Is Jesus on M.T.V.?

"I'm in love with a woman I met online. She's everything I ever wanted! She understands me perfectly. The only problem is, I don't know if she is who she claims to be. I need your help!" This is an example of the types of emails that T.V. hosts Nev and Max might receive for their M.T.V. show "Catfish." Trusting people meet people online, fall in love, and as the show often reveals, later find out the person they fell in love with isn't who he or she claimed to be. While watching a recent episode of Catfish on T.V. it dawned on me that the show operates very much how victim-offender mediations occur using restorative justice practices. Victim-offender mediations (VOMs) are mediated by third-parties who help make sense of the dialogue, keep the conversations on track, and help to guide the discussions toward productive ends. This is precisely what Nev and Max do on their show. After conducting their investigations, Nev and Max facilitate a face-to-face meeting between the catfisher and the unwary victim. At this meeting the victim is able to ask questions of the catfisher ("Why?", "Why me?", etc.) and express anger, loss, hurt, bewilderment, and any other feelings experienced through the revelation of the scam. This mediated meeting between parties affords the offender a prime opportunity to own their deceptive behavior, own the consequences of the behavior (mostly experienced by the victim), and own the obligations created by the deception. These obligations vary with each case, but the majority involve a commitment to stop catfishing, take down fake online profiles, get help for emotional issues, and sometimes help to clean up the victim's damaged reputation. With restorative justice's religious roots, I found it ironic that the only modern example of well-known restorative justice practices is found in pop culture on, of all places, M.T.V., the same network responsible for Teen Mom, Mary + Jane, and Wild 'n Out. I am seeing encouraging signs that restorative justice practices are gaining wider acceptability, at least in educational circles. This leads me to hope that a significant shift in criminal justice and corrections philosophy in the United States will happen soon. It is yet unclear who will lead this much needed change, but it's not too late for churches and those who identify as religious to reclaim leadership in a movement that was perfectly illustrated in the life of Jesus, the greatest example of a mediator who restored broken people and broken relationships. If the church won't lead the way, people will just have to see the character of Christ illustrated in unlikely places, like on M.T.V.