Why was Dukat never arrested when visiting DS9?
https://startrek.website/post/6946831
Why was Dukat never arrested when visiting DS9? - Star Trek: Website
A who’s who of Cardassian officers and Bajoran collaborators (Darhe’el, for
example) were persona non grata at best, and arrested to face charges of war
crimes at best. I can imagine that, if there were no specific incidents which
could be linked to Gul Dukat, perhaps he and other Cardassian officials would be
tolerated… But as he was the head of the occupation, I’m not sure this makes
sense. Is the best explanation that this is merely a matter of convenience to
normalize relations between Bajoran and Cardassia, or is there a plausible
justification for his semi-frequent visits to DS9 and/or Bajoran in the early
seasons? What real historical examples are analogous to his relationship with
the Bajoran (provisional) government?
Regarding the reversibility of assimilation
https://startrek.website/post/1078589
Regarding the reversibility of assimilation - Star Trek: Website
Couple of thoughts in response to this thread: 1) I think the Borg, as a
concept, somewhat falls apart when we considering that natural, biological
systems are actually often perfect models for the efficiency that the Borg claim
to strive for. And, to clarify, I’m not saying the concept falls apart from a
doylist perspective - I think that the fact that Borg technology evolves
independent of any particular intent and is highly automated to take the most
efficient route to its endpoint kind of reveals the folly of the Borg, which
would be super interesting to explore. They’re just recreating systems which
already exist in nature, from a certain point of view. 2) Considering the
miracle of dermal regenerators and similar technology, I actually think
Assimilation is highly reversible. Just still really traumatic. PS - I’m not
really sure on what the policy is on linking topics from the subreddit but I’m
trying not to post on Reddit so.i guess this is my way of transitioning. Remove
if not ok, I guess?
Controversial Opinion (?) - The Ultra-Profiteering Economy of Ferenginar and Adherence to the Rules of Acquisition is the most stable and ethical expression of capitalism
https://startrek.website/post/995697
Controversial Opinion (?) - The Ultra-Profiteering Economy of Ferenginar and Adherence to the Rules of Acquisition is the most stable and ethical expression of capitalism - Star Trek: Website
Which is not to say that it is perfect or superior to Earth and the larger
Federation’s comparatively egalitarian post-scarcity economy, or even
particularly ethical. However, from what we’re shown, the Ferengi political
structure (which is clearly part and parcel with it’s commercial structure) does
not, with the one HUGE exception of it’s treatment of women, make use of
divisive social issues to distract its work force from the disadvantages of
capitalism. Unlike contemporary Western capitalism, everyone on Ferenginar from
the wealthiest to the poorest appears to operate from the same transparent, if
morally bankrupt, ruleset, and the powerful, importantly, don’t pretend
otherwise. This is a dark but kind of brilliant aspect of the rules of
acquisition - All members of society, including laborers, are taught from birth
to operate from a position of mutual distrust and can operate comfortably with
full knowledge that the person on the other side of the table will disregard all
other concerns in order to take complete financial advantage of them, and they
will do the same. This bypasses a lot of steps that would otherwise be required
in terms of building trust or engaging in any kind of sales or negotiation,
although there is likely a lot more onus on each individual to do the calculus
on any given business transaction internally to ensure that all of their
vulnerabilities are accounted for. The phrase ‘trust me’ must be a complete joke
in all contexts. Furthermore, because greed is not just a social value but a
desirable and marketable job skill, the playing field, which is horrific from
the perspective of most 24th century humans, may actually be more level than
even modern capitalism. There’s evidence to suggest that if even the poorest
worker can successfully skim profits without leaving immediate evidence behind,
this is almost blameless. Quark knows that Rom shaves the latinum, for example.
This is not a complete theory and I’m sure there are plenty of counterexamples,
but mostly I just wanted to gripe that shit is so tough irl right now that even
working as a Ferengi waiter seems like a dream by comparison.
