Black Mirror Wasn't Supposed to be an Instruction Manual

Black Mirror scares the crap out of me. There, I said it.

On paper it’s only a satirical comedy sprinkled with some notes of dark humor. But sitting through an episode or two would actually send your mind an entirely different message.

The grins and giggles are nowhere to be found, and as the minutes transpire, you’ll realize that it’s the goosebumps and bone chills that form the bulk your sensory experience.

It’s not exactly what you’d expect from something that is supposed to make you laugh, but like all unique paradoxes, there’s a mystery lying just beneath the surface waiting to be discovered.

As it turns out, much of Black Mirror’s fictional satire was probably meant as a series of warning calls hidden in a subtle and clever manner.

While the message is disguised in a new type of dystopian art form, the warning calls are often too scary to ignore - And by scary, I meant seriously messed up.

It’s only fiction, you say to yourself. The problem is that reality is sometimes stranger than fiction.

As it turns out, some politicians seemed to have confused those nightmarish warning calls of oppression and dystopia with a model system for the future.

And without even skipping a beat, some governments are already trying to implement some of the craziest premises we’ve seen inBlack Mirror.

It’s scary, I know. It gets even scarier when you remember that it took them decades to take Orwell’s warning shots from 1984 and turn them into Modus Operandi.

That was back then. This time around, a bat in eye is all it takes.

Do you remember the premiere episode “Nosedive” from a few years ago?

If you want to see the little hairs of your arms stand up while a chill goes down your spine, all you have to do is to check out the new the new Chinese Social Credit system and you’re in for a big surprise.

For those who didn’t had the chance to watch the episode in question - an episode that’s really worth its digital weight in gold - it tells the story of a young woman living in futuristic society where all interactions are decided by a social media score.

All your transportation options, all your house rental and buying choices are decided by how you rank in social media.

If you have a good enough score, then you’d have no problem renting cars, buying plane tickets or leasing a home for you and your family.

But if you had a bad social media score, then you could be banned from on-boarding flights, getting on public transportation, renting homes on certain neighborhoods… And the list goes on.

Even your own friends would unfriend you because their score would go down if they remained friends with you.

And of course, you’d get fired from your job if your score was to dip a little.

It’s terrifying, but then again, it’s only fiction.

Or so I thought.

…To Be Continued.

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