White Bear

Last week in class, we watched the short film White Bear and to be honest, it was one of the more disturbing/confusing things I’ve seen in awhile. While I do agree that what the woman and her significant other did was wrong, is she really learning her lesson by going through the same thing everyday yet not remembering any of it? I think making her go through it all at once and then letting her sit alone in a cell and maybe showing her on video over and over again would be more tortuous than erasing her memory and doing it all again. What she did was wrong there is no denying that at all. She deserves everything that she was put through if not more. While it may be just I do not think that it was morally right. However, neither was kidnapping and killing an innocent little child, even worse was that she recorded it all happening and did nothing to stop it. If you live by the motto, “treat others how you want to be treated” then yes, it definitely is fair and just in all aspects of that. Yet, that is not the kind of society or government we live in. Everyone is expected an equal trial and a fair/just punishment for their actions. But that is not the case and I think that is what the film was trying to depict. Not everyone has a fair trial, it is often corrupted by false evidence or even from the biasness of the judge or even the jury for that matter. Even though they go through the jury “thoroughly” and try to prevent that from happening, people still aren’t one hundred percent honest even in the court of law. I am interested to discuss in class what other people think about this film and the real life justice system.

Pointless Punishment

The “White Bear” short film brings up an interesting discussion on justice.  It is easy to accept that in a land governed by laws and protected by military and police some people will break those laws and disturb the peace.  Often the discussion centers on the topic of what should or shouldn’t be criminalized.  For example, in class just a couple weeks ago we spent an entire class talking about the concept of over-criminalization and the role cops play in society. 

            This post will take a turn from the parts that lead up to an arrest and will instead focus on the aftermath.  The question I’d like to consider is: What is the ‘just’ way to punish someone for breaking the law.  In my opinion, one of the first responses to this question is that it depends.  Like it or not, I believe that circumstances matter.  Everything classified illegal shouldn’t be punished the same.  The punishment for murder, rape, and treason should vary drastically from actions like fraud, underage smoking, and various other misdemeanors.  In fear of reopening the topic of ‘what is justice’ and rehashing the Greek philosophers, a safe assumption should be that the definition of justice would influence what we thing punishment should be. 

            If punishment is used to teach people to become better members of society, then clearly we're doing it wrong.  Recidivism (the rate at which people end up in jail again) is astronomical and shows an inherent flaw in the system if we're using jail time to teach people to act better.  Another way we might view punishment is that someone who commits a crime deserves to feel the same suffering that the victim went through.  However the problem with this is that some crimes are actually victimless, while that would also justify the death penalty and other brutal forms of punishment.  

            A third option was displayed in the short film we watched in class.  This movie displayed a form of punishment that said someone should suffer in a way similar or even beyond the crime they committed.  One of the scariest lines in the film was when it was said that death wasn't punishment enough.  Instead, the people running the 'camp' put the person through a torturous day of fear and pain over and over again so she could feel the pain she caused.  

           As stated earlier there are a lot of ways to use punishment.  I for one think the 'White Bear' method is completely unwarranted.  To wipe someone's memory and then put them through a situation like that only adds more injustice.  Yes, what she and her boyfriend did to the kid was terrible, but if it was unethical to do that to the kid how is it ethical to do it to her?  Ethics shouldn't change and punishment I believe should be used to add to society.  Our jails and legal system needs to stop focusing on punitive punishment and instead try and find a way to help these people improve their lives.  These people aren't soulless criminals who want to do nothing except break the law.  No, they're more often than not people who have fallen off and feel they have no other choice in life.  Punishment needs to be a balance making people realize actions have consequences but also that hope and forgiveness are real. 

White Bear

Last week we watched the short film “White Bear.” A woman is forced to relive a horrific day over and over again in which she is tortured. Her memory is erased so each day is a new horror. She is supposedly being dealt justice for torturing a little girl. The immediate reaction (I hope) is that people would say “this is wrong.” Clearly this is no way to deal justice. We scoff at third world countries who live by “an eye for an eye” and cut off children’s hands for stealing. The continual torture of this woman does not bring the child back, does not remove the parent’s everlasting grief, and does not represent a humane and rational society. To put it mildly, it’s an insane idea. Those in charge of our justice system are not those crazy commenters on Facebook who read about horrific things and then say “do the same thing to them.” Also, if her memory is wiped she is not being taught anything. This is a reason we have such high rates of inmates. We don’t focus on rehabilitating them and correcting their behavior. We just want to lock them away forever. We should evaluate whether or not rehabilitation is a possibility and decide on a course of action from there. Her best option would be a life sentence and perhaps the worst, if she shows no remorse, is the death penalty. We can not give into the actions of the inhumane by acting even less human. Obviously that is no way to keep society progressing and representing a rational people. The actors involved, the woman tortured, and the civilians watching are all being stripped of their humanity as they take part in this. This kind of justice is not justice.

The Morality and Justice of The White Bear

In class last week, we watched a short film entitled “White Bear”.  In it, a woman who kidnapped and murdered a young girl is forever living over and over a day in which she is tortured the same way she did to that little girl.  What was most shocking is that the events of her days were staged by actors in an attempt at justice for her crimes.  The big question being asked is, “is this a moral process for justice”?  I think that this form of punishment may be just, but it most likely is not ethical.  It is just because she is getting exactly what she did to the girl she kidnapped, but it is not ethical because there is just something simply inhumane about making someone go through the same torturous events over and over.  What I found most confusing about this form of punishment is that she doesn’t remember every day of her torture because her memory is wiped of it.  Even though it is cruel to make a human go through that kind of torture, it’s almost useless because she will never learn from it or even remember it for that matter.  Something that also interested me was the fact that everyday civilians were participating in this woman’s torture and humiliation.  It’s sometimes hard to believe that normal people could have the ability to do such terrible things to another person, but this film depicts that maybe we are capable of those kinds of things.  I am curious, however, about the significance of the image on the screens and cell phones. I feel like that was never quite explained. Overall, I really did enjoy the short film.  I really like movies and television shows that have a really good twist at the end and this short film definitely did that. 

Not The Right Move!

The short film, “White Bear” which is part of the series “Black Mirror” is a very disturbing film. A woman is reliving her day over and over to teach her a lesson. The question is, is she really being taught a lesson? Citizens come to White Bear Park to see her and witness her get tortured for what she did in her past. She was forced by her husband to assist in a kidnapping and now she is being punished. She does not happen to know why she is being punished until after she has been tormented. So there is no lesson being learned here, and this is not a just way to solve problems. They can not will the maxim of this action, because if so every single breathing person would be scared to commit any crime or do anything obscured. The right way for them to make her feel bad about what happened was sentence her jail time for the rest of her life. That is a action that can be universal.  

White Bear on 11/23/15

During class on, 11/23/15, our philosophy class watched a video entitled "White Bear." The gist of this video is depicting a woman being mentally attacked daily by the community. They would abuse her and throw food at her, and at the end it was revealed that her and her husband actually abused and killed a little girl. After she realizes what she has done, they wipe her memory completely and do it to her continuously over a course of a time period. The question that arises during class is if the punishment would be considered just or unjust. I personally believe that the punishment was unjust according to the justice system. I never think that is it okay to punish a person in the same way that they have committed that crime. Doing the same thing to the criminal will not teach them that what they did was wrong. Therefore this doesn't grant someone true justice because they never realize the crime that they actually engaged in. The just thing to do is to teach the criminal what they did was wrong and to not allow them any of the freedoms of a human being. They should be put in jail where they can have a moment where they can think about the wrongs that they have done as well as not being allowed the freedoms of a citizen who is innocent. Although the unjust option may seem like a just thing to do for the community because they knew the little girl personally, but rationally it would be more wise to punish someone with their basic human morals.

Is this Just?

Before ending class on Monday you asked the question of did we think what they did to the woman was fair. After thinking I came to the conclusion that it wasn't fair for them to continue to torture her. I understand once as sort of an experiment to show her how her reasoning of being "under someone's control to record a death" was inaccurate, but there comes a point in time where justice can turn you into being an injust person. It is not right to attack a person or even torture them, justice should always be morally right in my eyes. But what I've seen from class discussions we as people can't seem to make a difference from what morality is and what justice is. A person living in a fantasy will state that they both should go hand and hand which is true, especially in the white bear case. Yes what the young lady did was morally wrong and an injustice to society, but that makes all bystanders wrong. We have people every day who will record an injustice happening not for police evidence but for social media views and like, but are those people tortured with a reminder of what they did every day? No but back to the real problem with white bear the people who felt as if she needed to be punished for recording a child's death are the same people who are willing to record and participate in her torture. When trying to create a just society we can not allow one form of "legally" injustice and label another as injustice. Yet we have this problem in real life way too often. The world will never be right if we continue to allow certain injustices in the name of the law.

The Shocking Documentary: White Bear

This past week we watched a documentary called "White Bear". While watching the short film, I had no idea what to think or how to feel. I couldn't understand why these people were acting this way. In the film, a girl wakes up in a house. She has no idea if she actually lives in the house or not. She sees this symbol on the television that causes some flashes of her memory. She also finds a picture of a little girl which also causes memory flashes. She runs outside to catch her bearings and finds people videoing her. My first thought was, "Why in the world are these people taking pictures? Is somebody on that playground that she's standing in? This girl is about to get attacked by some scary beast!" I was wrong, they were watching her through the screen on their phones. They continued to video as these masked people chased her and tried to kill her. One girl decided to help her. They tried to get away as fast as they could from these masked killers and the people that were just videoing and watching. As the film went on, I could just not figure out why these people wouldn't help. It made no sense to me! However, once it explained everything, I understood. This woman, who had no recollection of who she was or what she had done, was a murderer. She may have not done the actual killing, but she stood by and watched through the camera on her phone as her fiancé killed the little girl that she found the picture of. They were showing this woman what she'd done the way she'd done it to the little girl. She in no way helped the child, just like the people videoing her while she was being chased. The really disturbing thing though, is that these people were using it as a form of entertainment. They hadn't just done it to this girl once, but many, many times. They would electrocute her and make her forget everything and start all over again. They had turned it into a play of sorts. They even had people come and learn what to do. This just goes to show that, our society today, does everything through our phones. People don't help each other anymore. We watch and hide behind a small screen. Now, the question that is burning in all of our minds, is this really just? In the minds of the people torturing this woman, yes. They believe what they're doing is perfectly justifiable because that little girl lost her life when she never deserved to. In some cases, I can agree, but doing it over and over? This woman doesn't learn anything, because she just keeps forgetting it all over again. Now, another question, is it moral? In my opinion, I say HELL no. This woman isn't able to live her life the way it was intended. These people have now taken control of it. They are trying to play God and that's never moral. To me, those people should have done it once, maybe twice, and then put her in jail for the rest of her life. She would have been stuck thinking about what she'd done forever after that.

White Bear

The video that we watched on Monday was very unclear at first, but at the same time very disturbing.  White Bear showed a woman get tortured mentally and somewhat physically while spectators looked on and watched.  At first, I was not sure what was going on.  I thought that the movie was very odd and off putting, that's for sure!  However, as the movie continued to go on, we saw why the woman was being put through everything she was dealing with.  She had done the same things to children!  The movie shows the woman being forced to learn about what she had done, but as soon as the torturing was over and she knew why she was being punished, they wiped her memory.  For this woman, every day is the same thing, but she has no memory of what she did or who she even is every day when she wakes up.  I was very disturbed by this movie, and thought about it almost the entire day.  The question Ms. Johnson asked at the end of class that day was, “Was this moral, and was this just?”  I would have to say no to both of these questions.  First of all, I completely realize that what the woman did to the children was not moral.  However, that does not make doing the same thing to her moral, either.  There are plenty of ways they could have punished her, and this was not the best route to take in my opinion.  I do not think this was just for a few reasons.  Wiping the woman’s memory gives her no reason to go through any of what she experiences.  Having to go through that every day is not just.  If that was the best route to take for her punishment, once would be more than enough.  Lastly, she has no way of making up for what she did because she wakes up every day with no memory.  To cap it off, I want to say thank you to Ms. Johnson for knowing how to start the Monday of Thanksgiving week with a bang!

White Bear

Last week we watched a video titled White Bear. To make a long story short this woman video taped her boyfriend killing a girl they stole, and her punishment was that she was trying to escape everyone that tried to kill her. However, at the end of the video her memory was erased and she had to live the experience again everyday. I do think this is justice in terms for the little girl that died cause of this woman, but is this punishment moral, I think that the action is immoral. Its justice comes from that the woman has to experience the same fear that kid had to face. On the other hand, the unmoral actions come from making a human being suffer every day of their life.

White Bear and Justice

In class Monday, we watched a very interesting and quite disturbing video entitled “White Bear.” The video began with a woman waking up in a room with pills at her feet and a TV displaying a white symbol sitting before her. The woman is confused and is not sure of who she is. Eventually, she leaves the house and sees people watching her but they won’t speak to her at all. Suddenly, a man wearing a mask pulls up in a blue car, pulls a shot gun from the trunk of the car, and aims the gun at her. The most startlingly thing is that the people around the woman just stand and record the whole incident, refusing to help her in any way. Another shocking aspect of the video occurs toward the end in which it is revealed who the woman is: an accomplice to the murder of a little girl. They then display her in a truck where a crowd screams at her and throws food. Eventually she is placed in the same house she left earlier in the video and must watch a recording she took of a little girl her and her former fiancé are responsible for killing until her memory is erased again. Then she has to relive the whole experience.

            By the end, I realized that the community was basically punishing her in a similar way to what she and her fiancé did to the little girl. However, the question was made in class asking “would what those people in the video did to the woman be considered an act of justice?” I can understand why they feel what they were doing was right because they thought the woman would reap what she sowed as closely as possible without having actually killed her. By erasing her memory, wouldn’t punishing her be immoral because she does not know why she is going through the whole ordeal until the very end? Who knows how long she keeps her memory and knows of what she’s done before the cycle must begin all over again? Can it really be considered a punishment if she has no recollection of her misdeeds until the end? What about the people who are bystanders watching what is happening to her? Doesn’t that make them similar to her in some respect because they stood there and did exactly what she did to the little girl? Why spend all this time, energy, and money to do this to her? What is the purpose of this aside from trying punish her? I have so many questions about this video and would not necessarily consider the actions done to the woman a just act because of how she had to go through it over and over again, and it seems fairly similar to what she did to the little girl—which many would agree is unjust.