RoboCop

This late afternoon, I was flipping TV channels and I landed on the movie RoboCop. Not the 1987 version but the 2014 remake. I really liked the 1987 version so I was excited when the 2014 version came out (not excited enough to shell out the big bucks to see it in the theater though) to the movie channel.

Both movies center around an Officer Murphy who gets himself in a virtual fatal situation and a big corporation (OCP) uses questionable science to create a cyborg (part man and part machine).  If you are old enough, the movie is a darker version of the Six Million Dollar Man TV series (when the TV series came out, Six Million was meant to represent an almost incomprehensible amount of money - my have times changed).  In the movie, OCP is using Officer Murphy as a cyborg to sell more services and increase their bottom line.  What they don’t count on, or maybe better to say that they couldn’t stop, is the human part of the cyborg taking control and eventually leading back to finding criminal acts done by OCP in the process.

Where the 2014 movie deviated from the 1987 version (actually there were several points but this one is key) is that there is a fictitious lobbying type news show entitled The Novak Element.  Like the news/commentary shows today, The Novak Element lobbies their base viewers with reports that fit their expectation.  The movie uses this mechanism to provide background information to explain the movie plot without extending the screen time.

The Novak Element segment explains that the American public is evenly split between accepting or not robot law enforcement.  In the 2014 movie, OCP is using Officer Murphy to gain public approval and acceptance of a robot peace keeper.

Early in the movie, besides explaining the public acceptance situation, Novak lobbies heavily to allow robot peace keepers.  In the end, when the corruption that created Officer Murphy is exposed, Novak complains that the same scientist that he was praising for creating Officer Murphy should be in prison for his heinous acts against humanity.  The hypocrisy is stark.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” - Colossians 3:1-4, 8-11

“Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips. Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.” - Proverbs 24:28-29

“You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” - Leviticus 19:11-18

The concept of lobbying for your preferred position is a sin if you desire to deceive people to accomplish it.  If you are only providing part of the story or are trying to wrongly discredit the other side, you are sinning.  It is clear both in the Old Testament and New Testament.  I guess it comes down to this:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:36-40