Trent, and others, have been consistently referring to Janeway's death as the pointless assimilation, rather than the destruction of the Borg ship, as I saw it.. How do you see the stuff at the end then?
Honestly, like
Vixen, I didn't remember it (which says something in and of itself), and I didn't have access to the book until the weekend so couldn't verify the scene (not that I disbelieved
Christopher, but I wanted to see it for myself). Having now done so... my opinion hasn't changed much. Yes, the submerged personality of Janeway emerges for a moment to punch a hole in the firewall and let the virus in (guess Seven should have used a Mac to upload it; those seem to work much better). But Janeway's disembodied 'presence' is about a page in length, little more than an echo of her former self, and not even told from her pespective (with the suggestion that there might not be a perspective
per se to even write from). And the converse of this scene is that, rather than being snuffed out when 'absorbed' by the collective, Janeway's awareness persisted, trapped beneath the weight of the Collective, and she bore mute and helpless witness to her body, her knowledge and memory being used to slaughter thousands of fellow officers and imperil billions on Earth. Rather than her last moments being terrifying and torturous, Janeway spent her last
days in a state of perpetual psychological agony (I note the use of the word 'howling' to describe Janeway's presence when Seven finally manages to find the sliver of psyche that still exists). So the price of this brief moment of heroic extertation of willpower, as you say, is even more extensive victimization; note a particularly good trade-off, if you ask me. And I would still consider the first death to be the 'true' one, since it basically marks the end of Katherine Janeway as a character with any volition or agency, except for a single (and apparently quite forgettable, although I admit at this point I was thoroughly sick of the book) moment, like an echo, later on, which needed the assistance of Seven to manifest itself besides. So, no, I still think the character got the ass-end of the stick here.
You can't condemn a democracy if its citizenry is uninformed and this incapable of making an informed decision as an electorate.
Sure you can. You can condemn them for
being uninformed, particularly when it's a deliberate condition brought about through chest-pounding, faith-based jingoism, mixed in with a cowardly repeal of critical faculties and civil liberties in exchange for false sense of security, a willingness to remain in the dark and social sanctions for those who dare question authority. George Bush was one of the most reviled men on the planet even before the 2004 elections, and there was a great deal of opposition internally, so there's no excuse for them to say 'we didn't know' now. They didn't
want to know; they were too busy 'rallying around the flag' and such other bullshit. I've never understood why voting is a right that carries no concomittant responsibilities or accountability.
As to how this pertains to the Trek verse... not directly related to ItPM, but I recall after
Articles... had come out and the first cracks began to emerge in the Tezwa cover story, I had speculated that because the Federation is assumed to be, and probably is overall, a truly transparent, well-intentioned and accountable form of government, Federation society is not habituated to questioning the actions of its government the way we are; the critical muscles of a democratic society, the intellegentsia and journalistic establishments, are atrophied, at least when it comes to the idea of internal conspiracies and malfeasance. The people of the Federation can make a claim to be
genuinely uninformed, because, unlike us, they have no real history or cause to suspect that their government is or would want to lie to them. The real test comes when they'll find out, if they'll demand accountability and reform; which is why I was kind of dissapointed that Graniv didn't blow the thing wide open when she found out (crimes allowed to fester in secret will merely spawn more), though at least she, at the civilian staff and the Palais who were informed, were clearly torn by the decision they had to make, as was Sisko about his (it remains to be seen whether the higher-ups who sanctioned his actions were similarly ill-at-ease with themselves; they seemed pretty smug and unconcerned in
Hollow Men).
ETA:
Whenever people pull ot the Barack Hussein Obama card, I just ask, "what about King Hussein of Jordan, our staunch ally?" Unfortunately, it ususally just generates blank stares.
Interesting piece of Trek trivia: Hussein made a cameo appearance in the VOY episode "Investigations", back when he was still the Crown Prince. I seem to recall he also used to play Warhammer 40,000. "One of us..."
Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
