White Bear – Post Episode Chatter

I’ve been watching Black Mirror on Netflix of late and find it most thought-provoking as well as disturbing. There are plenty of relatable messages to real life and also what the future might hold. Overall, if the series is new to you, Black Mirror is based on dark possibilities of scenarios in a technologically advanced future. The series prompts a lot of questions that makes for good discussion points as well.
If you intend to watch the series, then this post might have some spoilers. I’m not going to summarize the episode, Wikipedia will do that for you. I’ll just explore the general theme and the questions it prompts me.
Today’s post is to discuss White Bear, the latest episode I watched that I found myself most conflicted about. There are so many shades of gray within these points!

You may not always have the full picture.
Everything that you are hearing and seeing can point towards a conclusion that is entirely different from a conclusion you may draw with just 1 more detail added on. The way the episode is directed is quite intentional to first make you sympathize with the main character without knowing the details behind the entire charade. That’s a good reminder in any situation that you may not always have all the details available to you at any given time. You only have what is in front of you and what you seek to discover.

The act of standing by and not stopping a crime is as bad as the act of the perpetrator.
Everyone has the power to speak up and stand up for something that is not right. Not getting involved can be self-preserving given the danger that it might pose to yourself and that is perhaps alright although we have read of stories of people who put themselves in harm’s way to stop an injustice. However if there is no physical danger to you other than being seen as the party pooper, then you ought to speak up. I think this may be prevalent in a lot of incidents of bullying or even gang rapes, certainly not everyone involved felt the degree the main perpetrator felt that these acts should take place. Would 1 person standing up have caused the others to start questioning what was happening as well?

Crimes asides, this is applicable to any form of injustice. What am I doing to stand up against injustices to the people around me? What’s my moral responsibility to those around me? Is it from the standpoint of having empathy and a strong moral compass? Is it to cultivate a society that cares and “gives a damn” so that in the future, if we are in the unfortunate position, we will receive help from others? What are real life examples of this happening right now? The Pink Tax is one of it. Gender Pay Inequality is another that comes to mind and (3 cheers for Benedict Cumberbatch for using his sizeable platform to be the change he wishes to see!).

Whipping the phone out is the first instinct.
Is it not true that people always reach for their phones to take a video of everything that is happening, particularly the bad? This part rang out so loudly in this episode. Perhaps we should actually put the phones down and try to stop the terrible act from happening? In today’s world, everything good or bad is a picture or a video. We’re saving memories for the future, which isn’t particularly a bad thing I suppose if we remember to live in the moment as well. To make a pop-culture reference, I’m reminded of a John Mayer song called 3×5, where he sings “no more 3x5s” in reference to a picture frame.

The humanitarian element of punishment

Are some crimes so heinous that the criminal ceases to be seen as a living being and it is ok to torture them, an eye for an eye? You see this quite often now on social media where there is a lot of people who voice out what they believe the punishment should be. I’ve read plenty such as “stone him, cut off his genitals, let her be raped”. In fact, some of these punishments still happen in various parts of the world for acts which aren’t even crimes however that is more relevant to the other point about the bystander effect.
Some crimes are truly heinous that my initial instinct can be quite harsh as well. I’ll readily admit that sometimes my initial instinct isn’t the high road or even well thought-out, hence the ‘initial instinct’ remark. That is the reason why we need to have a structure justice system and not the general population taking things into their own hands. Emotions run high with the latter and the punishments meted out may be torturous in nature and may be even more vicious than the actual crime.

The Bystander Effect
Crowd behaviour can silence the initial intent a person may have had. Psychologist call this the bystander effect that is shows that having more people around when a crime takes place doesn’t necessarily mean more people will help. I think this was a term first coined or made most popular with the case of Kitty Genovese if you are inclined to read it, it is very interesting and I’d recommend this article as follow-on reading – We Are All Bystanders. This video from 9 years ago explores various scenarios and the bystander effect that comes with and this video is a more recent social experiment of the bystander effect. Perhaps all it takes is just the one person to step forward and help. The one person to speak up.

What should we do with criminals?
We can probably all agree that criminals should be punished however the method of punishment is up for debate. Criminal law states that punishment has 5 recognizable purposes – deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution.
So rehabilitation is an imperative part of punishment. How best to help a criminal reform. This episodes explores criminals being put up in a ‘park’ with an entrance fees that generate the income to keep the system going whilst doling out the same form of treatment that the criminal inflicted on her victim. I don’t think that would do much for the reform and rehabilitation of the criminal after being put on display. Are jails the best way then, keep the criminals cordoned off from the general public but provide them their daily meals and a place to sleep at night? They even have the company of other cell-mates. Life goes on within the prison walls at no expense to themselves. Japan finds this to be a problem and a burden to the system as there is an increasing number of the population that want to be in prison!

Am I my memories?
The episode explores punishing the main character repeatedly for her crimes however has her memory wiped every day so she isn’t in on the charade. She almost seemed like a person incapable of the horrendous acts she was being punished for, it seemed to me at times. If my memories are wiped, am I then starting afresh and able to have an identity different to what I was before my memory was wiped?

I would love to hear from our readers on their thoughts on the points above and if you did watch this episode, what other points did you think of? I don’t think I have thought about a series as much as Black Mirror makes me think!