I have done a lot of thinking about what happened in the episode “Whitebear” of the series Black Mirror that we watched. A short overview of the episode is that a woman who aided in the torture and murder of a six year old girl is sentenced to a punishment were everyday she is forced to forget her crimes and is tortured in a similar way that she treated the little girl. She is hunted by seemingly deranged killers while bystanders do nothing but film everything that happens. I had never seen an episode of Black Mirror before this episode but I have a friend who watches it. To him what is so disturbing about this show is that although it is not present day, it takes place in a very near future. We’re talking about 20 years or so. That to me is a terrifying concept.
On the debate whether or not the punishment this woman endures is either just or moral, I am pretty conflicted. I think that this episode walks a fine line between what is right and what is wrong. Nobody can say that what the woman did was right by any means, but is her punishment any better? When she begins a new day she doesn't remember anything that happened previously. Is it fair to punish someone, to this degree, who has no memory of what they have done? Of course I believe this woman should be punished for committing such a heinous crime, but at the same time I don’t think that I agree with her punishment. This punishment takes the idea of an eye for and eye to an entirely new extreme. They don’t just administer a punishment that is in accordance with the crime she committed, they go above and beyond what would constitute a reasonable punishment. To me the most disturbing aspect of this episode is not the original crime or even the punishment, as much as it is the joy the actors of the punishment take in getting to be a part of it and to film it.
I think you bring up the most puzzling argument on whether or not it is a just means of punishment and the degree to which they punish; the fact that she does not remember it every single day is interesting, but I took into account the opposite view of how the people who participate see it. While you do bring up the joy that the actors have when they participate and film it, some can say that it is absurd and disturbing would that make them act justly from then on. If they see that people are tortured forever for their crimes would they be inclined to do the same?
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