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Thursday, September 17, 2009

DEEP BLUE MORALITY

I like most people often waste valuable time watching the "tube". I have been watching a new series program on TNT called "Deep Blue". The show is suppose to reveal the lives of those who work undercover narcotics with the Police Department.

Last night's show was interesting because it exposes the hypocrisy of lying, cheating and even setting up crime scenes by law enforcement to accomplish what they may call their objective in the end for "the good" of all.

The story is about the main Character "Carter" who heads up a team of undercover narc officers. In the story I wathced last evening, the main character shoots a DEA officer, and then lies his way through the investigation into the shooting. The hard nose investigator, really digs in on Carter, and before long has motive for Carter killing the DEA agent. It seems the DEA agent was the fiance of Carter's ex-wife, who had a baby with the agent. By all appearances Carter killed him out of jealousy over this relationship, as he has even refused to divorce her over the years.

Though Carter and the dead DEA agent worked together for five years in police work previously in L.A. it appears that this hard driving Federal Investigator is about to get her man, and bury Carter for murder.

Break away...earlier while on his suppose buy with the DEA agent, his own team on hearing the shots fired rushed to the scene from up on a hill to find Carter holding the gun in his hand telling his team to get out of there, telling his team you didnt see anything, you weren't here. Carter tells them it is best, through the whole investigation by the FEDS of Carter - the undercover narc officer now possibly facing homicide charges, keeps up with the same barage to his team stay out of it. The problem is the story Carter tells the FEDs has big holes in it, and the team knows it, and their loyalty to him, to their careers and to truth, whatever that is they find being tested. They face their own doubts. In so doing they do their own investigating and in so doing do discover, that the DEA agent had 6 drug deals for COKE but yet no one was busted. So now they are pretty sure that the DEA is dirty..
Meantime Carter in his discussion with one of his team, he gives him some money and tells him to give it to a guy at City Hall. His team member complies, and tells him later everything is in place. not knowing what is going on.
The test comes, for the team, the investigator to test their loyalty has one of her people in Special Crimes make a job offer to one of the guys.. The lone female undercover officer is tested as well she can tell the truth and leave with her boyfriend who just landed a big job with a top LAW firm in San Francisco, the other guy he is busy finally going to the crime scene where they could find no other bullet fragments or bullets from the supposed Blue Car with shooters in it, that Carter tells showed up drawing down on Carter and the DEA agent, where in trying to protect the DEA agent from one of the dealers Carter claims he accidentily shot the DEA agent instead of the PERP...Thus the investigation lead strongly that Carter lied about the blue car and the dealers with guns who took them on. The agent who seems the most loyal to Carter and has little hestitancy playing along with Carter, delivering the money to the guy at City Hall, he goes out to the Crime Scene and manages to draw away the two officers guarding the scene so he can plant some drop shells, and bullet fragments in the area, to vindicate Carter's story.
The ex- wife's testimony pretty much establishes that Carter wasnt jealous, the bullets are found, Carter's team holds out in their interrogation and the story sticks and Carter goes free.
In the end, it turns out that Carter had gone to the scene with his ex-partner DEA agent, to talk him out of being dirty, for it turns out he was doing some dealing on his own, and making some money. All from Cocaine sells, while he was working on one of the largest Heroin rings in the area. Carter got into an argument with the DEA agent who drew his gun on Carter,thinking he was going to burn him for his dirty dealing and Carter shot him in self defense... the team ask, why didnt he just come clean about his old friend that he had gone dirty and tell what really happened.
The reason Carter knows the danger of working the dirty business of doing undercover work. The toughest work a cop can do, for he has to become, just like those he is investigating yet somehow maintain his mission and law abiding enforcement officer sworn duty. He has seen it before some FLIP OUT.. turn into being just like those they are investigating and are soon dirty cops!

The show closes telling the whole story.

Carter delivers a package that he has to his ex-wife, telling her it is the Divorce papers. She looks at him through her tears and mourning and ask, "why now"?.. He had refused for years to give her the divorce and now he wants to. Her lover is dead, at his hands. He tells her inside the package she will find something else for her, a marriage license, to which was issued 11 months previous, that her and the DEA Agent were married and she is to say he just didnt want to tell the Bureau he was married yet. He tells her, he died a hero, and now she is entitled to full benefits for her husband" who died in the line of duty. His friend at City Hall fixed it all for the sum of money of course. Money buys anything in this business. I spent some 20 years in private investigations, I know!
Now we have a nice ending, seems like a good thing to do. Carter is such a good guy he hung is on butt on the line to save his former partners reputation as a DEA officer and give his ex-wife and the guys child his name, her money and ,,,the tears!

What can we learn from all this typical moral story?
Not much.

When I was in college I remember studying Fletcher's Situation Ethics..
The theorem was that any situation if the actions taken whether good or evil work out in the end toward the objective of the love of another, then it is good!
This the same kind of morality that all of America understands. It doesnt matter if those who say they uphold the law, become as evil as those they seek to bring to justice as long as their title is law enforcer or government and the guy they are getting is civilian crook or terrorist. The end justifies the means..
What hogwash hypocrisy!

What people dont understand this is hypocrisy, clean on the outside by position but rotten to the core by character.
Fletcher proposes for example some highly not probable scenarios in his writing..
Let's create one like he does in his book, if the highest objective is to love others the golden rule to love others as yourself, then lets take that objective to the extreme. Let's say a male along with a female are taken hostage by terrorist, and the terrorist showing off his power over the two, tells the male he must rape the girl while he watches or he will shoot the girl. What is the greater act of love Fletcher would propose- to rape the girl and let the Terrorist watch so that she might live or let the Terrorist kill her. This is situational ethics it is the same game lie that plays in politicians brains, law enforcement and even individuals, it is called the "end justifies the means to obtain the objective". So therefore it is good in the minds of most to do wrong if they think the over all purpose to their judgement of what is right or wrong will be that the end result is good. Whatever it takes to reach that goal is necessary, lying, cheating, whatever, as long as in the end the goal is achieved. Thus in the world for Narcotics officers, they have to sometimes use drugs, act like a criminal or whatever to get the target, that's OK!
Thus we have governmental officials who right now on the debate over healthcare, thinking that in the end if the government arbitrarily makes the life and death decisions involved in healthcare that is good! So what if a few old folks are turned down health care so the younger one's can obtain health care that was denied the old folks. In the long run, isn't it better to let those die who in not but a few years will die anyway/ These who really are a drain on the economics of America because they are no longer producers but takers, in Social Security money, Medicare, and more. Why not keep the young healthy? They will produce more for years to come, in tax money and labor for the rich and the elite of this country. thus the goal of a better society is achieved for (all) by forsaking the few- the old and decrepit,the terminally ill, those who will die soon anyway.
Do you see the circle of thinking in terms of good and evil. Good can become evil and evil can become good. It all depends on who is in charge making the rules. Those in power are the one's who make the rules, whether good or evil, but all they have to do is proclaim what they do as good even when it is equal to the evil that others do that they power over. Another example, we Americans went with the Bush argument that Saddam was killing innocent people, torturing others. We had to stop him at any cost. We were shocked at Hitler's henchman and their torture of the Jews in World War 2, but today because we believe we are righteous it is "good" to torture alleged Terrorist. On this I do agree with Obama, it lowers our values to theirs for human life.
This is the plight of men who live by the letter of the law versus the Spirit.

Holiness far exceeds good and evil thus God's actions will never be understood through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A man must be enlightened by the very Spirit of God living within them to understand GOOD. Jesus told the rich young ruler that called him good, that only God is good!

The shame of television is it plays the situational ethics game in almost every show ever watched. It leaves the viewers with no better philosophy of life then they live in this world or they live out themselves. It does display the fact of life, that no one can escape that the Bible makes clear, before God all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Thus what man can judge another man. Only God can truly judge in righteousness for He is righteous and man is just another man, evil and good about him in no matter what he does. He has only one hope and that is to be born of the Spirit and have the one true God's character instilled into his life. Thus as Paul wrote, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
There are none righteous not one!
Arent you thankful that if you have Christ inside, you can live above man's concepts of right and wrong and by faith, be the LAW...for He inside of you is the one that fulfills it to the crossing of the T to the dotting of the I... and there are none righteous except Him who is above all authority both in heaven and on earth. Grace is a beautiful thing to behold as we appear into His face who brings grace!

Dr. J.