Justice aint 'just'

This past week we watched the episode 'White Bear' from the TV show Black Mirror. Not only was it suspenseful, entertaining, and disturbing, but it was also thought-provoking. I think this episode touches on two important aspects of human nature and our society. One being that we will never be completely satisfied with our justice system (or any for that matter). Second being that we are becoming desensitized by means of modern social media and technology.

I'll address my first thought on how this episode portrayed how society and human nature will never be satisfied with any justice system. Due to human nature there will always be those who are unjustly or unfairly punished. People who are found guilty might be punished more harshly depending on factors that are seemingly out of their control (like skin color, sexual preference, physical/mental disabilities, and even income to some extent.) There are even some criminals who are completely innocent, yet are on death row. Just because we are human, our very nature is flawed. We have inherent biases, and this will always manifest itself in someway in any justice system. There will always be people who are more oppressed than others. Also, many people view different crimes as less or more severe than others. Consequently, the punishments will vary in degree. So we have a basic idea of what justice is or should be, but because of our flawed human nature we will never able to create a 'perfectly' just society. This is evident in today's culture (despite how 'progressive' our secular society prides itself upon being), as well as in the latest episode we watched. The society in 'White Bear' tried to enact an extreme form of 'eye for an eye'. Even though, we all agreed in class that the crime committed by the couple was horrifying, we also agreed that the punishment was very cruel and unusual.

My second thought on how we are becoming desensitized via social media /technology has already been researched and discussed in many circles. The consensus is that we are becoming detached from each other, and instead being consumed by technology. Consequently, this means that we do not value human relationship and thus our fellow humans as much. Many people can watch a terrorist attack on their smartphone, and forget that people's children, parents, and/or loved ones have just lost their lives. For one reason or another we are always seeking to be stimulated and/or entertained, nowadays. Many people (particularly my millennial generation) have to be doing something like texting, checking twitter, and/or listening to music constantly. I also find it interesting that people are more depressed than ever and mental illness has increased in such a significant amount over the recent years. I personally believe this is due to many people now trying to seek temporary satisfaction from the fleeting pleasures of the world. People try to distract themselves from whatever discontent they feel in their life, by consuming themselves in things like television, video games, and internet. So not only is social media and technology desensitizing us from each other, but also from ourselves.