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Old 07-31-2008, 10:42 AM   #1
Flint
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Islamo-fascism is the BORG

I've been recording old Star Trek: Next Generation episodes. Last night I watched the Episode I, Borg. This episode was bore an eerie familiarity to our present-day situation, facing the Islamic "Collective" . . .

Quote:
The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members.
(The crew of the enterprise plan to implant what we would now call a "virus" into the drone and return him to infect, and thus destroy, the Collective...)

Doctor Beverly Crusher: I just think we should be clear about that. We're talking about annihilating an entire race.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Which under most circumstances would be unconscionable. But as I see it, the Borg leave us little choice.
Commander William T. Riker: I agree. We're at war.
Doctor Beverly Crusher: There's been no formal declaration of war.
Counselor Deanna Troi: Not from us, but certainly from them. They've attacked us at every encounter.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: They've declared war on our way of life. We are to be assimilated.
Doctor Beverly Crusher: But even in war there are rules. You don't kill civilians indiscriminately.
Commander William T. Riker: There are no civilians among the Borg.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard:Think of them as a single collective being. There's no one Borg who is more an individual any more than your arm or your leg.
Doctor Beverly Crusher: How convenient.
___

Captain Jean-Luc Picard: It comes down to this: We're faced with an enemy who are determined to destroy us. And we have no hope of negotiating a peace. Unless that changes, we are justified in doing anything we can to survive.
___

How familiar does this all sound? If you get a chance to watch this episode, it will blow your mind.
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Last edited by Flint; 07-31-2008 at 10:47 AM.
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Old 07-31-2008, 10:49 AM   #2
Shawnee123
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Clone thread:

Islamo-fascism: man you must be BORED

btw who is Picard?
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:03 AM   #3
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he's the enterprise captain who ............................. doesn't ....................... talklike ................................................................................ this.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:06 AM   #4
Sundae
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I've seen it. It's a good'un.
Mind remained unblown as far as I am aware though...
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:08 AM   #5
Shawnee123
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What's the enterprise?

Just kiddin' I did watch the original Star Trek. Then I turned 13.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:14 AM   #6
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wait... what? you're not that old.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:19 AM   #7
Shawnee123
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2 score and 13 years ago, my onefather brought forth on this continent a new baby, conceived in lustery and dedicated to the presupposition that all wimminz are created threequal.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:20 AM   #8
Flint
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sundae Girl View Post
I've seen it. It's a good'un.
Mind remained unblown as far as I am aware though...
Yeah, I thought it was a good episode when I saw it 10/15 years ago, but in a post-9/11 world I couldn't believe I was hearing some of these lines:

"They've declared war on our way of life." etc.

The Borg are literally de-humanized, whereas in the real world we have to ideologically dehumanize our enemies.
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There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there
it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your
expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever
gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:21 AM   #9
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You're 183? Sorry, I went to school in the 80's so numbers, math, and knowledge really aren't my strong points. but seriously I had you painted into your early 30's.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:21 AM   #10
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I think this episode was drawn into a cellar thread somewhere along the way. It was very well written. It is interesting to me because the Picard character is generally a collectivist, but he wants to choose which collective everybody joins...

the other captain...

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Old 07-31-2008, 11:22 AM   #11
Shawnee123
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43 is the new 30! And when I get borged I shall live FOREVER!
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:23 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flint View Post
Yeah, I thought it was a good episode when I saw it 10/15 years ago, but in a post-9/11 world I couldn't believe I was hearing some of these lines:

"They've declared war on our way of life." etc.

The Borg are literally de-humanized, whereas in the real world we have to ideologically dehumanize our enemies.
The fact that the episode was made back then is what makes it interesting. If that show was made now it would be called neo-con drivel with a barely hidden racist slant and a group of imams would gather to have it taken off the air.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:25 AM   #13
Flint
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Exploring these kind of themes right out in the open, under a thin veil of symbolism, is exactly what science fiction is for.

And I don't want this to be a spoiler, but the dialogue I quoted was from the beginning of a turbulent moral struggle, not representative of the final outcome.
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******************
There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there
it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your
expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever
gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:30 AM   #14
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that goes without saying. that version of star trek was very PC much to the disappointment of many original star trek fans.
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Old 07-31-2008, 11:32 AM   #15
Flint
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Picard was a man you could actually respect.
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******************
There's a level of facility that everyone needs to accomplish, and from there
it's a matter of deciding for yourself how important ultra-facility is to your
expression. ... I found, like Joseph Campbell said, if you just follow whatever
gives you a little joy or excitement or awe, then you're on the right track.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Bozzio
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