i’ve just finished watching ‘the gift’ (4.02 of voyager), and something that i continue to think about is how disapprovingly janeway spoke about annika hansen (later 7 of 9′s) parents for being as disinclined to be involved with the federation as they were.
this script doesn’t exactly show the attitude it was spoken with--but it came off as haughty (as even the best starfleet officers sometimes can, preferring the comfort and regularity of replicated foods, recycled air, the comfort of ever-available supplies and technologies to slower ways of life--a conflict which appeared in tos and tng, but more prominently in ds9 as a separating factor between bajor and the federation and certainly between voyager and the kazon, who had no knowledge about or ability to use transporter technology until they were exposed to it by the federation). the use of ‘but’ in preceding ‘wanted nothing to do with starfleet or the federation’ seems to suggest that exploration itself was something (terrans, at least) viewed as indelibly bound to starfleet/the federation... not to mention it implies that anyone who distrusts starfleet/the federation--despite the myriad of instances displayed, throughout many series, that involve corruption of high ranking officials, war crimes, hidden agendas (section 33/the entirety of ds9′s ‘paradise lost’ where Admiral Leyton plots to establish martial law after faking a dominion infiltration of planetary operations)--is deserving of ridicule, with janeway’s use of ‘unconventional’ coming out with a bite to it that made annika’s parents seem unreasonably paranoid
but to what extent is it right to be wary of the federation? what faith can be entrusted in them? it is absolutely true that the line between exploration and militancy is often crossed by the fleet, though the federation has always presented starfleet as a scientific organization that is capable of self defense when necessary (this being the entirety of the argument picard made to q about humanity in ‘encounter at farpoint’). but where is the line between the objectivity they claim to have in study and in science, and influence? and when does influence become conquering? if janeway’s attitude toward ‘unconventional’ explorers (which in this case means those who reject starfleet) is not only so easily understandable that it isn’t questioned, but in fact an opinion widespread, then how difficult is it to explore without starfleet, which is to say without being bound to a military organization? is it possible to graduate from the academy and serve on a federation science vessel, peacefully? or in all the instances where fleet ships are pulled from their assignments to make war (the battle of wolf 359 against the borg (tng)/the battle in the tyra system against advancing dominion forces where 98 starships were destroyed out of a fleet of 112 (ds9)), are the science vessels with their limited armanets and defensive capabilities, with their smaller crew complement, advanced sensors, large stretches of laboratory space, pulled into armed conflict alongside defiant-class warships?
when the sky is so alight with starships, are they commanded by explorers? or are they commanded by killers, who fancy themselves in the right?
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