In Tribunal, he talked about how he started out that way, but after executing three innocent Bajorans for a terrorist attack, he learned the meaning of justice.
He was also only brought aboard Terok Nor in the first place because he was seen as a neutral third party.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality. We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven.
Right, but what I am saying is that he figured out on his own while Cardassians were still occupying the station what justice meant and that it didn’t mean just following the rules.
My point being that while we see Odo successfully reclaim his critical faculties (ie not just ignore the things outside the rules which are morally dubious), I think it’s easy to imagine a lot of timelines in which that did not happen.
IIRC, we even see one? (I need a rewatch.)
My point is that while I think there’s nothing morally wrong with anything Odo did, I also acknowledge that in “reality”, fascism and authoritarianism are ideologies which quite strongly tend towards comformitism. So in all likelihood, if put in the same situation as Odo, a lot of people might conform to the ideologies they might know are bad.
Ugh, I feel like I’m explaining my view rather poorly.
I would not disagree in the slightest that he has a very strict moral code. And that’s exactly why I said what I said.
Because the strict code Odo lives by is one of following rules.
During the Cardassian occupation, he worked as the rules told him to, unbiased. But the thing is that immoral men can make bad rules.
Perhaps proto-fascist is a bit strong. Proto-authoritarian maybe. But either way, he clearly doesn’t go that way, and like I said, redeems himself.
In Tribunal, he talked about how he started out that way, but after executing three innocent Bajorans for a terrorist attack, he learned the meaning of justice.
He was also only brought aboard Terok Nor in the first place because he was seen as a neutral third party.
Sort of my point, really.
— Desmond Tutu
Right, but what I am saying is that he figured out on his own while Cardassians were still occupying the station what justice meant and that it didn’t mean just following the rules.
Yes, I agree.
My point being that while we see Odo successfully reclaim his critical faculties (ie not just ignore the things outside the rules which are morally dubious), I think it’s easy to imagine a lot of timelines in which that did not happen.
IIRC, we even see one? (I need a rewatch.)
My point is that while I think there’s nothing morally wrong with anything Odo did, I also acknowledge that in “reality”, fascism and authoritarianism are ideologies which quite strongly tend towards comformitism. So in all likelihood, if put in the same situation as Odo, a lot of people might conform to the ideologies they might know are bad.
Ugh, I feel like I’m explaining my view rather poorly.