I happen to highly like Cpt. Picard and if I had my choice between serving between him, the womanizing Cpt. Kirk, or the bipolar disorder madwoman Cpt. Janeway who murdered someone to get her friend back ("Tuvix") I'd pick him in a heartbeat. It would be a toss up between him and Cpt. Sisko. I like Cpt. Sisko outside of his temper he doesn't do well at controlling but he also equally seeks to do the right thing (with coming across as far less of an arrogant ass). I think Cpt. Picard genuinely cared about his crew and serving Starfleet honorably as well and he's much (deserving) respected. This is part of the reason Wesley was so drawn to him as he was such a father figure in being a respectable person of authority who wasn't afraid to lead (see "Final Mission" as the best example). But, at the same time, there are some times when he genuinely bugs me because of his pretensions.
Arrogant may be too strong a word but elitist may fit better. I'm reminded of the episode "Q Who" where Cpt. Picard basically tells Q that the Federation can basically handle anything thrown its way (in so many words). Was this really wise in saying this to a being like Q? I'm wondering if he brought up this same speech to the families of those killed by the Borg in this episode in letting them know their sacrifice wasn't in vain. In relation to the Borg in "Family" Jean Luc yells out: "I should have been able to stop them!" - really? You as one man against the entire Borg having that power? That's not even to get into the whole issue of his basically becoming Ahab in a personal vendetta against the Borg for personally slighting him in "First Contact" against the better nature of his crew. The Borg really served as his Achilles Heel in bringing out the worst nature from him. It was a powerful force he couldn't moralize/manipulate to his enlightened philosophical framework and it bugged the shit out of him to obsessive degrees.
I'm also reminded of his moralizing speeches he regularly gave about how the Federation was basically "superior" compared to other species/entities out there in how much more evolved they were. As opposed to any other captain in other series he reminded me more of Gul Dukat in seeing himself as an enlightened leader charged with the ruffians beneath him in order to bring them to the light of the wisdom of the Federation (much like a colonial power when confronted with a Third World country). I could actually imagine Jean Luc sitting around for hours with Gul Dukat discussing things until he finally got tired of Dukat out of moral contempt for his approach to life which Picard would see as fundamentally beneath him (as opposed to Sisko who actually understood that the Federation's "paradise" wasn't realistic outside of the Sol system). And his arrogant posturing against the man who gave up his own family for love of his people (Admiral Jarok) in "The Defector".
I'd be very interested in how Dukat and Picard would have interacted with one another as my personal opinion would be they would have attempted to compare male genitalia sizes much more as opposed to what we had with Sisko who wasn't concerned with such moralizing bullshit and who was superior to whom. And I don't think Picard would have lasted on DS9 as the commander as the Bajorans would have run him off as not someone they wanted to work with for his ideological beliefs. Likewise, Picard would have had Kira dismissed and Odo removed from security within a few weeks because they would have annoyed him too much in being too outspoken. I do think Dr. Bashir and he would have gotten along well though.
This isn't even touching on the disgusting signs of his moral "superiority" in "The Neutral Zone".
There's probably much I'm leaving out here. But I think this could certainly be a lively discussion. All things said, I'm not trying to start an argument. I'm merely curious as to the opinions of others regarding this. As I said earlier, I'd have been honored to serve with Cpt. Picard far more than most of the other captains on Star Trek as I'd probably have a better chance of not ending up dead somewhere. Likewise, I think his heart was in the right place. Just because he may be arrogant doesn't mean he's a bad person or doesn't care about doing the right thing overall. If anything, he's a product of much of his surroundings in always known comfort without true struggle. It would have been most interesting to see how he would have evolved (or not evolved at all) if he had been put into a situation of someone like Sisko in charge of DS9.
Arrogant may be too strong a word but elitist may fit better. I'm reminded of the episode "Q Who" where Cpt. Picard basically tells Q that the Federation can basically handle anything thrown its way (in so many words). Was this really wise in saying this to a being like Q? I'm wondering if he brought up this same speech to the families of those killed by the Borg in this episode in letting them know their sacrifice wasn't in vain. In relation to the Borg in "Family" Jean Luc yells out: "I should have been able to stop them!" - really? You as one man against the entire Borg having that power? That's not even to get into the whole issue of his basically becoming Ahab in a personal vendetta against the Borg for personally slighting him in "First Contact" against the better nature of his crew. The Borg really served as his Achilles Heel in bringing out the worst nature from him. It was a powerful force he couldn't moralize/manipulate to his enlightened philosophical framework and it bugged the shit out of him to obsessive degrees.
I'm also reminded of his moralizing speeches he regularly gave about how the Federation was basically "superior" compared to other species/entities out there in how much more evolved they were. As opposed to any other captain in other series he reminded me more of Gul Dukat in seeing himself as an enlightened leader charged with the ruffians beneath him in order to bring them to the light of the wisdom of the Federation (much like a colonial power when confronted with a Third World country). I could actually imagine Jean Luc sitting around for hours with Gul Dukat discussing things until he finally got tired of Dukat out of moral contempt for his approach to life which Picard would see as fundamentally beneath him (as opposed to Sisko who actually understood that the Federation's "paradise" wasn't realistic outside of the Sol system). And his arrogant posturing against the man who gave up his own family for love of his people (Admiral Jarok) in "The Defector".
I'd be very interested in how Dukat and Picard would have interacted with one another as my personal opinion would be they would have attempted to compare male genitalia sizes much more as opposed to what we had with Sisko who wasn't concerned with such moralizing bullshit and who was superior to whom. And I don't think Picard would have lasted on DS9 as the commander as the Bajorans would have run him off as not someone they wanted to work with for his ideological beliefs. Likewise, Picard would have had Kira dismissed and Odo removed from security within a few weeks because they would have annoyed him too much in being too outspoken. I do think Dr. Bashir and he would have gotten along well though.
This isn't even touching on the disgusting signs of his moral "superiority" in "The Neutral Zone".
There's probably much I'm leaving out here. But I think this could certainly be a lively discussion. All things said, I'm not trying to start an argument. I'm merely curious as to the opinions of others regarding this. As I said earlier, I'd have been honored to serve with Cpt. Picard far more than most of the other captains on Star Trek as I'd probably have a better chance of not ending up dead somewhere. Likewise, I think his heart was in the right place. Just because he may be arrogant doesn't mean he's a bad person or doesn't care about doing the right thing overall. If anything, he's a product of much of his surroundings in always known comfort without true struggle. It would have been most interesting to see how he would have evolved (or not evolved at all) if he had been put into a situation of someone like Sisko in charge of DS9.
