A fun part of DS9's handling of the Maquis - see also "Defiant" with Tom Riker - is they're kinda lib posers doing terrorism. They do not quite have the stomach for it and still largely conduct themselves in Starfleet tactics. Whether or not Eddington is a hero, he's not, ultimately, good at it - ThreadSky

valondar.bsky.social • 188 days ago

A fun part of DS9's handling of the Maquis - see also "Defiant" with Tom Riker - is they're kinda lib posers doing terrorism. They do not quite have the stomach for it and still largely conduct themselves in Starfleet tactics. Whether or not Eddington is a hero, he's not, ultimately, good at it

Reposted from Ernest Luckman

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valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

Ultimately whether or not Eddington is good comes down to are the Maquis good, because that's the cause he's chosen to fight for, their position perhaps best elucidated in the pre-Eddington "The Maquis" two parter. And yeah, arguably, though in a way that speaks to the abstracting fantasy of space.

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

That is, the Maquis are about settlers rights. The Cardassian Demilitarized Zone established after a war with the Federation included worlds already settled by Cardassians or by Federation supported settlers. They are beyond either government but the Cardies provide tacit support to local militias.

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

I say 'fantasy of space' because it's settlers rights in the absence of indigeneity. The conflict is between groups of settlers in an area of otherwise uninhabited space. In "Journey's End" on the Next Generation the settlers are Native Americans, with Picard being reluctant to forcibly move them.

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

And I think in the way the argument is constructed there's a certain moral right in protecting the homes and livelihoods people have committed to, even if in practice it involves a threat of escalation to a war they might not win (and in the end do not.) But well it is what it is.

jajcrob.bsky.social•188 days ago

wouldn't be ds9 if there was an unambiguously ethical solution

ernieluckman.bsky.social•188 days ago

The maquis I think mostly feel because we don’t know exactly what the material limits of are the colonies and what it takes to move. Were they given bars of Latinum to move or just told to fuck off.

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

They could have got a stay on a Galaxy-class starship in "Journey's End" but that is a single, early use case.

prankster36.bsky.social•188 days ago

There's an interesting thing where the Maquis form due to specific material concerns, being forced off their land, and then slowly start to elucidate an ideology that questions Trek's underpinnings--"The Federation forces everyone to join them and make peace on their terms"

prankster36.bsky.social•188 days ago

And they're initially portrayed as very much having a good point in what they're fighting for, and then maybe, worryingly, having good points in their larger critique of the Federation--which then promptly veers back to making them somewhat more misguided (on Voyager too)

prankster36.bsky.social•188 days ago

The people writing Discovery et al would be out of their intellectual depths writing about this but it'd be interesting to see a group similar to the Maquis arising in the 31st century and going "we learned from their mistakes, we have a coherent philosophy instead of being bougie revolutionaries"

prankster36.bsky.social•188 days ago

Given the time scales involved I'm picturing a bunch of fucking weirdos turning Eddington into a folk hero and wearing masks of him like Anonymous wearing Guy Fawkes masks

dnlmsstch.bsky.social•188 days ago

The thing about the Marqui is that they left the colonists worse off. The colonists gave up the protection of the Federation and decided to face the Cardassian who were ...imperialist militarists and instead of submitting to the authority they decided to fight a losing war.

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

Oh in a *strategic* sense it was a disaster. Although I would point out, to be fair to them, they held the Cardassians off for four years and were confident enough of their position to consider announcing statehood... before the Jem'Hadar were sent in, after Cardassia joined the Dominion.

dnlmsstch.bsky.social•188 days ago

That only happened because the Cardassians couldn't move their military into the DMZ. If the Cardassians military has to fight with 2 hands tied behind their hands its doable...until the decide to send the regular military

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

Right. At which the Maquis were probably anticipating they'd get a Federation counter attack (which of course they were very wrong about.)

dnlmsstch.bsky.social•188 days ago

Remember the reason Sisko starts attacking the colonies to get Eddington to surrender is that the Federation wanted to keep the peace because going to war to protect settlers who volunteered to become Cardassians citizens and now wanted independence was not something the Federation was going to do

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

Quite. Eddington misjudges Fed policy and, in particular, how far Sisko is willing to go.

dnlmsstch.bsky.social•188 days ago

There was never a military strategy other than force the Cardassians to try to commit genocide and maybe the Federation will intervene

dnlmsstch.bsky.social•188 days ago

And when the Klingons show up and help for their own imperialist reasons the Dominion does the same and all the colonists get crushed.

reynardinefox.bsky.social•188 days ago

I love the irony in Sisko being a better terrorist than either of them. Whether he’s poisoning a Marquis planet or manipulating Romulans, he can live it.

mulderbatflip.net•188 days ago

Works as a bit of a retcon as to why things went so smoothly in the Delta quadrant. The Maquis don't have the stomach for the revolution they preach because the writers don't

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

Yeah Voyager very quickly folded them back into Starfleet and the most they ever managed in terms of a different culture to them is, well, they have mildly cooler piloting moves or something for dodging the Badlands.

mulderbatflip.net•188 days ago

Which, as far as the minuteman fighting the redcoats, tracks

mulderbatflip.net•188 days ago

And ultimately they're more american colonist coded. Not exactly the bastion of proletarian self-determination

mulderbatflip.net•188 days ago

Lol https://bsky.app/profile/valondar.bsky.social/post/3lazpcrccts2r

mrspeel.bsky.social•188 days ago

I hate Eddington, I always wanted to punch him in his smug face 😄

mrspeel.bsky.social•188 days ago

I just happen to be rewatching S3E1 where he was introduced literally a minute ago & went "GAHHHHHH, that guy!!!"

valondar.bsky.social•188 days ago

I do like how in season three Eddington just has major Coworker energy. Star Trek is so often about a Starfleet crew gelling together as a family but Eddington is literally just a guy you share office space with.

mrspeel.bsky.social•188 days ago

Forcing yourself to laugh politely at his jokes while you replicate a raktajino

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