The xBs
- Thread starter Big Data
- Start date
Why apply to former Borg a designation that sounds like a model number? “These xBs are nothing like the old xA7s.” Is it a way of saying that you can never stop thinking like one?
Well, my take on this was that the Romulans didn't know the species, and he hadn't been asked. Soji being able to speak in his language mostly seemed, to me, to be a hint that she was able to access Borg data on the cube in some way.
And hunted for parts!
I guess they needed someone to replace the Remans.
I thought it was "expy" at first, short for "expatriated". "XB" is kinda lame in comparison. Don't judge.
I think it's a cute pun. XB = ex bee. As in former drones.
And also established her connection with the Borg. I don't think Soji is not a future Borg Queen but Maddox might incorporate some kind of Borg tech in constructing his new androids, along with fragments from Data's remains.
There might be something to the idea that Maddox may have searched out the Borg tech they were using in First Contact to make Data more human.
— We’re doing all we can to undo the assimilation and give you your former life back. And, you’ll get a cute designation which reads “ex bee”!
I wonder if they take honey with their tea
I wonder if they take honey with their tea
— Repeat after me: I was like a bee, that’s all. I was just like a bee. But no more.
That's certainly one way to look at it, but counterpoint. Hugh points out that they are still resented and feared for being former Borg. A name that is tongue in cheek is one small way to combat that.
I don’t know, are there ”cute nicknames” for former slaves, former child conscripts, survivors of specific disfiguring illnesses? If there are, I’d imagine they would be avoided by someone in Hugh’s position and tolerated only within the group in question.
We live in a world where women refer to themselves as "boss bitch" and it's a term of empowerment.The words "queer", "gay" and "dyke" used to be insults (and in fact are still used as insults)before they were reappropriated by the groups they referred to. Same with the n-word for African Americans. There are many reasons groups may choose any specific term to refer to themselves.
And I really don't see a reason to take offense at a designation that, within the confines of the story, seems to be used exclusively by ex Borg. The Romulans aren't referring to them that way, and Picard had to ask for clarification of the term. It's Hugh who uses it. (And I might go so far to speculate that Michael Chabon being Jewish might play into it, since there's some documentation by Jewish concentration camp survivors (most famously Victor Frankl) on the role humor played in the concentration camps and how survivors used it in their memoirs and recollections to deal with it. So this attitude of dealing with trauma with humor might just shine through here.)
Also, what would you have them refer to themselves that does conform to what you think they should be feeling?
Hugh's line last week about having learned on the Enterprise that a new name can be the first step toward a new identity was one of the best bits of the episode. It's clearly not meant to be derogatory among the ex-Borg...that's looking for an issue where none exists.
So basically Thursday on TrekBBS
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