YMMV / Star Trek Deep Space Nine S 04 E 22 For The Cause

• Misaimed Fandom: This episode would see the beginning of one of the show's two most enduring antagonists (the other being Dukat). Eddington continues to be lionized by his fans to this day, who insist that his Motive Rant and all of his other statements are both factual and sincere. The episode itself is rather unambiguous about his status as a villain, all told; it's not as if he's stealing military supplies to be used by the Cardassian armed forces (who are no longer even in charge), he's stealing replicators that were going to be used by the much more reasonable civilian government to repair the infrastructure needed to support a populace that's committed no other crime except the one Eddington sees them as guilty of: being Cardassian.
• Moral Event Horizon: Even with the past atrocities of the Cardassians, nothing justifies Eddington stealing the replicators. He treats the simple act of the Federation aiding the Cardassians after a war as amoral, as though being born a Cardassian is of itself a crime.
• Strawman Has a Point: Eddington is supposed to come off as a bitter racist, but he's not necessarily wrong in his assessment of the Federation and its goal of diplomatic imperialism and cultural assimilation.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Again, Eddington. Depending on how one views the Maquis, the Federation, and the Cardassians, it can be rather easy to agree with his stance and betrayal of Starfleet. It's all too easy to ignore that he's targeting Cardassian civilian relief efforts rather than their military, especially since the Cardassian civilians and their supposedly more benign beliefs aren't given much screen time. Let's also not forget that that the Cardassian civilians aren't necessarily innocent, as the Proxy War fought in the DMZ was being fought by Cardassian civilians.

---