Ro was basically on probation in her first appearance or two, IIRC. Uniform modifications are allowed at the discretion of the officer’s CO, and Ro was already in something of a disciplinary thing, so forbidding modifications makes some sense.
While the earring is typically religious and she may have been able to argue for reasonable accomodation on those grounds, Ro specifically wears it on the left ear, which is considered a secular way to show familial heritage while also indicating you don’t follow the Bajoran faith.
Is the right vs. left ear thing head canon? I like it, but I’ve never heard of that distinction…
Just double checked. Looks like beta-canon from the novels. Interestingly, according to Memory Alpha, the first episode or two with Bajorans in TNG had all the male Bajorans wear the earring on the right and all the female Bajorans wear it on the left, but right ears for both sexes became standard pretty early on. The only other named character that wears it on the left is Lt Mura in PIC.
I never noticed that. Absolutely right.
I’m sure it’s just the writers absentmindedly using the opportunity to pick on Ro.
Wasn’t it just that Riker was already pissed off at her because she was famous for having gotten people killed and being court martialed over it?
That’s a great explanation. Let’s go with that.
Could be because one is a religious symbol and the other is a cultural symbol. There is a case to be made that government personnel shouldn’t be allowed to openly display their religious affiliation in a secular society, in order to preserve the separation of church and state. Not saying I agree with that perspective, but it is a hot topic of debate in many parts of the world today.
There is the problem of where does religion and culture separate? Especially for a spiritual people like the Bajorans do we ever really see one post occupation without the ear thing?
Worf: “Our gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth.”
To give a more serious answer, Bajorans seem very theocratic and I think most of them would fundamentally disagree with the concept of a secular government.
Bajor exists in a weird gray area since their religion is in some ways literally real. In some ways the Bajorans are like the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar. Their “gods” are provably real, they interact with them regularly, and they have demonstrated to them that they have what seem to be supernatural powers.
Also, critically for the Bajorans, not only are their gods real, but their demons (Pa Wraiths) are real as well. And that opens up a whole other philosophical can of worms. In a way it reminds me of Warhammer 40k. In that universe, religion isn’t irrational. In fact it’s completely rational. Because Chaos is real, and it will fuck you up if you aren’t religious.
Ro’s first appearance comes well before the Federation knew the Prophets, let alone the Pah Wraiths, to be literally real.
Riker calling out Ro for her earring isn’t great, when compared against his acceptance of Worf’s baldric. If I were trying to find a defensible reason, I might go with the idea that Bajor used to have a rigidly enforced caste system, and the earrings indicated one’s caste, so it is possible that Riker assumed that Ro was trying to adhere to the old system which would fly in the face of Federation egalitarianism, and that he was less familiar with how Bajor’s treatment of the caste system had changed during the occupation.
One of the Bajorans serving on Voyager wore an earring. Gerron, the young former Maquis that was part of Tuvok’s boot camp in “Learning Curve” had to give up his.
There’s also Tabor from “Nothing Human”, and Tal Celes from “The Good Shepard”, neither of whom wore the earring on screen in the four total episodes they appeared in. Tal also had her given name before her family name, which is not the Bajoran tradition.
Even Seska didn’t wear the earring when she was still undercover as a Bajoran, and likely could have gotten away with it thanks to her closeness to Chakotay.
He has seen Worf’s personnel file. Riker knows what happened the last time an officer tried to tell him what to wear.
Can we talk about Riker’s nipples? No nips, unless it’s a Betazoid wedding on the bridge.
