RuboCop: Is it time to change the name?

I'm actually dumbfounded that nobody has brought up the themes of the movie RuboCop is (almost) named after. RoboCop (at least the original movie) seems pretty in line with many progressive ideology criticizing privatization of police and other government functions, criticizing militarization of police, and lampooning gratuitous violence.

Spoiler Alerts: The story of RoboCop is the story of a police officer overcoming systemic corruption within the police force after he is literally dehumanized and turned into an excessively violent killing machine. The main crux of the finale is that RoboCop needs to get around his programming that prevents him from arresting other members of the police corporation which pretty poignantly mirrors the many issues involving police policing other police. While the main character is a "good cop" in this movie, I don't think anybody will walk out of that movie thinking that police systems are not deeply flawed and corruptible destructive.

RuboCop as a linter is very much in line with the ideals of what a cop should be, and what a cop will be after reform (hopefully). RuboCop finds structural problems, gives out warnings, and helps the community of whoever works on a codebase work together in harmony.

/sigh. Just buzzards circling around an opportunity to signal they're 'doing something'.

There's a very strong feeling of virtue signalling in these github comments. "Woke" developers which have never heard of RuboCop before.

coding-bunny solved this in the comments:

  echo "alias ruby_lint=rubocop" >> $HOME/.bashrc

...unless your objection is that other people will see this suddenly problematic word.

That's why you have to move out of the github. It already looks like Facebook, what happens next?

My first thought was that this proposed name change is a bit silly, because "RuboCop" is clearly an homage to RoboCop, a movie that -- yes -- portrays a "good cop" but overall is very critical of the police system in America.

My second thought is that as a white, middle-class American, I can't rely on that kneejerk reaction.

I'm very lucky in that I live someplace where my group is not disproportionately targeted by the police. There are a lot of people in America and elsewhere in the world who can't say the same.

Will changing the name solve anything? No.

But is it a tiny positive step with very little cost? That is the bar that needs to be cleared.