Siskos prejudice?
- Thread starter Laughing Dragon
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Both plots with Red Squad feel like out of control high school kids in after-school specials. Like, one assumes Star Fleet cadets would spend a bunch of time getting instructions from trainers on respecting the civilian authority, chain of command, and not following illegal orders, so why would the BEST OF THE BEST of them ignore that completely out of some misplaced sense of pride, duty and arrogance?
When your mentpr and role model Adm Leyton tells you that you have to sabotage the planetary power grid, that's a HUGE Red Flag!
Admiral Leyton took notes from Captain Pressman.
The problem with Watters was arrogance... and it got his crew killed.Both plots with Red Squad feel like out of control high school kids in after-school specials. Like, one assumes Star Fleet cadets would spend a bunch of time getting instructions from trainers on respecting the civilian authority, chain of command, and not following illegal orders, so why would the BEST OF THE BEST of them ignore that completely out of some misplaced sense of pride, duty and arrogance?
When your mentpr and role model Adm Leyton tells you that you have to sabotage the planetary power grid, that's a HUGE Red Flag!
The problem with having that arrogance is not knowing when to back down. They got the sensor data of that battleship, and could have gotten home, been hailed as heroes for not only surviving all those months behind enemy lines but getting the data, and probably been given REAL commissions on some high profile assignments.
Arrogance goes hand in hand with stupidity.
are you talking about the episode in season 3 where he dident wanted to write a recommendation letter to the acadamy and later was convinced to write one? he said that his reputation is on the line. before nog proven himeself. and then when nog did prove himeself he wrote that letter. its not about being a farangi. its about being the professional and not just a greedy guy who care about profit. which, lets be honest, the farangi bunch on ds9 are. what about that episode where he insulted the girls. that was pretty chiildlish of him. and the excuse was that its a farangi tradition. thats not very federation-like
Ferengi.
i know i had a spelling check but it wont let edit because i'm new.
Unless it's a Ferengi played by Jamie Farr then it's a Farangi
Well, at least this one of the more mature responses. Here is the vid I posted and what I mean.
I have been ignoring this thread despite my saying more than once I am bowing out or agree to disagree and still been getting direct messages from threads. I keep saying it's how he handled it by yelling at him and roughing him up. I still say and don't know why I can't that, it's like if he called him black. Nog was never the worst of the Ferengi even if it was about his career. I think he could have gone about it better. It seemed very personal. Plus, he is a kid. And he wanted to change. Why deny that when he wanted to deny his Ferengi heritage? Thats the whole point. I don't know how being sanctimonious and stuck up will help anyone want to change and be more SF if they are shot down by shooting down their culture and basically telling them they will never amount to anything better. Just my two-sense worth. I clicked on here because I was finally curious, but I have been ignoring messages that have posts directed at me in this thread for a while. I have not looked at all.
ETA: I expect there to be suspicion from SF. I just said it's how he went about it, and I feel because of Nogs age it was just low class. I think I made that abundantly clear, but I can only say it until I am blue in the face. It's like if he called him black. He did not have to mention his "race." Sisko would not accept that for himself if someone were to say he came from hoodlums. He should know better. And... sigh! Seems a thread went off topic again.
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Sadly, that's the Picard way, and many times the human way.
Sisko wasn't being prejudiced towards Nog because he was a Ferengi, but because Nog was a troublemaker who was too heavily influenced by his criminal uncle. He was genuinely worried about the influence Nog, who had been exposed to a lot of nefarious behaviour, would have on Jake who was relatively naive. The fact that Sisko allowed Nog and Jake's friendship to continue despite his misgivings is testament to how open-minded and fair Sisko is as a person.
As for Sisko's treatment of Nog when the boy expressed interest in joining Starfleet, Sisko had to be 100% certain that this wasn't just Nog acting on a whim. Sisko would be putting his reputation on the line by providing a letter of recommendation and he had to be sure. Also as Picard said, the first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth whether it's scientific truth, historical truth or Personal truth. Nog was not being upfront or truthful about his reasons for joining Starfleet and if Nog could not speak his truth then he had no place wearing the starfleet uniform.
It's shown in multiple episodes that Sisko can recite Rules of Acquisition from memory and he is respectful and knowledgeable on Ferengi customs and traditions. As a general rule, prejudiced people don't bother to learn about cultures they dislike.
And everyone else's point is that it is NOT just like calling him black. Look, the Ferengi have been hostile to the Federation. They took over the Enterprise! Their philosophy is entirely opposed to what the Federation stands for. OF COURSE Sisko was going to ask AS A FERENGI, knowing that Ferengi philosophy is opposed to Federation ideology, why do you want to be in the Federation? It would be like a Romulan kid coming to him and asking for a recommendation to Starfleet Academy. You don't think Sisko would ask, and be entirely correct in asking "You're a ROMULAN. Why do you want to join Starfleet?"
It would be like back in the '60's a kid from the Soviet Union wanting to attend a US service academy. You don't think someone would ask and be entirely correct in asking "you're RUSSIAN! Why would you want to join a US service academy?"
Given the Ferengi hostility to the Federation in the past, of course Sisko was going to question Nog on that. That doesn't make it racist. Given Nog's own past of getting in trouble and not always doing well in school, of course Sisko was going to question it.
And I'm not all that upset with the tone with which Sisko handled it either. Consider people joining the military now, having to go through boot camp with drill instructors yelling obscenities in their faces. Now I'm not suggesting it's that bad at Starfleet Academy, but I would expect that instructors will make things hard on candidates to toughen them up and test their character. I bet what Sisko did there was nothing to what Nog might get in the Academy. Sisko was being hard on him to get to the truth of why Nog wanted to join the Academy, and it worked. And then Sisko understood and wrote the letter. That is called a success story.
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