Am I My Brother's Keeper?

The “White Bear” episode of Black Mirror is about a woman named Victoria who is being continuously tortured and used as a sideshow attraction for the murder of a child. The episode starts off with Victoria waking up confused and scared and searching for clues as to who she is when she finds a picture of a girl that she assumes is her daughter. She wanders out of the house to find people to inquire about her identity and location. When Victoria finds others, they do not help her and instead videotape her as she is being chased by a masked man with the “white bear” symbol. She meets a woman named Jem who helps her escape and they plan to destroy the radio signal controlling the people who record everything. When they get there and destroy some of the machines they are attacked by the controllers and they reveal that Victoria is part of an act. They reveal that Victoria, along with her now deceased fiancé, kidnapped and murdered the girl in the photo and she videotaped the girl burning alive. She is then paraded around the town like a circus animal with people shouting and throwing things at her. Victoria pleads for the organizers to just kill her, but instead they lock her in a room and painfully erase her memory so they could start the show all over again.

In the film, there were two things that stuck out to me. One was the theory regarding crime and punishment as it relates to reformed individuals. Victoria’s memory had to be erased multiple times for her punishment to ensue. One could argue that because her memory was erased that she is not the same person who participated in the killing of the child. However, if you abide by this theory then she should not have to endure the multiple punishments that are attributed to her in the film. She should only have to endure it once and then be absolved from the murder of the child. But at the same time one must think about the parents of the child. How do these multiple punishments affect them, having to relive the death of their daughter repeatedly? It is as if they are being punished as well as Victoria.

The other was how it is commonplace for inhumanity to be captured with a camera, both towards others and oneself. When there is a fight or argument that takes place, it is routine to see people film the altercation rather than stop it. It is a wonder if this practice were to still occur if the individuals filming were also charged with a crime for not assisting a fellow human in need. This same argument can be made for people who view suicides on Facebook Live. Should they be charged for not alerting authorities to intervene in a difficult moment in a person’s life. These are not easy questions to answer, however because these situations are even questions in the first place shows how society has degenerated and the need for change is prevalent.

Red Rover, Red Rover, Send Victoria Over

In Black Mirror's "White Bear," the line between justice and entertainment becomes blurred, as the actors of White Bear Justice Park profit of off the "criminal."

In “White Bear” the guilty party is punished in an unconventional way and every aspect of her punishment is meant to mirror the crime committed. This is because the actors and participants are trying to place Victoria in the shoes of her victim. For instance, Victoria herself is meant to represent the little girl, as her memory is artificially reset each day, making her innocent in a way; she is forced to wonder why she has to endure such hell when she wakes up, what she has done to deserve it, and why no one is helping her. The audience represents Victoria, not the Victoria we see in the episode, but Victoria who filmed and acted as an accomplice to the crime, claiming that she was under her boyfriend’s spell. The mentally incapacitating signal represents Victoria’s dead boyfriend, who, as Victoria says, entranced her and encouraged her to film such a heinous crime. Because Victoria’s boyfriend hangs himself before being put on trial, all of the blame for the little girl’s death falls on Victoria.

Leaving out the crime in the beginning of the episode allows the viewers to sympathize with Victoria, painting her solely as a victim, rather than a criminal as well. Though I disagree with the crime that she helped commit, and though I think that a punishment of some sort was appropriate, I find it disturbing that the participants of this simulation walked in with the impression that she deserved to be physically and mentally tortured every day for a crime that she did not even remember committing. The rules of this “park,” revealed at the episode’s end, are also disturbing, one in particular which instructed the audience to enjoy themselves, which is odd considering that the entire purpose of a park is to have fun; I find this rule to be disturbing because it implies that any feelings towards Victoria’s punishment other than joy, relief, or others along those lines are taboo and out of place and that to reject this extreme punishment is to advocate for a pardon of her actions to an extent.

   

My problem with this episode is that I never saw any substantial evidence that the claims made against Victoria’s character are true, but instead they are made and perpetuated by people who were not initially involved with the crime. The tourists in the justice park are much like a jury, who rely on a set of facts given to them to form their own opinions of a given situation. Not to mention that the guilty party is having her memory wiped clean every day, so she does not even have the opportunity to defend herself or provide the audience with her side of the story because she has zero memory of what happened. I do not find this punishment to be fitting to the crime at all, seeing as how she is not only tortured and publicly humiliated every day until her trial, but also how she still has to be officially sentenced by a judge. Punishments/sentences are meant to rehabilitate, not just humiliate. By forcing Victoria to relive this experience every day, she does not have the opportunity to reflect upon her actions and consider her role in this whole ordeal, nor does she have an opportunity to become a better person, because in her mind she was innocent to begin with. Without her memory, the Victoria being punished in the episode may as well be a different person from the one who had all her faculties, filming and participating in a crime..

The most frightening and disturbing aspect of this episode is how closely it (among others) resembles real life in the west and the way that we profit off of this sort of treatment, ignoring the humanity of others. I suppose that is why the show is titled Black Mirror, because it is supposed to reflect the worst, darkest parts of our society.   

Not the same as Yesterday, Just for Today

The question of right now is can forgiveness ever be a true result of justice? is it ever possible for someone to be forgiven and have justice be served to them coequally ?

In my opinion I honestly believe that if you are to serve someone justice that you have not forgiven them and if you have forgiven them justice has not been served. Think about this scenario in which someone accidently runs over their neighbors dog and kills it. The person starts crying and pleading that it was an accident and that they are sorry. The neighbors are distraught and disgusted but out of mercy decides to forgive them of their actions and not call the police. Has justice been served? Especially considering the fact that many people are in jail behind the accidental killing of a dog?

Justice is just as hard to define as love is. It has a continuity of connotations that allows for it to be misinterpreted at times. As we struggle to understand exactly what the components of justice are we are still forced to impose laws that we believe helps us to shape our beliefs of what the justice system may seem like.

As we all may have heard forgiveness is just a way of cancelling debt. we believe that whenever we forgive someone they are changing the person that they used to be and becoming someone better. we believe that they are "not the same as yesterday". However, we notice many instances of "cancelled debts" that have happened in the justice system depending on the person and the crime. Is it justice? and if so, when are we to dictate whether or not the crime is forgivable?

In the film, White bear, we see a woman who has committed a crime in which she'll never be forgiven for, but is justice actually being served to her?

 

Her form of punishment is for her to relive the crime she committed over and over again while at the same time having her memory swiped...is this torture imposed entertainment or justice?

It almost passed as a form of justice until someone decided to swipe her memory allowing for her to just be a pawn. Is the purpose of punishment not to allow for the person to become aware of the wrong that they have committed and continue to be conscious of it, thus promoting rehabilitation? I honestly believe in this film the lady has honestly become a subject of revenge and revenge in itself because swiping her memory defeats the purpose of the justice system and conflicts any morals the prosecutors and whatever that society may possess.

Is White Bear Considered Justice?

After watching White Bear, I’ve come to the realization that people have misused the word justice. Justice is fair, neutral, and moral. It is not one sided. You would have to figure out what is right or what is wrong in the situation before you could make a just decision. In most cases, when someone does any harm to a child or family member, they would want to seek for revenge to see that person hurt just as bad as the victim have. Depending on the situation, people tend to not think about morality. They would also contradict their original feelings of a subject when it affects them. For instance, you might feel negatively towards a person who has committed a horrendous crime such as murder, but if you have a personal connection with the murderer, then you are likely to be more forgiving than if it was a complete stranger. This would be called acting in favor of the suspect instead of acting in a just way.

In White Bear, I wouldn’t say that what they did to Victoria would be considered as a justifiable punishment because it is neither moral, or rational. Of course they didn’t think about how Victoria would feel because of what she had done. The people were thinking one sided when it came to punishing Victoria. She didn’t actually commit the crime, but she recorded it and that is just as bad as committing the crime according to others because she could have stopped it from happening. It was right to punish her, but being torturing her would be worse than punishing her. A person who believes in morality wouldn’t want to torture another human being because they know that it’s wrong no matter what the person had done. In this case, Victoria didn’t know what she had done. Everyday, they erased her memory. Before they would erase her memory, she would state that she wanted to die, but they still forced her to endure torture which is also not just. How could this be called justice? When you take every detail of the episode and think about it, it can be concluded that this scenario is called revenge, not justice. A just person would look at the whole situation and consider how it would affect both sides. I believe that Victoria shouldn’t have been tortured not only because it wasn’t just, but also because she wasn’t aware of the actions that she took part in.

The meaning of "Torture"

Torture in its worldwide sense is to inflict severe pain onto someone, whether physically or mentally. So much that it could be consider inhumane. But yet, there are some cases were people think its ok to torture someone, whether its personal, for the greater good, or humorous. Logically in essence everyone could be consider inhumane. For, anybody could be ready to do harm to someone for what they believe in. In hen sight, I think its way deeper than that; if deep inside anyone could torture why isn't  illegal. In this moment I could say torture could be applied universally. A prime example of this is "White Bear" an example from the "Black Mirror"  series in which everyone was literally involve in torturing this one woman(psychologically) for a horrific crime she committed, this woman was filming a little girl being horrible tortured by her lover.  I would think that they thought they was doing the right thing in their mind. But, any sane person who was watching would say what they was doing was wrong and also say it was justified though. So my question is how could that be. For someone to say it is justiciable to torture someone, yet its inhumane to torture someone. Humans are to selfish we act in what's best for us and that's also how we think. Morals is a person's standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. Key words "a person's standards of behavior or belief". We flip flop for what's in our best interest. I seen this happen in class were at the being of the film everyone was on this woman side and cared for her, but I soon as they find out why they was doing this to her they flip. It could be because they wanted to feel human or feel that they have values.


But if that was the case the class should have said "both parties was acting inhumane" for its not right to torture in any case. Right?


Thinking broadly I say torture is not an illegal act its just consider one for everyone can feel better about themselves. It allows a sense of peace with oneself along if some other laws. In my mind torture is not a justiciable act for anything it just puts the one being tortured in a immense amount of pain and takes away a little of the person or people doing the torturing.

Just[ice] a Laugh

In this week’s episode of Black Mirror, White Bear, I cannot help but be frustrated and confused as to why I have not fully processed what I watched. What I mean by that is, after watching it, I was unsure whether or not I would call what the episode portrays as “justice.” According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, justice is defined as a “just behavior or treatment.” Although the main character, Victoria, is a witness to the death of the little girl in the video, people do not stand with her. Instead, they give justice to what happened to the little girl by giving Victoria the same treatment. With the treatment, they wipe her memory and make her feel helpless while someone chases and hunts her down to kill her. However, she doesn’t get killed. She lives. She lives and she forgets. The treatment she has is all an act and entertainment for a crowd, and everyone is in on the act except Victoria. 

For me, I understand and see why the treatment Victoria receives is considered justice, but I still have an uneasy feeling when it comes to knowing her memory is wiped and people are watching it for entertainment. In addition to this, she has to constantly repeat what the little girl went through. When reaching the end of the episode, I did not feel it was justice. In the beginning, I felt sorry for her, but when the episode revealed what she did, I did not feel much sorrow until they wiped her memory again. Also, when she said, “Just kill me now,” it made me feel for her. When realizing she goes through this every day, it felt like torture rather than justice. She is not only tortured through the memory wiping, but there are onlookers and bystanders who feed into her torture by not helping her. Instead, they are there filming her, laughing at her, or standing there doing nothing for help. Her treatment is no longer a fight for justice, but it has been translated into punishment. I could not imagine having to relive a mistake I did every single day, only to forget it before the end of the day. I could not begin to imagine people who choose not to help me when I need it. What she goes through is torture, and she is helpless to it. Whether or not one believes she deserves it or not, she is still a human being capable of emotions—even if she did make a mistake—I believe she does not need to be put through the torture and reliving her mistake every day and forgetting what she did. The constant torture every day does not need to benefit and please a crowd if they’re only getting a laugh out of it. Here are some pictures I wanted to share that are similar to how the onlookers are bystanders to Victoria's pain.

Justice For Whom?

Anyone in their right mind would agree that justice is a justifiable form of just punishment for anyone that is consciously aware of the crime that they have committed. Usually someone who breaks the law is sentenced and incarcerated under federal law and persecution. Included in the Bill of Rights, there is absolutely no justification for cruel and unusual punishment under any given circumstances, no matter what crime is committed. In my opinion, being incarcerated is one of the cruelest punishments anyone can face. Daily facing assaults, whether physically, verbally, or mentally, people who are incarcerated eventually begin to develop symptoms of paranoia and other mental disabilities. Many prison facilities in the United States claim that they do not have the necessary finances to properly run the prison, which leads to poor living conditions and limited medical attention. With this known fact, being incarcerated is enough to drive any normal sane person crazy.

In the episode, “White Bear” from the Black Mirror series, a woman by the name of Victoria was convicted, along with her fiancé, of murder in her role of the kidnapping, murder and torture of an innocent child. While her fiancé evaded justice by unfortunately committing suicide in jail, Victoria sadly became the brunt of the cruel and unusual punishment that lied ahead of her. No, she did not physically harm the child but she recorded the incident instead of intervening. Yes, her involvement in the child’s murder was wrong, however, you must also take into the consideration the pre-existing factors of her detrimental relationship with her fiancé. Claiming that she was “under his spell,” there could have been many factors that caused Victoria not to stand up to him and go along with his actions in fear of her own safety. Taking matters into their own hands, local citizens placed Victoria in a “justice” park where people willing paid, traveled, and participated in the ongoing torture of an “innocent” woman. “Justice” meaning the acceptable amount of torture and humiliation that could eventually cause a psychotic breakdown. “Innocent” meaning that she has no recollection of the crime she has committed due to the fact that her memory is erased on a daily basis.

The onlookers depicted in the episode were no better than Victoria during the time of the child’s murder. In comparison, today’s society many resort to their cell phone to record potentially dangerous situations instead of intervening. Who decided that this was fair punishment? What form of government would allow this kind of justice to be served?

How many times have you seen that someone committed a crime and thought "they deserve the same thing"? Whether it was Casey Anthony or Brock Turner or anyone in between, we've all heard people have extremely harsh reactions to those who commit heinous crimes. However, this is simply a misconstrued idea of fairness. "Fair" is defined as "in accordance with the rules or standards" and the cruel and unusual punishment we witnessed in White Bear is definitely not in accordance with the rules or standards set in the United States, or in Europe. "[A]rticle 3 of the European convention on human rights, now part of our law by virtue of the Human Rights Act. . . states: 'No one shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.'" In our anger and disgust with criminals, it's easy to let ourselves think that they should get what they gave out, but letting our minds stoop to their level doesn't make us better people. Thinking badly of others, even if they are bad people, does nothing to strengthen our character; it only allows for negativity and hate to come into our lives. Watching White Bear, I couldn't help but think that if we all know that what Victoria Skillane did was wrong, why would anyone think it's okay to do it back to her? Just because Victoria may be a terrible person and just because she has done absolutely terrible things, it doesn't mean that she should undergo the torture and confusion and hurt that Jemima underwent. Regardless of who it was happening to, it all seemed to be wrong. 

In addition to this kind of punishment being unfair because of the laws against it, we have to decide if this kind of punishment is unfair because of the circumstances surrounding Victoria Skillane's involvement with the kidnapping and murder of young Jemima. Toward the end of the episode, while Victoria is being told who she is and what is happening, Baxter mentions that Victoria claimed to have been "under the spell" of her fiance, Iain Rannoch. Because we, as viewers, are unsure of the nature of relationship between Iain and Victoria, we can't say that this is untrue. It is impossible for us to say that Victoria was lying about this. Iain could have been abusive toward Victoria, Victoria could have been mentally unstable, Iain could have convinced her that they were doing something good, Iain could have been threatening her or someone she loved if she didn't comply; there are plenty of possibilities for why she said she was "under his spell" and what that meant as far as her going along with what he was doing. If this is the case, and she was coerced into this life of crime with Iain Rannoch, then it is hard to hold her accountable for the crimes. It is difficult for me to figure out where I stand on the situation we saw in White Bear because I don't feel like I know all of the facts of Victoria's life, her relationship with Iain, or the way the justice system worked in this episode.

The Punishment

White Bear, a disturbing episode from the series Black Mirror, advocates justice for criminal actions. In my opinion, White Bear shows that criminals should endure extreme punishments as consequences for their actions. Victoria, the main character, serves as an accomplice to a grueling murder of a kidnapped little girl. Specifically, she videotapes the act that is carried out by her fiance. Her penalty is to relive that experience daily. Throughout her punishment, people are watching and actors appear to be helping, but are part of the torture. Victoria is disoriented and confused because her memory is erased every day. This is done in order that she never forgets her participation in this heinous crime.

Initially, there aren't any explanation for Victoria's confused state. The picture begins awakening and she is not familiar with her surroundings. Later, she finds a picture of the kidnapped girl and sparks her memory. As a result, I became sympathetic to her situation. The film gave the impression that she is the victim and was affected by a terrible event. Yet, it turns out that Victoria is the perpetrator and not the victim as believed. Even though she suffers, I believe that this punishment exceeds humane treatment. I feel that the crime did not justify the type of punishment that she had to endure. This punishment had no meaning. She constantly experiences torture as if it's the first time, but she has no recollection of her actions which makes it a senseless and indifferent act.

Considering that we are human, no one has the inherent right to make the remainder of someone's life miserable. However, I do believe that there should be consequences for one's actions. Since society dictates that we are governed by rules, regulations, and laws, it's imperative that we abide by those guidelines. Without those laws in place, our world would be more barbaric than Victoria's. I personally wouldn't want to live or experience such an environment.

Altogether, White Bear makes one consider the true meanings of justice and injustice. Victoria's situation as a whole is an eye opener because of the cruel and unjust punishment. Since we live in a male dominated society, I question if Victoria's punishment would have been different if her fiance had survived? Would he have been charged with first degree murder? And Victoria charged as an accessory? Would her circumstances be lesser or greater? The final judgement lies inthe realm of our Creator.

A Lot of Questions

   

    What is required to be a person? Most would answer generic answers like 'a flesh body' or 'life experiences' or even 'a sense of style.' However one chooses to define a person, there is always an argument to discredit any particular viewpoint.The brain is a complex system within itself, and that makes human beings that much more complex. There are all kinds of scientific evidence that encompass the makings of one's cerebrum. A popular consensus agrees that people must have a sort of consciousness that truly develops life. However, that consciousness can be lost and even invented. That begs the question, are you the same person if you cannot remember. "White Bear" is an episode of Black Mirror that addresses that question in a very disturbing manner.

    To summarize the episode, Victoria and her fiancé, Eric, abducted a young girl and tortured her while keeping video recordings of all the abuse. Eric, the primary offender, eventually killed her by lighting the young girl's body on fire. Once the law had caught up to the duo, Eric evaded judicial proceedings by killing himself in jail. The community, enraged, decided Victoria's punishment should reflect the heinousness of the crime with which she partook. They took her to this facility that reminded me of a Disney Torture Kingdom™. In the park, they've created a strange world that operates on the following premise: There is a symbol that has turned humans into documenting onlookers that follow the protagonist/antagonist Victoria, dangerous killers willing to do anything, even murder, for the cameras, and indifferent and scared civilians. The actors run around pretending to want to kill her and anyone else that doesn't act like an assassin or recording robot. Victoria has woken up every day with absolutely no recollection of the day before. The controllers of the fictional world are dedicated actors (Jem, Damien, and Baxter) that feel some sort of sick satisfaction with torturing a woman who does not even remember her own name, much less any crime she has committed, all under the guise of 'justice.'

   
    What is Justice? The very first question philosophers ask philosophy students is still one that gets increasingly hard to answer as the course goes on. Black Mirror is a series that has really provoked a confusion into the matters of right and wrong. I cannot for the life of me think of anyone they have portrayed as fully good or bad. The show depicts a life that is not so black and white. We currently live in such a world where the lines of right and wrong lines blur. A person can feel very strongly about a certain stance or another, and do the exact opposite in a sort of state of exception. In "White Bear" the stance the public detest is torture is wrong. That, however, didn't stop the formation of a theme park that sells sadism with a smile. People are layered. Our morals are layered. This series, particularly this episode, leave me with several questions I'll be thinking about for a lifetime that very well may go unanswered. Is justice real? Is it a tool of the powerful to prey on the weak of heart and mind? Are there cases that are solved in absolute justice? The only thing I truly know for sure is I'll never stop questioning acts of justice, retribution, and morality.

Who Is She, Really?

In White Bear, Victoria has been going through this torture everyday for the past three weeks. The only problem is she has no idea who she is or why she’s going through everything that she’s going through. We watch her as she goes through and we have a natural sympathy for her because we don’t understand why she’s having to go through all of this. We feel for her and it kept us on edge because we wanted to know and understand why she was going through. When watching the film, I sympathized with her because I thought that she was completely lost. I thought she lost her daughter and her husband. I felt as though she went through something major and was just trying to escape the world by committing suicide. The pills on the floor and the bandages around her wrists suggested to us that she was trying to commit suicide and she honestly thought that she was trying to kill herself also. When she walks around the house, she is confused on where she is. Nothing in this place looks familiar to her. She sees pictures, but isn’t sure of who the people are to her. She walks around and she doesn’t understand why people are after her. Who is she and why is she being tortured? She just wants answers and no one is giving her any answer. She “befriends” someone who she feels that understands the torture she’s going through, but she still has no answer on who she is and why she’s going through the things that she is going through. She carries a picture of a little girl, who she thinks is her daughter, because she wants to find her. Where is her daughter? Where is her family? Who is she and why is she going through this? That answer seemed so unclear in the beginning, but as the story goes on we receive those answers. The little girl was not her daughter. She was actually the little girl that Victoria and her fiancé abducted and then killed. When we found out that she helped torture and kill this innocent child, our sympathy for her went away. The plot twist actually shocked most of us. When we learned who she was, our sympathy moved away from Victoria, but to the littler girl and her family. But the question still remains, is Victoria still the person who committed the crime? They erase her memory and she is going through the same thing everyday, but only once. So, is she the same person who committed the crime? Is she the same person experiencing the torture everyday? Who is she, really?

Was Justice Served?

At the beginning, I thought that the film was about how society is too in tune with technology to help this poor innocent woman. At the end, it is revealed that the woman is convicted criminal that is being punished. The woman filmed her fiancé torturing and murdering a little girl. The punishment the woman receives for her crime is worse than death. She has her memory erased every night, wakes up not knowing who she is, gets chased by people who seem to be trying to kill her, finds out who she really is and is forced to do it over and over again. Is this justice? Well, yes and no. The first time it is done it is justice, because she feels what the little girl must have felt and is remorseful. However, the next fifteen or so times are no longer justice but torture. The woman is not learning a lesson by constantly having her memory erased. She is an innocent person unaware of why she is doing what she is doing. The remorse that she feels when her identity is revealed to her is wiped away once they erase her memory. If the true purpose of the park was to make her sorry for her crime, then erasing her memory is defeating the purpose. I think that the woman and her fiancé’s case drew so much attention that the park was made to profit off of the popularity of the case. People came from far and near to participate in the show, and torture the woman. The park is far crueler than being hanged, the electric chair, or lethal injection. At least with those other punishments, the person only has to experience it once. This woman has to experience psychological torture every day for being a bystander. Yes, she was wrong for filming the crime, instead of trying to stop it, but not even the worst criminal on earth deserves the torture the woman is put through. No one knows what was going on in her and her fiancé’s relationship, and honestly no one cares. That’s just not human nature to think about what goes on in someone’s home that might cause them to act in certain ways. Even after I found out what she did, I felt bad for her, and wanted someone to help her. I think that the people and owners of the park allowed their personal feeling to cloud their judgement of what true justice is.           

Justice? Is it really what we perceive it to be?

Based on the discussion we had in class, there were many questions that came up about the video and what we actually do in our society. Some of the questions were, Are people with mental health issues obligated to be punished for crimes that they commit?; Is is morally right to torture someone?; Do we believe that our justice system rehabilitates or tortures those who are incarcerated/hospitalized?; Is the same person being tortured, the same person that committed the crime? Is there a crime that could take away your rights to humanity?

These are just a few questions that came about and in my opinion it was very difficult to come up with answers to just these few questions. You have to really think about a lot of different variables that play a part in these situations. For example, in the video the woman was brain washed everyday and couldn't remember what had happened but continuously relived it. The question then was, Is she the same person that originally committed the crime? My opinion is that she would've been the same person had they not erased her memory on a daily basis.

Another question that came up was, Is there a crime where you forfeit your rights to humanity? My answer to this question is that if you commit any crime you are forfeiting your rights as a human period. Being incarcerated or hospitalized is a form of slavery in my opinion. You have to answer to someone else in authority of you. This means that you are not free to make your own decisions or do what you want like a normal human would. But you would be the reason why your basic human rights have been stripped from you and you wouldn't be able to fault anyone else.

Also in class, Dr. J asked if we thought that our justice system really cared about helping society by incarcerating or hospitalizing criminals? (it was something to that extent) I strongly feel that our justice system does not genuinely care about whether or not someone is mentally healthy or if they learned their lesson, but they are mostly concerned about making quotas and keeping the money flowing in. You have so many people who have gone through a period in their life where they have been in jail for either a small crime (public indecency) or a big crime (murder) and spend their time in jail but never feel any remorse or guilty and come right back to society and do the same thing over again or maybe worse than before, so you then have to ask, What was the purpose in sending them away?

All in all class has been very interesting lately and weird all at the same time, but I think it's pretty great that we can sit and have civilized discussion about these things, giving everyone the opportunity to voice their opinions.

Thanks For the Memories!

       She did commit a horrible crime, the act of watching someone do something heinous and refusing to even attempt to stop them. However, their ends of punishment did not match the means. They wiped her memory and essentially made her into a completely innocent person every time she woke up. With no memories of past events and being under the assumption that she had a family that was most likely dead, she was a completely different "person" from the woman who committed the crime. I feel as though the punishment would have been more pertinent if they gave her the memory of  what she did. However, That is all she knows for sure and everything else is just a blur, then continue with the traumatizing scenario as they originally planned it.

        I can't help but think how fitting the punishment was for 1 reason. When she got angry at the onlookers for just staring and not helping is most likely how that little girl felt. The little girls line of thought was likely " Why isn't she helping me? I'm yelling and crying in pain but you won't put the camera down to stop him."

          After watching white bear I don't completely disagree with the movies basis. You do a grotesque blood curdling act and I make a little Hell on Earth for to you ensure you know how that felt for the victim. I feel like this would also be a giant fear factor to people who were planning to do something morally horrid, thus giving them a huge reason not to commit the crime. While, It is hard to explain why you shouldn't do something for moral reason, it is easy to comprehend fear and decide your actions accordingly. In their world I feel as though they must have had more parks. Since this form of torture became entertaining for them they will inevitably get bored with watching the same show, just like how regular people get bored watching the same tv show over and over. People will lose interest and demand another sacrifice in their supposed game of  justice. Furthermore, the toy they've found in that woman will eventually break causing them to go on the hunt for another spectacle.

     The part that made the movie all the more gruesome was when they showed they'd been making her relive the same day for 3 weeks. Sure the first 3 days, but after that it became a spectacle and not justice. When they invite others to the park and make it a "fun" experience for visitors it ends justice for the little girl and begins entertainment for the people who view it.

      

"I'm really confused now"

When I first watched "White Bear," I was taken back. I couldn't believe what I saw, that no one was willing to help a woman who doesn't know who she is, what is going on and doesn't understand what has happened to almost everyone she sees. Once we are shown the twist, my perspective was changed three times from one of sympathy, to one that I felt Victoria was getting what she deserved, back to a lesser version of sympathy. If we, as humans, we're to live in a world where more severe crimes were treated as an eye for an eye, then I believe that we would live in a pretty awful world. In America, we only have one punishment, the death penalty, that even remotely mimics what "White Bear" has shown us. Even with this, what I also belive to be a lesser version of what was shown in White Bear, there is such controversy surrounding this particular topic.
If we were to ignore the fact that Victoria has her brains fried, by way of electric shock therapy that erases the brain's memories to a certain degree, I would feel like what Victoria received was just. However, when we take into account that this horrific event happened to Victoria daily, for at least three weeks minimum, and then, again daily, Vitoria has her memories erased, that what is occurring to Victoria is very unjust but it also brings to question the moral factor of "White Bear". Is it morally correct to do this process to Victoria, once, daily, or never? If doing it once is too little but daily is too much then what makes the right amount of times this process should be done to Victoria.  Though, to Victoria this only happens once to her because her memories have been erased. It just so happens that this process is played out every single day for three weeks, though to her it is the first time every single time.

White Bear is a short film that displays a moral dilemma. We, as views, are shown a woman, named Victoria Skillane who wakes up to find she is surrounded by pills on the floor and scars or cuts on her wrist. Victoria  then discovers a photo of a little girl named Jemima Sckints, whom Victoria suspects is her daughter. As she roams around the "town" she finds no one but quite people filming and taking photos of everything she does. Then Victoria is hunted down by a gunman. The gunman chases Victoria down to a gas station, all the while people are silently stand around filming. This is where views are introduced to two new characters, one of which "dies" off almost instantly. However, the other character helps, Jem, through the horrors implied that are soon to play out. In the end we are shown the crimes that Victoria has committed. The crimes include helping torture a young girl and standing by idly while filming said torture. We are then told that her fiance was the one who tortured, killed, and burned Jemima. The fiance committed suicide in jail while awaiting the hearing for the punishment of his crimes. However the public felt he got off too easily and that justice was avoided and in turn created a "white bear justice park" which is like an amusement park with a very sick twist.

Justice through Injustice

                When a crime is committed in the United States, our legal system is designed to provide justice to the victims of those crimes.  Our justice system designates appropriate punishments as determined by the trial of the criminal.  The punishments are also handed out in accordance with the constitution which designates no cruel or unusual punishments for the criminals.  In the Black Mirror episode White Bear, the main character and criminal, Victoria, is handed what some may consider both a cruel and unusual punishment.  Victoria is convicted of torturing and killing a young girl named Jemima along with her boyfriend Iain.  The punishment that Victoria is given is to become a part of an amusement park of sorts in which she is tortured every day in the same exact fashion; however her memory is erased at the end of each day and thus has no memory of ever being tortured when she wakes up in the morning.  This form of punishment is not justice.  Justice in this sense as they are trying to deliver it is in the form of an eye for an eye.  Because Victoria tortured Jemima, Victoria was then sentenced to also be tortured.  The way in which Victoria is tortured then, is not an eye for an eye because Victoria is tortured continuously day after day.  Jemima was tortured only once.  The fact that Victoria does not remember being tortured does not take away the physical trauma and stress that her body experiences every day due to the proceedings.  In that sense then, the punishment is not equal to the crime. It is excessive at least as a punishment due to the torture of Jemima.  The killing of Jemima then would justify the death penalty for Victoria.  Thus an appropriate punishment for Victoria would be to be tortured for the time that Jemima was tortured, and then to be put to death.  This punishment could be appropriately called and eye for an eye. 

                A key aspect about the crime that Victoria committed however is that Victoria only filmed the crime being committed.  This raises the question of whether punishing Victoria in the way that she is, is really justifiable.  I don’t think that Victoria is handed down the appropriate punishment for her crime.  Had she herself taken part in the torturing of Jemima then the punishment would be appropriate; however, as the crime is described in the episode, her punishment does not fit her crime.  The fact that she made the case that she was coerced to partake in the crime by her boyfriend seemed to have almost no significance in the punishment.  This form of justice system could potentially get out of hand very quickly and may be punishing people in a way that is disproportionate to the crime they committed.         

Is it really justice?

What is justice? How is it really served? What is cruel and unusual punishment? In the society that we live in, we are "protected" by the Constitution. One of our many rights is that we are protected from cruel and unusual punishment. It is easier said than done. Many people actually face cruel and unusual punishment. Why? Because what one calls cruel and unusual may not necessarily cruel and unusual to the next person. For example, the electric chair and lethal injections are both cruel punishments. However, it is still practiced. So how is it fair? How can we be protected in a country that violates our "guaranteed" rights? An eye for an eye, for example, is not fair. In fact, it is hypocritical. I think that sentencing somebody to death row is not right. Killing somebody because of their crime does not make it fair. Honestly, it makes the person that kills the criminal a murderer as well.
Just like Victoria, we live in the same society. I do not think that her punishment was fair. I do believe that it was indeed cruel punishment. Victoria was not aware of what happened. Her memory was wiped clean. She gained sympathy from me when she woke up so confused. She seemed so helpless and afraid. Instantly, I wanted to help her find safety. Not to mention, I later found out that she was under her fiance's spell during the murder. The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe she was in a domestic violent relationship. Maybe he made her record it. If she was in her right mind, she might not have actually done it. We do not know the whole story. What if she was forced to do it?
Honestly, I think that the fair thing to do would have been to would to put her in jail.I feel that she was not the same person that helped murder the child. I do not think that she should have been tortured. It was simply inhumane. Secondly, we do not know the full story of her relationship. Lastly, she was a complete wreck when she saw pictures of the child. I think that she was already mentally regretting helping her fiance with the murder. It was eating her up on the inside. Jail time and rehabilitation would have been better for her in the long run. Consistently torturing her made things worse for her even though she could not remember what happened the time before.

Welcome... To Barbaric Park! *Music Swells*

              Once again, Black Mirror provides much food for thought. The questions offered by this week’s episode, White Bear, are focused on the topic of justice. Specifically, what is justice? What does the future hold for the criminal justice system? And what does justice look like when it has been taken too far? I shall tilt my hand a bit early by giving a brief answer to the third question: it would look a lot like White Bear. 

            Before we can answer whether or not the punishment decided on for Victoria is appropriate, however, we must first establish what the goal is of the criminal justice system. There are many schools of thought on the role of the justice system in an industrialized nation: some believe the purpose of the justice system is to punish wrongdoers for their crimes, others believe it functions only to keep the criminal elements of society away from the law-abiding citizens (Thank you, Criminal Justice 200). The two that have the most traction, however, are the theory that the justice system should strive to rehabilitate its prisoners, and the view that it should serve as a preventative measure by deterring potential misbehavior with the threat of punishment. From this latter viewpoint, I would say that the White Bear park is a rousing success. The thought of potentially being subjected to extended periods of torture for being convicted of a crime would certainly make me stand a little straight a little bit straighter were I a member of this society. Though I can’t imagine an individual being subjected to this experience for being convicted of possession or for speeding in a school zone, it’s certainly easy to imagine those convicted of violent felonies such as assault, murder, rape, or aggravated *blank* getting parks of their own, or potentially replacing Victoria once she’s been fried.
            However, from the perspective that holds the role of the judiciary system is to rehabilitate prisoners and reintroduce them in to society, the park is an absolute dismal failure. Victoria is presented with absolutely no chances to reflect on, regret, or even acknowledge her actions. With this display being an apparently daily occurrence and her memory being wiped each night, she spends the vast majority of her existence completely unaware she has done anything wrong, and without that knowledge it’s impossible to repent for her role in the child’s gruesome fate. Even if it was a one-time event, it is still unlikely that she would have been properly rehabilitated without her memories having been restored. Her entire existence has now been relegated to an outlet for the righteous fury of an outraged community.
            Of course, none of the commentary thus far has even touched on the issue of whether or not Victoria deserves to be punished like this, or if they are even punishing the “right” Victoria. Though scant details of the case are presented, I found it curious that her plea of coercion fell on such apparently utterly deaf ears. History is full of people who did things they did not want to under the instruction of someone of perceived authority. These range from members of cults mindlessly following their leader’s instructions to the atrocities committed by German Nazis in the 1930-40’s. But, ignoring all this and supposing she fully and willfully participated in the crime, this punishment is still inappropriate. Many of my classmates touched on the importance of memories in one’s identity during our discussion of Be Right Back and it is no less relevant here. Much of who we are is dictated by our memories, and without hers Victoria was as innocent of the crime her past self committed as I am.
            In summary, this program of putting a woman’s suffering on display is a complete miscarriage of justice in every facet. Question for those who wish to comment: suppose the purpose of the criminal justice system was not to rehabilitate, but any of the other options presented above. Does this method of punishment become appropriate then? And does it become morally permissible?