Riker had some double-standard problems, man...

Comments

• VindictiveJudge@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Ro was basically on probation in her first appearance or two, IIRC. Uniform modifications are allowed at the discretion of the officer’s CO, and Ro was already in something of a disciplinary thing, so forbidding modifications makes some sense.

  While the earring is typically religious and she may have been able to argue for reasonable accomodation on those grounds, Ro specifically wears it on the left ear, which is considered a secular way to show familial heritage while also indicating you don’t follow the Bajoran faith.

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  • themoken@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Is the right vs. left ear thing head canon? I like it, but I’ve never heard of that distinction…

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    • VindictiveJudge@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Just double checked. Looks like beta-canon from the novels. Interestingly, according to Memory Alpha, the first episode or two with Bajorans in TNG had all the male Bajorans wear the earring on the right and all the female Bajorans wear it on the left, but right ears for both sexes became standard pretty early on. The only other named character that wears it on the left is Lt Mura in PIC.

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• clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I never noticed that. Absolutely right.

  I’m sure it’s just the writers absentmindedly using the opportunity to pick on Ro.

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• ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  He has seen Worf’s personnel file. Riker knows what happened the last time an officer tried to tell him what to wear.

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• verity_kindle@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Can we talk about Riker’s nipples? No nips, unless it’s a Betazoid wedding on the bridge.

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• bionicjoey@lemmy.ca ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Could be because one is a religious symbol and the other is a cultural symbol. There is a case to be made that government personnel shouldn’t be allowed to openly display their religious affiliation in a secular society, in order to preserve the separation of church and state. Not saying I agree with that perspective, but it is a hot topic of debate in many parts of the world today.

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  • ThunderclapSasquatch@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    There is the problem of where does religion and culture separate? Especially for a spiritual people like the Bajorans do we ever really see one post occupation without the ear thing?

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    • USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      One of the Bajorans serving on Voyager wore an earring. Gerron, the young former Maquis that was part of Tuvok’s boot camp in “Learning Curve” had to give up his.

      There’s also Tabor from “Nothing Human”, and Tal Celes from “The Good Shepard”, neither of whom wore the earring on screen in the four total episodes they appeared in. Tal also had her given name before her family name, which is not the Bajoran tradition.

      Even Seska didn’t wear the earring when she was still undercover as a Bajoran, and likely could have gotten away with it thanks to her closeness to Chakotay.

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