We are the United States of Borg.
You will be assimilated.

Resistance is futile.
We will assimilate your cultural and national distinctiveness into our own.
You will be made to serve the process of globalization.
You will adopt our values as your own.
You will go to work for the global mega-corporations*(see note below) which further the westernization of the world.
You will spend your income on our products.
You will drink Coca-Cola.
You will eat at McDonalds.
You will smoke Marlboro cigarettes.
You will drive Chevrolets.
You will wear western clothing.
You will listen to music by western artists.
You will watch video entertainment produced in Hollywood.
You will worship Mickey Mouse.
You will use Microsoft software.
Most importantly, you will speak English.#(see note below)
Resistance is futile.

We will co-opt your culture, so that we may draw off parts of you and make them into our own image.
We will adopt your language into the English language.
We will adopt foods from your culture and adapt them into our own diets.
Your culture will be assimilated.
Your culture will be westernized.
Those parts of your culture which cannot be westernized will be discarded.
You will re-make your economies into market economies. **(see note below)
You will remake your governments into democratic republics. ***(see note below)
Your people will be allowed to retain their own individualities, but only insofar as it furthers the spread of the consumerist values collective.
You will be more concerned with individual freedoms than communal values, so as to further the cause of individual consumerism.
You will be detached from the natural world. ****(see note below)
You will remodel your cities into American-style cities.
You will live in the suburbs.

The process is global.
The process is unstoppable.
You will be assimilated.
You will follow the example of previously assimilated nations.

The Borg nations of Europe.
BorgJapan.
BorgCanada.
You will join them.
We are the United States of Borg.
You will be assimilated.
Resistance is futile.


Before you read
1. Purpose You are trying to understand what the poet thinks about globalization.
2. Previous knowledge You know what globalization is according to the textbook and course materials.
3. Perspective Person opinion of globalization-whether you believe that overall it is a negative, positive, or neutral force in the world-can influence your reading of the poem because I may strongly agree or disagree with what he has to say.
Skim the article
1. Title The United States of Borg: This title makes me think about the United States of America. The word borg refers to some kind of futuristic society controlled by powerful authoritarian beings. This makes me think that the poet's message is that the United States is a powerful and controlling force in the world.
2. Images None
As you read
1. Message Message is very clear! He does not like what is happening in the world. He believes that the United States dominates other cultures, their values, politics, and economies, and they are powerless to overcome this influence.
2. Persuasive Tactics Emotional language and persuasive tactics are found throughout the poem, which is to be expected in a poem because it is supposed to create emotional responses in the reader.

He also uses a lot of repetition of the line "resistance is futile" to back up his message of powerlessness.
3. Tone He's angry and he also feels powerless. That contributes to his message.
4. Evidence He does not verify his sources so readers have to rely on their own knowledge.

* He talks about the prevalence of American products like Disney, Microsoft, Coke, and McDonalds. I know that these transnationals are very powerful and are bought and sold around the world, sometimes overtaking local products. I know the profits from these products go to shareholders in wealthy countries. I know the directors of these companies make huge salaries. I also know these large corporations can sell their products at a low cost around the world because of the economies of scale that I learned about in Unit Five.

# It's true that more and more people speak English, at least as a second language, and it is the international language of business.

**I also know that international financial institutions like the World Bank do insist on countries establishing free markets.

***I know that the United States claims to care about forming democracies around the world. This took place during the Cold War, and that is also what they claim to be doing in Iraq right now.

**** Population growth and resulting urbanization shows this to be true, but I am not sure how much the United States is responsible. I do know that the Indigenous world view is more concerned with connections to the natural world than much of "white" or "western" society.
5. Reasoning This is a poem, not an article or an essay, so reasoning is not necessarily the focus. He makes a lot of assumptions and generalization, but a lot of what he says is common knowledge or at least represents the thinking of a lot of people.
6. Writer's Perspective The note by the author tells me that his experiences seeing the world as a student have strongly influenced his perspective. He has seen a world that he thinks is being changed into one global, U.S. dominated culture. He thinks that is bad, and that comes through throughout the poem.
7. Finding Out More You could research this author over the Internet. There are several references to a man with this name, but nothing specifically connects his name to this poem so it's impossible to find out more.