I found satirical humor in it comparable to that of Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. In Swift's essay, he suggests that the poor sell their newborns for money to wealthy people for the wealthy people to eat; that way all parties (excluding the baby) could benefit from the deal. Now, of course, that was a preposterous proposition. His goal was to point out the negative attitudes that society had on poor people. Just as this episode forces us to focus on the all too common sentiment, "I wish what you did to him/her would happen to you." I'm sure that episode disgusted many people besides myself, but it is just a reflection of something that we feel all the time. Many times we find ourselves wishing ill upon a person that has done ill to another, even casually, just because we want him/her to see how it felt to be in such a position; not even predicting how that kind of reality would look. It pushed my mental envelope in that sense that it forced me to see how it would look to have those things actually happen to that other person. After watching this video, I know I will definitely think twice before wishing that upon anyone.
I do feel that this was wrong, we don't reserve the right to decide anyone's fate in such an extreme manner. They basically show-boated her like a puppet and she lived that hell every single day. She experienced that confusion, horror, and pain every single day. They literally have an organization devoted to making this woman experience terror day after day. They have a crowd where "onlookers" can come and partake in this madness. And I can almost guarantee that they were producing a profit.
It also makes me think that this episode is pointing out certain elements in this episode that are parallel to things in our society. One of these things includes us deciding one's fate in such a grave way such as the death penalty or extreme prison sentence. Another would be profiting from one suffering or imprisonment such a privately owned prisons. Even the act of vengeance and retribution. As well as our unfathomable need to record the horrific things instead of putting the phone down, stepping in and helping and our attachment to our phones and other devices.
I have to admit, it also brought me through a range of emotions. Overall, I was equally intrigued and appalled and it was an eye-opener.
3 comments:
In today's society, if the jury decides that one's fate is death, I believe this is justifiable because that person is still consciously aware of the crime they have committed. They fortunately have not had their memory erased like Victoria.
Lisheena, the way you describe how you feel when watching the episode is similar to how I feel when watching it as well. I like how you talk about wishing ill upon people and how you would think twice about wishing ill on a person now. To be honest, this episode was an eye opener for me as well, and I agree with you when you say the episode gives parallel to how our society is today. When reading your blog post, I was able to understand and relate to it because you put how I felt into words that I wouldn’t have been able to describe. Great job on a wonderful blog post!
I agree with you. At first I thought Skillane was kidnapped until the end. Even though she was partially guilty for killing the girl, she really didn't. She assisted her fiance; he did most of the work, but at the same time, her filming the incident did not make things better for her. I feel as if her punishment should have been more sincere. The punishment she had was not just in my opinion. Torturing someone neurologically is dangerous. I was feeling the same way you felt about the episode as well.
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