Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Domo Arigato

BP Robot Damages Cap, More Oil Released

Another shocking development from the Deepwater Horizon well site. One of BP's robot ROVs has "accidentally" damaged a vent on the cap that was being used to contain some of the oil, "forcing" BP to remove the cap and letting even more oil into the Gulf. Note how the article refers to the ROV not as that -- a remotely operated vehicle, thus requiring an operator, but simply as a robot. This may be poor writing, but the media use clever semantic tricks to sway opinion.

By calling it a robot, that makes most people think of it as an automaton in their subconscious mind. That meaning that it has no operator, that it independently was carrying out its program and just happened to "bump" into the vent. In fact these machines are operated by human beings with video game-style television and controller setups which I've seen on TV. So of course it could have been human error. But it's two steps backward after each step forward with these criminals at BP and in our government.

The media had been thrilled the past three days as more and more oil was being captured, piped to their tanker ships and burned off. Of course they didn't hue and cry about the giant black clouds of pollutant being released from the burns, but that is a side issue of media hypocrisy. So now, oops, bad Mr. Roboto ROV. But behind the scenes, thank you very much, Mr. human saboteur -- here, please take your blood money bonus for a job well done.

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