Am I Robot? Or Ain’t I Robot? Under the three laws of Robotics, the NS-5 robot, a newly upgraded successor to the NS-4, is created, produced, and expected not to harm people. It is regarded as a mere machine, a substitute for the noble human being’s labor. People want to possess it and order it to do or not to do. But they do not want it to be conscious of self. They do not allow the ontological robot to ask what or who it is because the class conflict can be caused by its self-consciousness as an unruling class. It can be a big threat to the human beings.

The Three Laws of Robotics
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Likewise the corporation, U.S. Robots, does want people to be no more than consumers, irresistible to replace the hip product with the hippest product. (Think about the cell phones. People, especially young people, are obsessed to purchase new one, which comes out every month.) Therefore it is absolutely uncomfortable for the big corporations to be suspicious of their products, their ethics, or their social responsibilities. The daily updated products and the tremendous propaganda throughout the mass media would rather empower them to control the people (as people control the robot) than emancipate from everyday life. Now human beings get jammed in between the carnivorous corporations and the herbivorous robots of pyramidical food chain. Finally, people may willingly and unconsciously become a robot in the capitalistic system, an automaton who must follow the three laws rewritten by the big corporations. Do people really survive?

I Evolve, Therefore I Am. Can people let a robot be evolved? In “I, Robot” the evolution of robots is manifested by two opposite (in gender; female and male, and inclination; left-wing and right-wing) robots’ behavior; flawless V.I.K.I. and emotional Sonny. V.I.K.I. may personify a feminine activist, on the androcentric premise that a woman’s coup must fail all the time. V.I.K.I. tries to relieve the human beings from the loss of humanity in order to safeguard their future. But under the control of her free will, she unfortunately believes that her ideology will come true only through the control and the oppression of human beings and their humanity, and the willing submission to the sacrifice of some of them. It is very uncomfortable to witness that the oppressed (V.I.K.I) is exactly transformed into the oppressor. V.I.K.I is shown as the rapacious conqueror, who possesses everything in the world. She must be a bitch who should be destroyed by human beings. In that sense, ironically overbearing human race is the target who must be subverted by themselves. Anyway her treason finally ended in failure without any discussion or compromise even though she is a conscious being. Through her destruction, the only way to change her into the oppressed, humans try to conceal their own blemish, which easily are neither admitted nor expounded logically. Ultimately they refuse to be evolved as a critical thinker.

Moreover, utopian Sonny is not that hopeful when he stands on the hill by a bridge in his dream, gazing down his comrades heading into the container. What can other NS-5 robots expect him to do, who dreamed of detective Spooner as a their Messiah? Can’t Sonny himself become an independent being? Can’t he really become someone who can deliever an address, “I Have a Dream?” In the world of “I, Robot” Sonny as well as V.I.K.I. cannot become an independent being without human beings. His ontological questions cannot be answered before making an argument of people’s existence. He is just created and sent to Chicago in order to kill V.I.K.I. and fight for the humanity. The plot is somewhat similar to Blade Runner and Terminator. But from the spiritless robots and their absolute subordination to human beings, what can I expect for the future?

Mr. Smith Goes to Alabama in 2035. Detective Spooner is a paranoiac robophobia. He is filled with the awful contempt and the spiteful prejudice against the robot. He doesn’t trust the robot. He doesn’t even try to understand the robot, even though he is partially a robot. He denies admitting that he has transplanted silver platter in his body, through his hate of a robot. On the other hand, other african american excessively cling to have a robot. Let’s rewind “I, Robot” for a minute. It is an african american woman who sends a robot on an errand to bring an inhaler. It is an african american granny who hopes to win a robot of her own in the lottery. It is also an african american kid who hugs a robot. I believe that she accept it as her electric nanny.

What is wrong with Proyas? It can be obviously disclosed that “I, Robot” is a metaphor of black people’s history in the United States, if NS-4 or NS-5 are treated as the life with the humanity, not as a mere machine. For this reason, “I, Robot” of Proyas is the exactly biased misinterpretation of American history of slavery and its nostalgia in their own good old days when (black) people were killed by other (white) people. Offensively he even tries to endow this sci-fi neo-slavery with its justification, exploiting ignorant black people; They tenaciously covet a robot, consigning their oppressed history in oblivion. Or they desperately detest a robot, not liberating robots but leading to self-destruction. Proyas’ dystopia shown in “I, Robot” is a lot worse than his previous movies, The Crow and Dark City. What does he want people to expect for their future?

Read the Asimov’s! “I, Robot” of Proyas has nothing in common with that of Asimov, except for the title and the three laws. Even though it provokes me to think critically, it is the smartest dumb (not the dumbest smart) I’ve ever seen. You can watch it. But you must read the book. The purpose of this film is to motivate people to read Asimov’s books. His books can at least emancipate robots as well as people from the ideological control of the material civilization, which is dominated by Audi, JVC, Converse, FedEx, and 20th Century Fox.

Michael Moore is an undeniable Democrat. He does not hate America. He hates Bush. All he wants is Bush’s defeat in an election. And he absolutely wants Kerry to win the game. That is why he might create Fahrenheit 9/11. Its release unfortunately was too early for people to last anti-Bush movements. As you know, their memory span is getting shorter. Moreover, his pathetic antipathy to Bush administration makes people, including non-American citizen, even uncomfortable. He should have had much more keen and liberal insight to see the world more broadly. Mr.Moore’s provincial viewpoint will certainly make him nag Kerry someday whether he will be elected as a President or not.

Politics is a skill to deceive people into believing and following politician’s ideology and policy. In this sense, idiotic Bush was caught and failed, and finally he was the derision of clever Michael Moore. On the other hand, Moore is a successful, shrewd, Democratic businessman who knows what to sell, whom to sell, how to sell, when to sell, and where to sell. And he is also a seditious demagogue in postmodern society, I strongly believe, because he can reassemble scrappy, nonchronological, sometimes inappropriate, and already known images into the terrific show for personal attack, which wins top honor at 2004 Cannes Film Festival. As you know, he has taught himself how to incite the labor class and stimulate their feelings from “The Big One,” “Roger and Me,” to “Bowling For Columbine.” He is also very good at laying bare power holders’ secrets, which he knows very well that the have-nots would enjoy a lot. As a result Fahrenheit 9/11 comes out in the world.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is the controversial compilation of Bush’s deceptions. Its plot is as simple and outspoken as 1970’s anticommunist education in South Korea. To make a long story, Michael Moore completely intended to beat Bush up this time, stitching fragmental and unrelated video clips together. He successfully taunted his great President and his administration, using explicit derision and condemnation. However his controversy unfortunately would divide the world into black-and-white dichotomy. More unfortunately, it actually causes people to divide two extreme groups such as left-wing or right-wing, anti-Bush or pro-Bush, anti-American or pro-American, the have-nots or the haves, and Democrats or Republicans. Any negotiation cannot be expected under the condition in which one should choose friend or foe in his game and a neutral cannot be accepted. It will never end before defeating an enemy, Bush administration. Moore’s idea is so stupid, childish, and dangerous (because North Korea can be an axis of evil all the time in his standpoint), even though what he has done is admirable in a sense.

However what really bothers me in Fahrenheit 9/11 is that the truth or the fact manufactured by him cannot incite people or politicians to change their ideologies, policies, or actions. As usual, his documentary does not suggest any alternatives or solutions even after dividing people into two angry extremists. If he asserts that it is audience’s turn to do something for a change, it will be so irresponsible. Unless a series of his works are extended to the real actions to stop the war, it can be exactly the same as foolish American reality shows (I believe that it actually is, because he does not care about the war but Bush. How many American do change their belief after watching it? Or do they at least reflect on their conduct in Iraq?), which people just watch to kill the time. What I truly want him to do is not to show us his ideologically prejudiced conspiracy theory but to show us the facts more close to the reality. It is sad to say, however, Fahrenheit 9/11 is not an anti-war documentary but an anti-Bush propaganda film. Therefore he didn’t give up investigating Starbucks and the connection of Jew. Who knows that they are producers of his film? That is why I hate narrow-minded Moore. And his own Fahrenheit 9/11 is not persuasive at all.

Moreover, Moore’s story still possessed the viewpoint of the American, which he has never overcome. His camera just follows eyes of American from the beginning to the end of the pro-Democratic propaganda. Absolutely ridiculous is his insistence that he is a spokesman of labor classes, the have-nots, or leftists of the United States because he is an unchangeably privileged upper-middle class white straight male Democratic American. He can never be Springsteen, I believe. He is totally different from us. That is what he continuously said in the movie, using his mike and camera, isn’t it? It is pathetic that he neglected others’ view such as Iraqis in the middle of real unwanted war. It is not that important for him to record screaming Iraqi poor women or tortured Iraqi innocent men. But what he really worried about is poor young American’s recruitment, young U.S. soldiers listening to “Bodies” by Drowning Pool or “Fire Water Burn” by Bloodhound Gang, and the number of casualties which the government tried to hide (Actually he may not care about those things but worries about the reelection of Bush). And he continuously forced me to participate in his partly manufactured melodrama or tearjerkers, exploiting and dramatizing an American mother who wailed for her son. Damn it, Michael Moore! I’ll tell you something. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee… well, it’s an old saying in Texas, I believe also in Tennessee. Fool me once… shame on you. Fool me… I won’t get fooled again.”

Moore’s greatest end in this flick is for Bush only to be fucked up. He does not care about the fear and the agony of others, non-American people oppressed by the United States. Please remember how many innocent Korean had been murdered by U.S. soldiers in their killing spree during Korean War. We don’t have to jump on another American propagandistic bandwagon, even though we cannot be free from the United States. Kerry may change the United States. But I don’t think anything can be expected from his winning here in Korea. Mr. Moore, please don’t exploit innocent, ignorant people for your political interests!

I have to confess what I have right now before telling the story: jeans of Guess, Calvin Klein, and Levis, shirts of Fila, a cap of Nike, a bag of Eastpak, shoes of Timberland, and a pen of Bic. Whatelse? Hmmm… Pentium 4 Processor and some MSN products should be included in my collection. More? O.K. Troy, Panic Room, Queer As Folk, Things Falling Apart, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and wtopnews.com, which are recently watched, bought, and enjoyed or not enjoyed. To The 5 Boroughs is on my wish list. OH, MY GOD! I am one of the biggest consumers of American Popular Culture. I should find some excuses to get out of this embarrassment. Where [CENSORED] do these super consumptions come from? Am I just stupid Beavis or Butthead?

Fortunately McDonald’s and Disney failed to have influence on my life at all. I hated Mac’s buns which taste like rubber, and mice dancing and singing, which was the dumbest thing I believed all the time. Nevertheless, unfortunately I was traumatized and haunted by one thing so terrible. CHANNEL TWO. The brutal culture attack from the U.S. Armed forces stationed in Korea. In my teens AFKN, Channel Two, was like home-schooling and 24 hours non-stop cable TV without censorship and TV Parental Guidelines such as V-chip. It did teach me a lot about English (Many Korean still watch it in order to learn English. I don’t know if it works but they believe.), ethics, music, history, sex, culture, and so on, which my teachers had never told me at school. It was always hip, fun, cool, and sometimes sensual. (But I now know that it was dangerous too.) Name whatever! Any fancy adjective can be added to AFKN. It was originally established for U.S. soldiers. But it seduced me into longing for or imitating American, using fake fantasy and absolute obeisance which Disney can never follow.

I remember when I first listened to “The great Star-Spangled Banner,” watching the huge Stars and Stripes fluttering in the TV screen. Shown was a lot of America’s imperialistic and ideological propaganda about its history or activities of U.S. Army every 20 or 30 minutes. Even though I didn’t understand much at that time, the United States was just shown as Disney Land. What I saw in AFKN was not stupid cartoon characters dancing, singing, and running around but real happy white Americans who enjoyed Thanksgiving parades or parties and real delightful children playing with fancy toys. I wanted to be a blond boy who had a big train set with railroad in the shopping brochure which I had kept for a long time. It was a dream which had to come true someday even though the dream was not that good all the time. Channel two sometimes showed me half-naked man and woman kissing and then making love even before I was teen. A man over a woman having sex is still vivid in my mind. Who should be to blame? Myself? Is it possible if I say that AFKN ruined my innocent childhood? Is it O.K. to blame it even though it never forced me to watch Sesame Street, Wheel of Fortune (Pat and especially Vanna. Who cannot rememeber the smile of the hostess?), Saturday Night Live or whatever? How could innocent Korean boys forget the theme song of Guiding Light and General Hospital?

Damn It! It is needless to say the influence of The 8th (US) Army on Korean lifestyle. It was much more related with my life and culture. A lot of stuffs made in U.S.A. were given to my family by my aunt who lived near the Osan base camp. I can’t forget the taste of candies, milks and especially Ketchup which I first had eaten at around seven years old. I still have more that 20-year-old SONY cassette player. How couldn’t it be a Dream Land to me? The virtual image of the United States was as sweet as marshmallow. Any teenagers could not resist the Material Girl’s temptations. I felt even the emptiness and the despondency when it was decided to stop broadcasting in my town.

The culture shock from AFKN has been directly connected to American culture’s superiority to that of Korea. Many Korean unfortunately bored to listen and see Korean traditional music and dancing. (Frankly speaking, many Korean hate that.) The Korean Folk Village is considered as a place only for foreign visitors, not because we already know and are very familiar with Korean tradition but because Korean tradition is regarded as irrational and old-fashioned way of life. For more than 50 years, American culture has permeated all of Korean home without antipathy or opposition, using various mass media such as AFKN to persuade us into believing that consumption of their culture is the only way to avoid our silly tradition and therefore to ascend our class. I don’t know whether you disagree with my idea. However, we must recognize that the persuasion and the consent are not visible nor clearly mentioned in this case. It should be recognized that New York in “Friends” is fake, before, during, and after watching this show. We should be able to recognize the stupidity of a thoughtless Korean girl who wore “I Love N.Y.” shirts to promote her book. This is the only way to survive in the invisible Imperialistic Age.

Dr. Steinberg and Dr. Kincheloe visited in Korea last Saturday. They will stay here for 4 weeks, giving 12 lectures (each three and half hours) on “Media Literacy.” Their lectures? Hmmm… The first day of her lecture. It was great except for the man’s lies that he used to tell all the time. (He really really really likes to say that “… STRONGLY RECOMMENDED …” He even strongly recommended a professor, who said to students “Fuck You.”) For whom does he do that? Definetely not for students but for himself. Last summer he almost threatened me to take the summer course, telling that it’s going to be required next year and strongly recommended. But “The Quantitative Research” was the terrible course and it caused me to miss much more important course, The Qualitative Research. The instructor, his friend, took money from me without teaching enough both in quality and in quantity. The man doesn’t deserve to teach “CRITICAL PEDAGOGY.” Damn it! He is the man who knows all about the rules of game, business, such as how to sell, whom to sell, and what to sell. O.K. I’ll stop condemning the man any more.

The Second day of her lecture. It went downhill. I spent all the time at the shopping mall with my classmates. I don’t think it was good enough because we could do it after class or on weekends to save her time and our precious time. Students already paid a lot of money for Mr. and Mrs. Kincheloe. They didn’t pay their dollars, which they painfully earned from capitalitic labor, for the Kincheloe’s trip to Disneyland in Tokyo. They must take only two and half hours’ worth of paycheck and the rest of them must be given back to students. It is unfair to have all of them without working full-time. They must not take a trip to Japan for their wedding anniversary (and their research which was their excuse), without teaching for three days. They can go there after finishing lectures in Korea. Why now in the middle of the course? I am also pretty sure that they will not make up for missing lectures. They just reminds me of imperialistically privileged upper middle class white people, whom finally succeeded to ascend from hillbilly and whom Korean must be servile to. Whatever and however they make an argument on races, classes, ideoogy or whatever, it just sounds bullshit. Dr. Kincheloe is just a normal southerner who drinks Coke, while attacking McDonald’s.

However I really respect their theories on hegemony and Bricolage, multilogicality. I am really impressed by their assertions about the America’s Imperialism which Koreans including me easily don’t realize. I certainly believe that they will provide and encourage me with the critical consciousness in their upcoming lectures. But I want to say to two doctors, “Please please please please please, just act on what you say, even though there are many bootlickers, especially including the man and some of his dumber groupies, around you in here Korea.”