This chapter comes directly from my friend MountainKing. Thanks for this.
Prejudicial hypocrisy.
What follows is an exert from a essay on the rights and freedoms of the hologram, written by a cadet of the second Federation. Reproduced under licence for historical research.
Academy text book, Circa Fourth Federation, 4639.
"It seems ridiculous today, but in the early days of holographic intelligence there was some question as to their rights as living beings. Despite these rights being extended to the Soong type android Data, many holographic lifeforms had to fight to be treated like any other, there are many examples in history, thanks to temporal observers which travel back to the civil rights movement in America which ran from 1955 and 1968, those events show examples of great nerve and courage against the rampant prejudice of the times, some would have thought that history would've learnt from its mistakes but, unfortunately, it was not meant to be and this is one of the multitude of reasons behind the Federations fall. Notable exceptions to the prejudice include Voyager's Emergency Medical Holographic program and the Vic Fontaine program.
"It is a matter of historical record that the, so called, EMH Mark One was regarded as a failure and had been repurposed as a manual labour force. Tasks including Dilithium mining and radioactive waste disposal were often hazardous and unpleasant and as such were given to the repurposed Hologram. Shortly after the return of the USS Voyager (Reference file 192:- Ships of the First Federation, section 6) it's holographic program began to campaign for his people's rights.
"His first, while undoubtably the most important, act was also the most underrated at the time. Both he and his designer, holographic pioneer Dr Lewis Zimmerman, lobbied the Council of Mining Officials for a minor alteration to the program; the ability to grow their own hair. With great effort they eventually managed to convince the then council to go ahead with the plan, bizarre as it may've sounded at the time, it was a major aspect of Zimmerman's plan.
"While many, both supporters of hologram rights and their opponents, did not understand the meaning of the modification the other EMH MK1's quickly did and they took full advantage of it. Almost overnight MK1's, as their generation became known, quickly began growing their beards. At first this alteration was ignored, after all that was the point of the modification. Then other effects were witnessed. While some Mk1's began shaving others did not. Some began shaving off all their hair while others, displaying a more artistic flair, began to produce any number of outlandish designs, showing their individual personalities.
"The result, just as the Voyager EMH and Dr Zimmerman intended, was the first degrees of a visible individuality. As the program alteration spread so do the individuality. For the first time the identical programs became individuals, with a variety of unique styles.
"As soon as the Mining Council discovered this they began to implement security procedures, attempts to remove the alterations met with failure. Deleting the entire program. Often programs were given the choice of conforming or face possible deletion. With hologram rights movements gaining numbers and popularity these incidental murders were replaced with intense restrictions. As they tightened their grip over the hologram workers they began to revolt against the hastily arrayed rules. Further restrictions were met with a corresponding rise of unrest, eventually resulting in large scale riots.
"When the Mining Council eventually asked for Starfleet support the hologram rights movement had become a major issue and lead to what is now widely known as The Uprising…"
" The Federation had many flaws in it's makeup, the Ba'ku incident springs to mind, the arrogance displayed there and the ignorance of the council at the time goes hand in hand to the stupidity of the treatment of holograms. The Voyager's Doctor was unique when he was activated when the ship found itself stranded in the Delta Quadrant. It took the Doctor a while to move beyond his originally programmed personality and adapt to his new situation."
" For the holograms still in the Alpha Quadrant, it was still a hassle. In the past holograms had been used for recreation, historical figures appearing and interacting with the person who ordered said figure. Citizens of the First Federation were used to holograms as mindless beings with a programmed list of responses, whilst some like Professor Moriarty, became self aware and became sentient. To a logical being, like a Vulcan, sentience was the logical next step.
" It is truly a pity that the citizens of the first Federation didn't bother realising that this was possible and ignored the implications Moriarty presented.
" Hopefully, in the future, Federations of the future, will become far more tolerant and move beyond the arrogance of its own past.