From: goudswaa@fraser.sfu.ca (Peter Goudswaard)
Subject: Re: RIKER: tailcoat-riding pussy?
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 06:46:17 GMT

Sem_Hoelscher@hb.maus.de (Sem Hoelscher) writes:

>Shacha Peter!

And shacha back atcha!  (couldn't resist!)

>[pg] Enterprise as her First Officer, yet on the other, he has turned down
>     far too many offers for us to believe that it would be a good career
>     move.
>Why?

According to the FAQL:LIST OF NAMES, RANKS, SERIAL NUMBERS AND CREW DATA,
it says:

	Wil [sic] has turned down three captaincies (the Drake
	mentioned in "Arsenal of Freedom" (and "Encounter at
	Farpoint"?), the Aries in "The Icarus Factor", and the
	Melbourne in "Best of Both Worlds").

I really doubt if there are any men in any current navy who will have
turned down a captaincy, unless the ship offered was a lemon.  I can't
believe that Starfleet would offer Riker a lemon THREE times.

>[pg] Unless he is a firm believer in the Peter Principle, he is
>     getting to be a waste of a good officer.
>Does turning down command make him a worse officer??? - Oh, BTW, what is
>the "Peter Principle"?

First of all, I didn't say worse officer, I said a waste of an officer,
which are different.  He is a good officer, perhaps a great officer, and
that is why I believe he is wasting his career on the Enterprise.  Let's
say you are a big corporation that sponsors 2 vehicles in the Paris to
Dakkar (sp?) rally.  Would you rather have 2 excellent drivers in 1
vehicle, and 2 okay drivers in another, or would you split up the
best drivers so that in case 1 car crashed, you would still have a car
with an excellent driver in it?  It's a matter of putting all your eggs
in one basket.

The Peter Principle is a book about employees being promoted because
they are competent, until they are promoted one too many times, and
thereby become incompetent because they have been promoted to a job
beyond their capabilities.


>[pg]  The Federation needs him more than Picard does.
>Uh????? By serving Picard as First Officer, he does not serve the Federation?
>Sorry, I can't follow your train of thought!

Again, it has to do with putting all your eggs in one basket.  Stacking
a ship with excellent officers is not going to do Starfleet any good if
the ship and everyone aboard dies in some accident or encounter of war.
It would be much more practical to place Riker aboard another starship
where he could do more good.  Riker does serve the Federation as First
Officer, but he could serve it better by being a Captain.


>[pg] What could possess a man to stay aboard the Enterprise for so long?
>     He needs a command of his own soon, or to be killed off.
>I disagree! Being a captain, =he= would be the one to stay aboard instead
>of leading the away team. Can you imagine Riker sitting there and waiting
>like Picard does? >8-) I have difficulties with this picture.

Okay, my statement "He needs...to be killed off" is not very applicable,
along with your argument to the contrary, since we are talking about
the TV show's ratings, not a hypothetical personnel situation.


>Oyori - Sem [from Northern Germany]

Interesting use of language, Sem -- what does "Oyori" mean?

Hey - Peter [from central British Columbia]

-- 
 Peter Goudswaard                  _________                     _________
 goudswaa@sfu.ca                  |         |      __/^\__      |         |
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Xref: sparky rec.arts.startrek.misc:9981 rec.arts.startrek.current:14382