this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2024
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I would argue that broadly it is. I present one of my favorite quotes from the show as evidence:
“The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.”
― Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Agree, and deep space nine really gets into the complexities of defending AES from imperialist powers(USSR or PRC vs USA), and indigenous resistance (maquis, bajor). Sisko (basically federation Stalin), nailed it with the line: "Its easy to be a saint in paradise".
I watched and loved the entirety of DS9 and never thought that Sisko did anything wrong. Maybe I should rewatch, I don’t know.
I don't get the line
In a lot of previous trek shows, the federation is occasionally under siege, but its nearly always depicted as a simple "good vs evil" trope, and the federation never has to get it hands dirty, or do morally questionable things. For the most part, the federation is just peacefully exploring the galaxy, and enjoying paradise.
But that's not how things usually are: we know from experience that socialism is always under siege / under attack from imperialist powers, and as a response they have to develop armies and war industries, intelligence services, cultivate alliances, move populations, and practice realpolitik. Deep space nine forces its characters to encounter these moral conundrums, and we empathize with them. Its easy to be a saint in paradise, but its much more difficult to live in the real world of moral ambiguity where protecting your people is the most important thing.
the federation condemns the marquis and their acts, sisko is somewhat sympathetic with then and says that is easy to criticize the marquis, people that got kicked out of their homes for being violent, when we have our bellies full
The two main anatagnositic forces in DS9 are the Cardassian Empire and the Dominions - different flavours of fascism. Sisko will often use tactics not technical fitting within the moral framework of the Federation to defend the Federation from both.