Should Janeway have let Seven go back to the Borg?

[LavarosVA]

No. If you knew someone had been brainwashed and made a slave for years it would be completely fucking immoral to let them go back to that just because they didn't know anything else yet. Janeway is right in not allowing that. By the time Dark Frontier turns around, Seven hates the idea of losing herself to the borg again, and only lets herself be captured to save Voyager.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

No. If you knew someone had been brainwashed and made a slave for years it would be completely fucking immoral to let them go back to that just because they didn't know anything else yet. Janeway is right in not allowing that. By the time Dark Frontier turns around, Seven hates the idea of losing herself to the borg again, and only lets herself be captured to save Voyager.

Actually this is pretty much my line of thinking on the matter. I suppose though it's still interesting for consideration if it was an original inhabitant of some place the federation doesn't know about.

One thing to consider for what actually happened though, Janeway was pretty determined to at least make sure Seven made the decision with as full of awareness of her circumstance. And yes, once Seven understood then there we have it.

[Yukaphile]

That's subject to interpretation, tbh. The Borg, before their badass decay, had many positives you could spin about them. Despite the Federation holier-than-thou attitude, they are them at their most basic level. A collective society free of conflict, where all share in the joys of the greater good, with every member of that race willing to back you up if you're in trouble. It's truly an alien society, and I consider it on par with being kidnapped, then raised by different parents. I don't see it as brainwashing.

[J!!]

Not by the Federation, and you know it.

the USA never declared war against Vietnam, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, of Iraq. and yet war there was. formal declarations of war haven't really been much of a thing since 1945.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

That's subject to interpretation, tbh. The Borg, before their badass decay, had many positives you could spin about them. Despite the Federation holier-than-thou attitude, they are them at their most basic level. A collective society free of conflict, where all share in the joys of the greater good, with every member of that race willing to back you up if you're in trouble. It's truly an alien society, and I consider it on par with being kidnapped, then raised by different parents. I don't see it as brainwashing.

Borg sympathising, splitting hairs between brainwashing and kidnapping when inseparable neurological implants are implemented. I'm sorry, but this seems like some of the stupidest shit I've ever read on this forum.

[Yukaphile]

They do offer a society free of prejudice. Their biggest problem is they force it on you. If it was a voluntary choice, then it'd be better.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

In other words, they conquer. Not to mention other shit. I'm not even dignifying this. Over and out.

[Yukaphile]

Say what you want about the Borg, but wouldn't you love to live in a society where there's no conflict? No prejudice? Where every member of that race will back you up? Where you all share in the benefits equally? I wanna live in that society. Granted, what the Borg do makes you "lose" something of yourself in the process, but if they left other races alone, then arguably they'd be the future of the universe. People get so fed up with conflict and division, they wanna be part of a greater whole, no chaos and hatred.

[J!!]

ok, first of all: no, i would not want to live in a society without conflict. that sounds incredibly dull.

second of all, the borg are extremely prejudicial; they pre-judge all non-borg as lesser beings than themselves, mere resources to be consumed for their own good.

third: i don't know where you're getting this notion of 'every member of the race will back you up', because that is never how the borg have been portrayed. borg drones are treated by the collective as an expendable commodity in every instance they appear.

and finally, there is the inescapable fact that they forcibly inflict their type of existence on other people on a massive scale through the use of mind-control.

fuck the borg.

[Yukaphile]

The Borg find, if not entertainment, then satisfaction in their own way, like calculating stuff, or trying to understand the universe. Like recall Seven's recollection of Omega. They do lab experiments, clearly.

They also genuinely think they're doing you a favor.

Because they're one in the same. There's no divisions to break down. A small command unit can be compromised because of our individuality. With the Borg, there is none of that danger.

And yes, I won't defend that last one. Joining such an alien society must be a choice. Or it has no meaning.