Editor,

In the science fiction video series Star Trek: The Next Generation, a mob of aliens called the Borg try to conquer humans with the threat, “We will assimilate you.” The Borg, I am fairly sure, are stereotypes of certain human tendencies to impose answers on other groups “for their own good” whether the recipients appreciate the gift or not. Religious believers, whether in Abrahamic traditions or Karmic traditions, have assimilated populations for thousands of years, sometimes peacefully, sometimes more forcefully. In our more secular time beginning with the late 1700s (French Revolution) and accelerating with Karl Marx and catching fire with Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and Castro, ideological movements such as socialism and communism have also assimilated people into their answers, sometimes gently, sometimes violently.

Oddly, assimilation can be a two way street. Sometimes the assimilated populations engulf and digest their conquerors. Hey, I’m a Jew. We are everywhere. How do we do that?

The term “Groupthink” was coined in a 1952 article in Fortune Magazine. If everybody around you thinks the same thing, say that skin color or eye shape tells us something useful about, ethics and intelligence, or an upward tending stock market will never crash and burn, or that the New England Patriots after winning 18 straight victories in 1972-1973 would inevitably win the Super Bowl, groupthink can really lead any of us astray.

On Whidbey Island, groupthink told us that Hillary Clinton would deservedly become the first female president and that Donald Trump was a horrible person and would inevitably lose the presidential election. As a native born United States citizen, I think we should acknowledge the error of our predictions and work toward assimilating Donald Trump into our democratic and representative values.

STEPHEN KAHN

Langley