Post Number Oneeee

Hm. The right to think.

To be completely honest, that phrase had never really crossed my mind before it was mentioned in class. Like Brad, Karen, Shivani, and probably most of the rest of us; I had always thought that thinking was just something people did however they pleased. But now that I do think about it, there are many people in this world currently, and even more in the past, who have actually had their right to think taken away from them. I always used to think I was safe in my own mind, and no one could stop my imagination from flowing where ever it wanted to.

I was also in Alex's class last year and read 1984 and Fahrenheit 451. Both of those adressed the issue of censorship, and illustrated what our world has the capability to look like if power falls into the wrong hands. When I hear the "right to think" the first thing that comes to my mind is Adolf Hitler, and the second thing are the telescreens in 1984. Hitler was a horrible dictator and would not allow anyone to have their own opinions, or else they would be killed. He believed that his ideas of the superiority of the Aryan race was correct and that everyone should follow it. In Inherit The Wind, the town of Hillsboro is similar in this way, but on a much lower scale. Everyone expects you to believe that everything in the Holy Bible is entirely correct with no exceptions, leaving no room for new ideas and thoughts.

Personally, I myself believe in compromises. I'll use creationism vs. evolutionism as an example; being a Christian, I do believe that God created the world in six days. But as Drummond said while questioning Brady, those days could have been of indeterminate length. Therefore, I also believe some ideas of evolution from the scientific point of view.

Overall, after reading this play, I think that all people should have the right to think, form new ideas, and be themselves. They should also be able to believe what they want to, whether it is what's widely accepted, the opposite of that, or somewhere in the middle. But it is also the job of those around them to accept their ideas and allow each other to express who they really are.