CARTOON: “RoboCop”

From Clay Jones on his political cartoon “RoboCop,” The Dallas police’s use of a robot to deliver a bomb, and militarized police in America

Did you ever see “Robocop”? It’s a movie from the 1980s about a cop who becomes part robot. There were sequels. There was a remake. I did see parts of the remake, but I never did see the original. I do recall that Peter Weller was Robocop, and I don’t know how I remember that because I can’t recall anything else that actor did (and since I never did watch “Robocop,” I never saw any of Weller’s work). Robots were annoying in the ’80s: “Robocop,” “Short Circuit,” the robot dance.

I suppose I never watched the movie because there was already “Terminator,” and how could that be topped (the sequels never did)? There were also a lot of blow-people-up movies in the 1980s, like “Rambo,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Red Dawn,” “Predator,” “Commando,” “Die Hard,” “Mad Max,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” the idiotic Chuck Norris movies, and “Goonies” (OK. Goonies was not an action movie, but all my friends loved it, and I hated it). We also had the cool cop shows like “Miami Vice” and “Magnum P.I.” Even though I was a young male, the exact demographic “Robocop’ was gunning for, I wasn’t that intrigued.

Another reason I skipped the movie was because the idea of law enforcement placing the law into hands that aren’t even human just doesn’t thrill me.

Which brings us to Dallas and their robot.

The sniper in Dallas had already killed five policemen. He was in negotiations with police and being uncooperative when they sent in a robot with a bomb to take him out. The reality is that the guy already killed five policemen and — if that’s not bad enough for you — is still very dangerous to basically anyone else alive. I’m against murder, whether the victim is a child playing with a toy gun; a black man driving with a broken tail light, selling loose cigarettes, or just walking down the street; or a policeman protecting and serving. I don’t have an issue with the police taking him out with a robot anymore than I would if they had done it with a sniper. He was a bad dude who clearly proved he was a threat to society. Screw him. Blow him up and count the pieces.

Yes, I’m a liberal who would rather advocate for peace, and I’m against the death penalty. But if the guy can’t be brought in and is still a danger, taking him out may save lives. Executing prisoners after they’re captured doesn’t save any lives and only sanctions murder.

However, the use of robots by the police to kill people should raise questions and alarms, despite the Dallas situation being justified.

In 1985, Philadelphia police sent a robot with a bomb into the headquarters of a self-styled black liberation group, Move. Eleven members of the group, including five children, were killed, and a fire spread through the neighborhood, destroying more than 60 homes.

The concern here is that equipment like this and the stuff the Pentagon has been selling to police departments like Ferguson’s are made for warfare. Police departments are for protecting, serving, and keeping the peace. They do not exist to create war on their citizens. The Fredericksburg Police Department does not need a tank.

A lot of liberals are upset of the use of drones in warfare. Then again, that is warfare. Are the uses of robots with bombs the step before police departments start using drones to attack American citizens?

All those Second Amendment advocates who use the fear of government tyranny as their reasoning for owning guns are pretty silent about militarizing our nation’s police departments, just as they’re silent about concealed carry when the carrier is African-American. Hello, NRA? Are you out there?

But then again, if the cop robot is as annoying as C3PO or the droids from “Lost In Space,” I might wish for it to have a bomb.

claytoonz.com/2016/07/11/robocop

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