We Are the Borg

Posted on June 26, 2003 in Crosstalk War

Teresa at In Sequence writes, sagely:

I’m of the opinion that many futuristic representations are about the present, not the future. That’s why, for example, the Borg are so frightening to people. The cry “You will be assimilated!” strikes our hearts as a clear and present danger, not a far off threat.

I’d add that when most Americans create an enemy, we project on them our own worst qualities. Consider Saddam Hussein. We said he had weapons of mass destruction. And with our smart bombs and cruise missiles, we rained down genocide upon them. We still haven’t found the WMDs, mostly because no one has been searching the Allied supply train.

Consider what happened during the war: people either turned into Borg who rallied around “our boys” (who have been busying themselves killing civilians as Jeremy pointed out). Many Americans allowed themselves to be assimilated into the lies, into the belief that if you didn’t declare your support of our troops during a war that you knew in your heart was wrong and had opposed, you would be isolated — evicted from the body politic.

We are the Borg. The most frightening thing we can say to others is “You will be disassimilated!”

To put the terror that enthralls us in plain American English: “What? And no friends?”