The Liberal Borg

Star Trek: Next Generation ran from September 26, 1987 to May 21, 1994 and starred Patrick Stewart. The show created the character of the Borg. The Borg is part biological and part techological or mechanical and is composed of millions of individuals. Each individual who becomes part of the Borg is implanted with a mask that contains bio-chips that link his individual brain to the collective Borg consciousness. The human then loses individual consciousness and becomes part of the Borg hive-mind. Hive-members lose all sense of individuality and become drones of the Borg Collective.

Twenty-first century liberalism is like the Borg. Drones are linked to the Borg through political indoctrination in universities, and maintain their connection to the liberal hive-mind through various mass media outlets such as recent propamentaries like Michael Moore's Farenheit 9/11 , Robert Greenwald's Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and most recently Laurie David's An Inconvenient Truth. The chief bio-link or spinal cord of the Liberal Borg is of course The New York Times. Thus, AO Scott uses the phrase "intellectually exhilarating" in reviewing Laurie David's "An Inconvenient Truth" in the Times. Likewise, Times reviewer, Anita Gates, uses the adjective "breathtaking" in reviewing the tendentious Greenwald documentary about Wal Mart, which does not mention Wal Mart's most important attributes. These include the low prices that have saved low-income consumers thousands of dollars a year each in food and clothing bills; and the brilliant management techniques that have made these savings possible. Indeed, the Greenwald documentary illustrates two salient features of the Liberal Borg: its readiness to sacrifice the welfare of working class Americans to its trendy ideological whims; and its indifference to the execution and management of the impractical reforms that it advocates. Likewise, in his book The Professors David Horowitz gives dozens of examples of the Borg's indoctrination efforts, such as Cornell University's Professor Matthew Evangelista's (p. 158) declaration urging Cornell faculty and instructional staff to make class time available to "discuss the War in Iraq" followed by his claim that the American bombing of Iraq "would make American forces look like war criminals."

There are further analogies in the viciousness of retaliation against conservative voices in universities, and the Liberal Borg's eagerness to suppress the speech of anyone who does not conform. For example, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, the Queen, or central voice of the Borg, is now president of the University of Miami. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports that under Dr. Shalala's presidency Miami has adopted a speech code that prohibits any speech that causes emotional harm to others or interferes with anyone's comfort. Of course, the Liberal Borg would not hesitate to cause discomfort by destroying the lives and careers of any conservative who questions Queen Shalala's Borg whims.

Indoctrination in universities comes to play an increasingly important role as the Liberal Borg expands its reach. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni recently released a White Paper entitled How Many Ward Churchills? in which they describe a politicized university curriculum that includes such courses as a course at Berkeley whose description originally advised, "Conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections". Indeed, educational accreditation associations such as the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) advocate dispositional assessment of prospective teachers that vets whether prospective teachers are adequately absorbed into the collective hive-mind.

The film "Brokeback Mountain" also illustrates the Borg's reach. A dull film is elevated to Academy Award status because it concerns a politically correct theme that the hive-mind has decided ought to be emphasized. The public deserts Hollywood as the Borg demands that American films imitate Stalinism's lifeless political realism.

Not that the Borg's reach is limited to the young initiates of liberal indoctrination in universities. Many older Americans parrot The New York Times and limit their thinking to the bounds set by the Times's editorial page. These too are counted among the Liberal Borg's millions of drones.

How can conservatives respond to the Liberal Borg? Fox Media and David Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights suggest the way. Both of these recent developments are attempts to rebuild traditional institutions in ways that support traditional American values. Both are attempts to go outside Borg-dominated media and universities to force them to change through market or financial forces. Conservatives and other non-conformists must take additional steps to build on such creative beginnings.