It was said way back in "Journey to Babel" that a Vulcan could find a logical reason to kill, so Chu'lak found his logical motive. Of course, his faculties were compromised anyway, and would've found any reason to be "logical", even something like wearing the left sock on the right foot would've been a logical reason to kill a person in his view. The guy had cracked.
I remember Tim Russ (Tuvok actor) saying in an interview that logic is not a
reason to do something, it is only a
method of doing something. A Vulcan can convince himself of the logic of anything, and will then proceed to do that thing in the most logical way he can.
I personally think modern day Trek writers hate Vulcans. From making Sarek go mad, to Spock crying to the brief appearance of Dr. Selar: NIght Doctor, to Racist Solok to Smile Hating Chulok to the Imperialistic Racist Vulcans of the 22nd century, maybe a Vulcan stole one of the writer's jobs at the lurpa factory or something.
I really think that's overstating it. The fact is that drama relies on conflict, and when you've got a character whose very concept is to not show emotion, it's very difficult to write an interesting story about that character without challenging that and forcing them into conflict. The reason those characters seem "mad" is simply because that was the best way to get drama out of a congenitally non-dramatic character.
Besides which, there were plenty of normal Vulcans. Selar was normal - a little sassy perhaps, but not crazy. Dr T'Pan from "Suspicions." Adm Savar from "Conspiracy." Cpt Satelk from "The First Duty." Sisko's captain on the
Saratoga from "Emissary." Adm T'Lara from "Rules of Engagement." All normal Vulcans, but you forget about them because they weren't very memorable characters. You remember the "crazy" Vulcans because they had actual personalities to remember.
And I really do think that people over-romanticize Spock as the be-all-and-end-all of Vulcans (just like people over-romanticize the original
Star Wars trilogy when it really wasn't that good). Spock was a interesting character only when his logical control was tested and challenged.
And the matter of environment must be taken into consideration, too. Vulcans probably prefer different conditions than Humans, or Andorians for that matter, and asking all these disparate species to serve on a starship together is just asking for everyone to be uncomfortable. The Andorians like the cold, the Vulcans like the heat, the Humans like humidity, the Horta prefer rock, etc etc etc. If they all have to compromise on the environmental controls, can you imagine the havoc that would create?
Exactly what the starship
Titan from its eponymous novel series is supposed to explore. Starfleet knows it has been a bit too heavy on the all-one-species ships, but it's just easier to do that because of the environmental issues and interpersonal issues.
Titan is designed to confront that and find a way to work past it by creating a crew comprised of species of different gravities, atmospheres, metabolisms and philosophies and forcing them to figure it out.
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). If Sisko had been totally sober, he would not have done that. Sisko is not normally volatile, except in extraordinary circumstances.
