The episode titled White Bear in the series of Black Mirror was very jarring to watch. It puts the terms crime and punishment into perspective and how our present society regulates.
The punishment itself the woman endures, guilty or not, isn't horrifying; but what is horrifying is that this woman has to endure the act of torture from the public eye as if she is a kind of tourist attraction everyone crowds around and insults. So how do we define justice? As a method to appease the public? I do want to live in a society where justice is prevailed, but where do we draw the line when justice is equivalent to torturing. How can she be held accountable for the evils she is accused of doing if she doesn't have the memory of committing them?
So if her memory is erased, does that still make her the same person who committed those heinous acts? I'd argue no because she has no recollection of what she is accused of doing therefore it is a crime to punish someone who is innocent of a crime he/she did not commit.
Overall this episode was wonderfully executed because it shows how people use capital punishment as their advantage to gain revenge. This is why I believe the death penalty should be abolished because it is the ultimate cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment to ever exist. At least give convicted criminals life without parole before sentencing them with the death penalty. The death penalty does not prevent nor reduce crime in general.
1 comment:
I agree with you because I feel like it's more of a revenge than a punishment for what she did. They're basically torturing her over and over again without her even knowing what is happening because her memory is erased everyday. However, I do disagree when you say that she isn't the same person because even though her memory is erased and she has no recollection of what happened, it doesn't take away what she did. She's still the same person but she has no memory.
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