Think these are fair comparisons : The Borg = an extreme form of a Communist society. The Ferengi = an extreme form of a Capitalist society.
I would say the Borg are the purest form of anarchy. Everyone does what they want, they just all happen to want the same things.
I don't know about that. The Borg work as a collective, are all equals, and don't have free will to do as they want; they work for the collective only. Sounds more like Communism to me.
Huh? Have you ever watched TNG/Voyager? They are nothing like "pure anarchy" in any way, shape or form. They don't all "do what they want." Individual and personal desire doesn't factor into the equation at all. They all do what the hive wants them to and have absolutely ZERO sense of self when linked together. They LITERALLY think with one, united, collective and cohesive mind. Nothing serves as a hyperbole of "the collective state" better. This point is highlighted by the fact that when one is separated from the hive mind (who, having spent their entire life as a drone), it is totally incapable of coping alone and is essentially unable to think for itself. This, having been made true, by the fact that THE HIVE COLLECTIVE does all the thinking for it. No anarchy or "pure anarchy" there. Sorry pal. Indeed. ~String
first of all it was a show, it could not make accurate predictions of what extreme forms of governments/economies would be like.
Yeah, because we were all somehow operating under the impression that it was a prescient view of the future and not just a story. Whew! Thanks for clearing that up for us! The point was, and is, of what current day group do the forces mentioned serve as a hyperbole. ~String
Well, you're wrong there. The definition of "hyperbole" is basically an extreme exaggeration. The enemies in Trek were always intended to be a hyperbole of something relevant in today's world. The Ferrengi were specifically intended to be uber-capitalists which were created to fill the void of the Klingons, who themselves were supposed to embody the "dark and sinister" nature of the USSR (not the political make-up though). Trek was created in the late 60's at the height of the Cold War. Since the Klingons had "made peace" with the Federation, and the USSR was making peace with the USA at the time of the creation of TNG (1986), it was decided to take the enemy in the other direction: thus the capitalist, animalistic Ferrengi were created to embody everything wrong with our consumeristic society. The Ferrengi never worked out well, they ended up being more annoyingly gerbil-ish than anything else... thus the need to create the Borg. The Borg, though not created as a hyperbole of Communism, were created to be a relevant manifestation of the trend in society of the lost of the individual. With the advent of advanced technology and the arrival of the concept that "everybody knows everything about everybody instantly" and our greater trend to ultra-sameness, it was decided that nothing embodied everybody's fear of losing themselves in a sea of technology than the Borg. But, the Borg alone weren't enough of an enemy to inspire political intrigue the way the Klingons did and the way the Ferrengi were supposed to. And the Romulans were just to Romanesque for the job. So the Cardassians were created. Ultra militaristic (note: there was a "DMZ" and not a "Neutral Zone" separating Federation space from the Cardassian Empire). They were more goose-stepping techno-Nazis than anything else. I digress... ~String
Did I say "I don't think they were hyperbole at all" or did I say "I don't think they were political hyperbole at all"? I don't think the species of star trek had political relevance, rather moral relevance.
Yes, but it would be easy enough to make political comparisons. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even Data made a comparison of the Ferengi as being a crude extreme form of Capitalists on their 1st encounter. Likewise, it'd be easy enough to compare the Borg to an extreme form of a Communist society.
He did, but in their first encounter with the Ferengi, Data also described them as an extreme form of Capitalists.
The Borg have a queen though. So they are living the delusion of equality but in reality in a dictatorship... So I'd say they most resemble a liberal democracy.
While not a "true" Communist society, even under Stalin, Russia was still called a Communist society by both Russia and the rest of the world. Likewise, Nazi Germany wasn't a "true" Fascist state, yet people always call it one....
