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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 8506326" data-attributes="member: 177">Ferengi?  Well, let us complicate matters - let's hear from Armin Shimerman, who is of Jewish descent and who played Quark, and got asked the question of whether the Ferengi were Jews:At Star Trek: Mission New York, Armin Shimerman — Quark himself — addressed the question head-on. Asked by moderator Jordan Hoffman (of the official Star Trek Engage podcast) for the strangest readings or interpretations they’ve heard from fans, Shimerman revealed the universal prejudices that he sees as underlying how we view Ferengi.“In America, people ask ‘Do the Ferengi represent Jews?’ In England, they ask ‘Do the Ferengi represent the Irish?’ In Australia, they ask if the Ferengi represent the Chinese,” Shimerman said. “The Ferengi represent the outcast… it’s the person who lives among us that we don’t fully understand.”While the Ferengi may have started out as Space Jew stereotyping, Star Trek found a better path, tackling stereotypes (apparently universal ones) through relentless, compassionate, empathic humanism. Star Trek doesn’t always get it right at first, but its institutional optimism always leaves hope that they’ll get it right in the future. And, by extension, maybe we will too.“Our program was about investigating the essence of people, not the outside. They forgave me though I stole,” Shimerman said of his character.He pointed to Dorn, “They forgave him, though he killed.”Then he looked to Nana Visitor, who played the first officer and former Bajoran freedom fighter, Kira Nerys, “They forgave her though she was a terrorist.”“Starships do not make Star Trek, hope makes Star Trek,” Shimerman concluded.Which I think gives us a point we have to consider - not just whether a stereotype is present, but ultimately, what did they do with it?  Star Trek took it, and used it as a jumping off point to explore and create Quark and Rom, who become perhaps the most relatable characters on DS9.  In the D&D product that started off this thread... not so much.</blockquote>

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