Saving workers from the machines
References in Czech society to the film The Matrix are usually aimed at the secret power structure that exists behind the thin veneer covering everything in business and politics. Bohuslav Sobotka runs the government, as Andrej Babiš might say, but his friend Radek Pokorný is pulling the strings. These "superhumans" reign behind the scenes, while the taxpayers suffer. The message of The Matrix goes even deeper. The machines are taking over the planet, relegating humans to the role of a source of bioelectricity. Sobotka is serving a key role in this respect too. He's a chief proponent of Industry 4.0, whose goal is to eliminate jobs and to turn workers into mindless dependents of the state existing in a dream world. Sobotka is certainly no "Neo," but he is a Social Democrat. Shouldn't he be protecting the humans from the robots, instead of serving them up to the machines? Isn't it time for the Left to talk about putting a tax on robot labor?
Glossary of difficult words
veneer - a thin decorative covering of fine wood applied to a coarser wood or other material; an attractive appearance that covers or disguises someone or something's true nature or feelings;to relegate - to assign an inferior rank or position to;
Neo - the hero of the film The Matrix;
to serve someone up - to put someone at the mercy of someone else.