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.