Is Kai Winn Stupid?

[OtherGene]

If he showed up at your door with a full head of short black hair in an overall and told you with a friendly and a little bit shy demeanor your landlord send him to take a look at the pipes I think it's more likely you'd think he resembles Donald Trump and what a funny coincidence that is, I doubt you'd think "That's Trump in disguise trying to get a look at my toilet".

So I'm giving Winn a pass for not realizing she was dealing with a surgically altered Dukat.

Probably a bad example as a disguised Dukat returning to Terok Nor isn't quite the same as Trump turning up in rural Cheshire, England.

I'm now at my window, like Malcom X, on the lookout for Donald Trump. He won't fool me

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I think this issue is funny more than anything else: obviously, Marc Alaimo has a very distinctive voice and physique that are difficult to disguise. He makes for a good politician--someone who might cultivate unusual mannerisms or affectations, consciously or not, in order to stand out.

On the other hand, why didn't anyone recognize Worf in Apocalypse Rising.

 

[OtherGene]

On the other hand, why didn't anyone recognize Worf in Apocalypse Rising.

I'd forgotten about that one!

 

[Paradise City]

There's this thing when you recast actors and there's a credibility leap that's asked of you. Saavik switching actors yet we accept that they are the same character is an example of this.

Accepting Dukat as a cleverly disguised Bajoran is another category of that I think. We're to take it that he's fully disguised and it needs a DNA test to unmask him. We're to forgive that the disguise is the cosmic equivalent of a sombrero and a handle bar moustache.

Winn manages to seize the First Minister's office and clearly she has a powerful knack for intrigue. Once she gets there, like the stereotypical schemer she screws up and is disposed.

I suppose after experiencing the giddy heights of power she has to try and be content with "just" the Kai position but she's an incurably ambitious woman who grows restless and impatient and with nowhere left to go - her judgement flies out the window.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If he showed up at your door with a full head of short black hair in an overall and told you with a friendly and a little bit shy demeanor your landlord send him to take a look at the pipes I think it's more likely you'd think he resembles Donald Trump and what a funny coincidence that is, I doubt you'd think "That's Trump in disguise trying to get a look at my toilet".

I think I'd figure it out when he started going on about how he was the best plumber in the world.

 

[Paradise City]

If Donald Trump appeared at my door disguised in a giant sombrero and a handlebar moustache I'd get a sinking feeling.

I mightn't recognise him off the bat but I'd certainly think "that's odd" and I would definitely give him a very suspicious look.

 

[Triskelion]

Hey, if I believed Margot Kidder couldn't recognize Christopher Reeve's Supes in glasses, I'll believe anything.

 

[Jedman67]

People tend to see and hear what they expect to see.

During the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, there were quite a few women who disguised themselves as men to enlist to fight, in a time when close physical exams were not conducted at the time of enlistment. The sex of some women was not discovered until they were wounded, while others were able to keep their secret until after the war. It was all part of people seeing what they expected to see.

Terry Pratchett cleverly satirized this in the Discworld novel "Monstrous Regiment". I strongly recommend reading it even if you haven't read any of the other novels in the series, it's a great stand-alone.