Is Captain Picard arrogant?

[T'Girl]

They do this in most of the Star Treks

But it doesn't usually come off as an expression of "we (as people) are so much better than you."

In "City" McCoy refers to 1930's doctors sewing people up like garments, implying that 23rd century doctors don't. But the fact that McCoy has the technological means to close up a patient using a more advanced medical method doesn't mean that McCoy thinks himself to a better or more superior person.

Archer while in the 21st century didn't indicate that he felt himself superior to the people from that time.

Picard had contempt and disdain for the 20th century people before they woke for the first time, prior to speaking to any of them. He felt that he was personally better than any of them.

... to gloat that the Federation is obviously more enlightened than ...

Picard hardly comes off as either open minded or broad minded in The Neutral Zone.


.

 

[AdmiralShran]

Picard hardly comes off as either open minded or broad minded in The Neutral Zone..

That's because Picard knows what he believes in and stands by it - it's the trademark of any heroic protagonist.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Perhaps, Jean-Luc Picard's self-esteem is simply hearty ... and robust. A quality everyone in a leadership position shows in plenty.

 

[Paradise City]

Picard is a curmudgeon, he's arrogant, he's rude. He's all this in the first and second seasons. Indeed, Pulaski saves the guy's life and Picard doesn't give her a minute of peace. I presume this crankiness is due to the uniform which apparently half stranglers the wearer. So I don't blame Picard for spitting venom half the time. Certainly if I'm wearing something that uncomfortable, I'm NOT a man to be trifled with, suffice to say.

Second season onwards, he gets his nice uniform and more or less loses the "attitude". In fact, the writers steer Picard into becoming a crackerjack mediator capable of mastering the most intractable diplomatic disputes. You can't be arrogant in a role like that, you gotta be assertive but fair with a rock solid temperament. No arrogance.

Picard is happy to ask for advice, recommendations and encourages frank exchanges in staff conferences. That ain't arrogance either.

Arrogant Picard does reemerge on steroids in First Contact where we see "Rambo Picard". "Rambo Picard" is very arrogant. But is Picard typically arrogant? No.

 

[Leviathan]

"having or revealing an exaggerated sense of one's own importance or abilities."

Captian of the flagship, dude stops Borg, outmaneuvers Romulans, handled Klingon politics, survived totrture and carried Sarek's mind.

Pretty able, pretty important by the facts of it. That would also mean 99.9% of humans hate his tiny little guts.

So your factual answer ywould be "Nope", your popular answer would be "OH GOD YES...he's just not as <insert personal trait you excel at>".

 

[AdmiralShran]

Picard is a curmudgeon, he's arrogant, he's rude. He's all this in the first and second seasons. Indeed, Pulaski saves the guy's life and Picard doesn't give her a minute of peace. I presume this crankiness is due to the uniform which apparently half stranglers the wearer. So I don't blame Picard for spitting venom half the time.

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[Paradise City]

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He doesn't want alot of racket in his own quarters. That's not arrogance.

 

[suarezguy]

Picard had contempt and disdain for the 20th century people before they woke for the first time, prior to speaking to any of them. He felt that he was personally better than any of them.

He seemed to have few views about them before they woke and he met them and he became somewhat hostile and dismissive to Ralph after he was hostile and insistent but I think he and the other crew had no contempt, instead various attempts at sympathy and support, to the other survivors.

No, he could be pretty contemptuous of non-Federation cultures. He sure seemed to hate Feringi if I recall. He was just as territorial with Romulans as Romulans are territorial with the Federation.

I loved how, in my view echoing "Balance of Terror," he became much more territorial and forceful in the early Romulan episodes, that showed how serious a threat the Romulans were and what a flexible leader Picard was. The Ferengi were usually pretty clearly playing an antagonistic role but he seemed tolerant and diplomatic to them when they weren't and his dislike was of individuals rather than overall.

He was definitely not ok with one culture applying to the Federation that had locked all its bred soldiers away in prison camps.

Strong disapproval of that is hardly sanctimonious or self-righteous and is certainly compatible with tending toward moral relativism.

 

[Tracy Trek]

My views on The Neutral Zone is I sort of understand that they were in the middle of a crisis and they had no time to be concerned about Mr. Offenhouse's money. It wasn't something they valued. And they probably didn't understand why the singer just threw his life away on drinking and drugs, because they had evolved past such things.

But the first time I ever watched this, I felt like Picard was not even sympathetic towards the woman Claire. Out of the 3, she never asked for this,* it was something her husband had decided for her. It seems like when he visits them and she starts crying, the vibe I get off of him when he asks Troi to come and deal with them is that he can't be bothered with any of them. Or maybe he's just not comfortable dealing emotions, I don't know.

*When they said at the start of the episode about them already being dead, why bother with them. For the 2 men anyway, they had themselves cryogenically preserved because they expected to be revived sometime in the future.

 

[Scotchy]

Nah, he's just proud. He's got the right outlook - when he talks to Guinan before their battle with the Borg he predicts victory and admits it is a conceit - but a healthy one.

 

[Paradise City]

Picard in season one or two has a potent strain of "Captain Jellico" running through him. Jellico would probably treat Clare just as Picard did. On that, it would be an amusing exercise to swap Jellico with Picard throughout TNG's run and imagine how the various episodes would turn out if he was captain!

It's interesting to see Picard and Jellico when they do wind up together. Picard seems very, very mellow juxtaposed with Jellico the unsentimental disciplinarian. It's a real eye opener as to how Picard has turned into a staunchly different animal to what he started out as in season one and two.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Well IIRC, Jellico spoke very fondly of his young children (displayed their artwork, think refridgerator art) when he was talking to Troi in the ready room, right before he lowered the boom on her about the uniform. Maybe the writers did this to humanize a character we were probably meant to dislike. Unless he's one of those parents that praises them to high heaven to others but is the kind that's always on them about grades and sports.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Picard was definitely arrogant in the 1st season....then changes to self-righteous and 'speechified' in the later seasons...then action-oriented in the films.

 

[James T Kirk]

He is very arrogant. But he gets away with it because he is also thoughtful and fair.

 

[JesterFace]

Just watch the news, Picard and others from the 24th Trek century have the right to feel better about themselves than people from our era... As individuals we can be nice people, but as a whole things aren't that great.

 

[Salinga]

Srsly, by the rules stated here that declare Picard as "arrogant" , 99% of the forum participants here must be called arrogant too... even way more arrogant than a character like Picard, since they behave super self confident but only sitting protected in their private homes, hacking their speeches into the keyboards, instead on the captains chair of the fleets flagship, taking major risks, discovering the universe far out there away from home.

 

[2takesfrakes]

One of my most favourite "Picard" episodes is "We'll Always Have Paris." In it, Picard's true nature and motivations are very nicely spelled out. He wanted a life of significance and was driven to succeed. At the same time, he was also a dreamer and a passionate Man. In "Tapestry" we see this aspect of him revisited and it's nice that they kind of "updated" his perceptions of himself in that episode. When those two episodes are lined up in that fashion, I don't see someone arrogant. He can be that way, at times, but it doesn't define how he's written, or expressed in TNG.

 

[Anwar]

Picard stood by (literally stood) and did nothing while an entire planet's population sufficated. Instead of beaming up as many as he could and packing the ship's corridors.

Would he have been courts martialed by Starfleet, maybe.

Would he have lost his rank and career, maybe.

Picard's (lack) of action would seem to meet the definition of "sociopathic."

There was no way to save all the people in "Homeward", and...if I get into this again I'll just end up reiterating my "Galactic Nanny State" scenario...


Anywho, Picard was arrogant. But that just makes him a character with flaws. After all, no one comes down on Spock for his arrogance.

 

[2takesfrakes]

If nothing else, Jean-Luc Picard reminded the STAR TREK audience that ambition is a dream with Warp Speed. Which is good! It is interesting, though, that a captaincy in Starfleet is kind of the top of the pyramid, if you do have the ambition to go higher. I suppose, as there's no money in the future, it's possible, somehow, to own a civilian vessel capable of high warp. But, to what end? You wouldn't have any authority. Maybe you could act as a scouting vessel, on the frontier. I mean, I don't know ... on one hand, it's really cool to make captain in Starfleet. On the other, to just park your ass their for 7 year series and a handful of movies, does kind of give the impression like, "... wow! You're still here. I was sure you'd have moved on, or up, by now."

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

no one comes down on Spock for his arrogance.

That's because Spock isn't arrogant.

Arrogance is an emotional, illogical response, which Spock would not engage in.