JMO, but can I compare this to John Brown and Lincoln? I think it would be useful since slavery is pretty uniformly condemned but that doesn't mean everyone who was against it was an angel in disguise.
Now, I look at the 600,000 casualties of the U.S. Civil War and think it was a tragedy but a justified one. If that's what it took, then that's what it took (and, by the time Lincoln was in office, that was definitly what it took. I think the greater tragedy is that slavery couldn't be ended before things reached that point).
OTOH, John Brown had a lot fewer casualties and was, IMO, a terrorist nutcase.
What was the difference?
John Brown was a man who could kill an underage kid with the phrase, "Nits make lice." That really was his attitude. The kid wasn't a threat to him and wasn't likely to become a threat to him - I doubt Brown knew or cared if the kid was even part of a slave owning family or just with the wrong crowd at the wrong time.
Although there are good arguments about Star One, Blake otherwise didn't go charging into planets without what we would recognize as legitimate cause or without being asked. We see them raid military targets, attempt reasonably peaceful interaction with nonFederation worlds (rarely lasted, but they didn't start the fight), and get involved in military actions on planets like Albion (although, with a military presence of one, I'm not sure if that counts). On Horizon, I'd say they actually worked within the system (although it wasn't their idea).
Brown, OTOH, made a habit of rescuing people who hadn't necessarily asked to be rescued and, then, he made insufficient efforts to help them afterwards. Not to disregard the evils of slavery but, if you're going to get rid of slave owners, leaving the slaves in slave owning territory with no clear way to escape to free territory (which they may not be keen on if they have relatives in the area or for other reasons [that fear of flying to evils we know not of and possibly Stockholm syndrome or learned helplessness]).
At Harper's Ferry, he just expected the slaves to rise up. Instead, he wound up in a hostage situation where the hostages included slaves who seem to have been much more afraid of him than of their owners.
So, civilian targets, targets that served no purpose in his claimed plans, an arrogance toward the people he intended to free nearly as great as those he claimed to free them from, no noticeable regard for the lives of others, and a tendency to feel it was OK to wipe out anyone who disagreed with him whether they were a threat or not.
Although civilians suffered terribly in the war, it did concentrate on military targets. Targets were generally picked with at least arguable purpose. Furthermore, Lincoln may have been unwavering, but no one has sincerely questioned his humility or his 'malice towards none.' He was always quick to pardon (and I mean that in the presidential sense as well as others. Soldiers who had been condemned to die had a remarkable survival rate when relatives were able to bring the matter to Lincoln's attention in time).
If I were to pick between the two, I would say Blake (though lacking the soulful, craggy face) was closer to Lincoln than to Brown.
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In message 20010512.123126.-7813.0.rilliara@juno.com, Ellynne G. rilliara@juno.com writes
JMO, but can I compare this to John Brown and Lincoln? I think it would be useful since slavery is pretty uniformly condemned but that doesn't mean everyone who was against it was an angel in disguise.
It's a good example because it's looking at things most of us can consider without personal interest, but you've assumed a greater knowledge of American history than is likely to be found in the non- American portion of the list. Could you give a bit more background detail on John Brown, please? I didn't know anything about him.