I know this is probably going to sound like I'm anti-equality or something, but maybe some societies just don't gain gender equality and that's the way they work? I wish they'd stuck with that.
The Ferengi Appreciation Thread
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I know this is probably going to sound like I'm anti-equality or something, but maybe some societies just don't gain gender equality and that's the way they work? I wish they'd stuck with that.
It would have made sense, lore-wise. But given how woke Trek is, I think it was unrealistic to expect a blatantly sexist society to remain so. What I was suggesting is a way that they could do what they want and have it make sense.
Fair enough. It's a good idea, although I don't think there was any real need to change things since the show did at least alway portray those views as wrong. It just seems wrong in a slightly different way to change them.
Unless they made it some genetic fact of Ferengi that women are less intelligent or genetically docile and servile, it wouldn’t make sense if there weren’t women on the planet who saw what rights women on other planets had and fought back.
They could have had something more like what they did on Orville with the Moclans and have a female Underground Railroad asking for Federation asylum, instead of having them so successfully transform the culture.
Or maybe they'd be ok with it if it (somehow) kept the Ferengi ahead when it came to profits? Or maybe they wouldn't like it but that injustice would simply continue? Makes about as much sense as other weird alien cultural stuff.
Looking back on it now with the benefit of hindsight, I'd like to have seen the Ferengi develop based on those few early TNG examples instead of becoming what was often caricature and comic relief.
If it continued without any real resistance it would inherently mean the tyranny so so effective women are afraid to fight back or get immediately imprisoned if they do. Assuming women have the same intellectual capacity as men for Ferengi, AND they can see what rights non-Ferengi women have, there's no believable way to keep them subservient without the same tyrannical punishment as human cultures.
But if the Ferengi truly value profit more than anything else, they would indeed accept that level of inequality.
Only if women who are good at making profit could also benefit from the inequality.
Well then there you go. I'm not saying it's something that needs to be worked out in detail, just like how a race such as the Klingons would function realistically.
That's a more general issue I sometimes have with Star trek. It seems as if almost any species, over time, comes to appreciate the Federation way (and Federation values) more and more. All species, initially introduced as hostile have become more friendly towards the Federation in case of long-term contact and at least gain some appreciation for some of their values, whether they're Romulan, Klingon, or Ferengi (except perhaps for the Borg). Even though I personally agree with those Federation values, I wonder if there wouldn't be species that would fundamentally be incapable of appreciating some of these values, for example because of their biology and the way their brain is constructed. Not necessarily 'evil' races, but aliens that are more 'alien' in their mentality than most aliens we see on Star Trek.
Sometimes I wonder whether we actually see the events as they happen in the Star Trek universe, or the Federation interpretation of them, them mostly being the heroes in their own stories.
I still think we need a Quark spin-off series that goes into his back-story and delves into Ferengi culture, the Rules of Acquisition, etc..... is dedicated to everything concerning the little guys with the big lobes for business - more or less.
Quark reminds me of this....
Little Green Men and Magnificent Ferengi are my favorite episodes.....
Thoughts?
BTW, I named my dog Quark because he's a rascal too!
Ditto! He's awesome!
If you look at it, we only ever see Klingon nobles. Who's to say the Klingon proletariat aren't far more chill? They're the ones out there discovering warp and fermenting bloodwine.
I mean, that's an explanation - it's just one the show never even implies. Doesn't matter if something doesn't make much sense because that's the type of storytelling Trek went for, especially during that era. I love that they're fine not delving too deep into that sort of stuff. And even if you think Klingons make perfect sense, they don't need to make sense.
Ferengi also don't need to make sense for an interesting point to be made.
That's taken to the extreme with the Ferengi. Early on, their culture is based on (1) male domination, (2) unbridled capitalism, and (3) the autocracy of the Grand Nagus. By the end of "The Dogs of War", male domination has been replaced with female equality, unbridled capitalism has been tempered with social programs, and the Grand Nagus is now restrained by checks and balances. Ferenginar is practically ready to join the Federation!
Perhaps that's the one truly unpardonable sin of the Borg. They stripmine entire solar systems, OK, that's just their obsession with 'efficiency'. They enslave thousands of species against their will into a ghoulish existence for the rest of eternity and instruct them to search out ever more species for enslavement, OK, well, everyone is entitled to a quaint hobby or two. But, even after even more than ten years of contact with the Federation, they still haven't recognised the superiority of Federation values and taken some of them to heart...
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