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Sunday, November 27, 2016

Coercion to Kill?

In the film, "White Bear," we see a woman named Victoria receive some pretty harsh punishment. Granted, her fiance and herself committed a pretty heinous crime against six year old Jemima. The punishment she received ranged from people recording her to people trying to hurt/kill her. We see her absolutely lose her mind because she has no idea what's going on. She is lied to and led to believe that people are creating this mayhem around her. But it was the same exact thing that her fiance did to that poor little girl. But how much punishment is too far?

Crime Committed under Coercion?

Coercion is defined as "the practice of persuading someone to do something by using force or threats." Victoria claims that she was under her fiance's spell when she was recording the beating and killing of that little girl. We only saw snippets of Victoria's recordings. No where near enough too see if she was doing it willingly or she was coerced by Iain. How can we believe a criminal over the death of a six year old? How can we believe a criminal over a straight video of the killing?

Why I Believe the Punishment Went Too Far

Victoria has gone through the same torture for I don't know how many days. She continues to relive the horrendous acts her fiance and herself did to Jemima. She has to see the disgust and hatred on peoples' faces time and time again. But at the end of the day, they wipe her memory. They do this so each day, she can be tortured and punished without ever remembering the day before. If she would remember, I guarantee, about 99% sure that she would end up killing herself. I mean who wouldn't? Having to go through that and face all that backlash, no one would to do that. I would probably kill myself too but then again, I could never harm a fly especially a kid. 

For me, her punishment went to far. Maybe the first couple of times it was different, but it continues. How she supposed to learn what she did was so wrong when they wipe her memory each night for the next go around? I understand the first couple of times they would do this to her, maybe just to teach her lesson. But after that, she deserves a real punishment, Whether that be prison or the death penalty, I don't know. For me, I think prison would be more suitable punishment because she is thrown in with a bunch of other criminals and she's all alone with no friends or family.

How much punishment is too far for you?


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I too agree that the punishment does not fit the crime committed. Although the crime was very disturbing, the punishment the lady receives is also very disturbing. I understand an "eye for an eye", but forcing her to relive it every day for weeks seems sadistic.

Anonymous said...

I think our blogs were pretty similar in the fact that you don't need to excessively punish people. Although criminals can be very sadistic, they are still human being and feel as such. Stooping down to the level of torture makes the punisher no better than the criminal. All together, i agree with your post, the crime should fit the punishment and not exceed to be "cruel and unusual".