat as a tragic villian. ^.^ *Awaits flames*
The Bajorans were headstrong, but I never personally got the impression they regarded themselves as superior.
As for Dukat being "easier" on the Bajorans, the comment Malcolm X made I think applies here. You can't drive a knife into a man's back nine inches, pull it out six inches, and call it progress.
As for Dukat being "easier" on the Bajorans, the comment Malcolm X made I think applies here. You can't drive a knife into a man's back nine inches, pull it out six inches, and call it progress.
"If you had been there twelve years ago when we liberated that camp -- if you had seen the things I saw -- all those Bajoran bodies, starved, brutalized...do you know what Cardassian policy was? I'm not even talking about the murder; murder was just the end of the fun for them. First came the humiliation -- mothers raped in front of their children, husbands beaten till their wives couldn't recognize them, old people buried alive because they couldn't work anymore -- " Kira - Duet.
Ummm, right.
Yeah, I think you got a point. But I still like the Humans a little more.
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