Final - Men Against Fire

Shanie Liao

Rosetta Brooks

Critical Practice 1

April 6, 2017

Monster or Human

Who and what decides right from wrong?  What determines the value of a human life?  Can inhumanity and cruelty be justified in the name of a better world? With the majority of the country living peaceful lives, seeing concepts of twisted morals and realities can come as a shock and raise questions. The Black Mirror episode Men Against Fire presents us with a tale that questions the morals of society and the military in a near future scenario. The plot of the episode shows that while the MASS technology is extremely effective, it sends the soldiers into a world of “ignorance is bliss” which rewrites the soldiers’ perception of reality to help them carry out what would be considered inhumane orders. It’s a thought-provoking parable about the military’s role in genocide and the difficulty of maintaining humanistic empathy in the face of dehumanizing technology.

Does the concept of a greater good justify genocide? Men Against Fire reveals a shocking truth of what the supposedly hostile and grotesque creatures called roaches really were: humans that were genetically more susceptible to disease and birth defects. The soldiers were sent on missions to eliminate the supposedly malicious roaches that were causing trouble in local villages. However, we see that to the soldiers, killing roaches was treated more as a sport; furthermore, they were rewarded with pleasing erotic dreams for “popping” roaches. The soldiers have a MASS technology installed in them that warps their perception of reality to view the roaches as hideous humanoid creatures, which as a result allows them to see and kill the roaches as monsters rather than humans. The main character Stripe follows the same mindset of roach hunting, until his MASS technology gets hijacked and he is able to see the roaches true form. He tries to protect them when he finally realizes, but is unable to save the roaches that began explaining the reason for their ordered annihilation. In the end, he is forced to make the choice of returning to the field with his memories wiped and his MASS fixed, or to live with replays of him murdering roaches without MASS and forced to see the faces and screams of those whom he killed. As much as his personal morals wanted to fight against the system and slaughter of roaches, the reality of the situation broke his mind and spirit and he couldn’t face what he had done.

Mass murder, genocide, segregation, and so many other violations of human rights occur in the real world.  These problems are not simply dystopian thought experiments.  The director of Black Mirror doesn't implicate these themes into the show without reason; these issues are, and for a very long time have been, most definitely real.  Throughout history, examples such as the Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Dzungar Massacre, the Haiti Massacre, Native Americans and the Europeans, the Japanese Internment Camps, and even the Bible prove the existence of such gruesome concepts. Simply for being a certain race or having a certain genetic makeup, groups of people have been condemned, mistreated, stripped of their rights, and often slaughtered. As immoral and unfair as these actions sound, such similar hate crimes have continued to be seen in our current day world. None of these mass discriminatory events would have been successful if the leaders didn’t have enough people following the same belief, indicating that something about alienating a whole group of people was appealing. It’s easy to put the blame on a group of people and follow along the belief that eradicating them would bring a better or safer world. In the case of Men Against Fire, the roaches were dehumanized and killed off in the name of a better future for the human race, simply for their genetic makeup rather than any action they have done individually or as a group. When Stripe is finally able to see the roaches as what they are and communicate with them, his views flip 180 as he tries to defend them and refuses to kill them. He is unable to see the cruelty of the genocide until his eyes are opened to the fact that roaches are in fact not mutated monsters trying to survive, but rather genetically discriminated humans who have been forsaken by the government. For Stripe, the killing of roaches was not twisted until he was forced to see them as humans, but for people like those in the government, they knew the truth and yet believed that getting rid of roaches was for a greater good. While scientifically it was arguably true, they did not share the just and humane morals that caused Stripe to fight back. As with previously stated historical genocides, the belief of a group of people better off gone can overpower morals and human rights in a twist of cruel discrimination.

One of humans’ most defining traits are their various distinct emotions.  Revenge is undoubtedly a heavily impactful emotion.  Revenge and hatred demonstrate humans’ capability to inflict grievous wounds and massive destruction on the rest of humankind.  After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a large number of Americans supported the creation of Japanese Internment camps.  Why?  Because the “dirty japs” bombed them and killed their fathers, uncles, and sons that were deployed at Pearl Harbor.  Does emotional trauma justify condemning an entire race?  Well, no.  In the same way that it's inappropriate for a child to throw a tantrum when they don't receive what they want, or that a rape victim is not at fault for getting raped, there is no excuse for hurting other people.  Even when mom will not buy you that toy, or when she rejects the drink offer for the fifth time, there is no logical reasoning behind hurting the person that contests you. Regardless of the strong emotions that may affect morals and thoughts, it doesn’t justify the discrimination and harm inflicted upon other people.

The Black Mirror episode Men Against Fire is a display of cruel mass genocide against a group of people who are outcast due to their genetic makeup. While the government attempts to explain the killings as a cause in the name of a healthier human genome, there is no reason, selfish or emotional, that can justify the discrimination and cruelty against a group of people for what they’re born as. Unfortunately, these problems are still prevalent in today’s society. A vast amount of people are fortunate enough to only have heard stories of mass genocide. For the others who directly witness or experience such cruelties, life is never the same for them.  However, as a society we must encourage each other to think about the other side; each has its own perspective and opinion, but we can’t let strong opinions directly and negatively affect groups of people.