Right to Think

As Brady and Karen stated earlier, the thought of “the right to think” never really crossed my mind before reading Inherit the Wind. Of course I deal with it in everyday life, but I have never really thought about what it truly means. Everyone generally assumes that you are given the right to think about everything, but in reality, how limited are you to think? According to the U.S. Constitution and standard rights, we are guaranteed the right but after reading Inherit the Wind, that does not seem to be entirely true.

The gap between having the right to think whatever you want and being forced what to think is slowly closing in. Now-a-days, if you think strongly against something, you can very easily be punished very hard for it. I can think whatever I want about the president and all the laws made, but the bottom line is, I have to follow them no matter what my thought is on them. In a way, the government thinks for us people and gives us no choice because of all the power they have. So in that case, we are not guaranteed the right to think, and it was just the same for Bert Cates in the play. He was forced to follow a view upon religion because of a government law even though he was against it.

All in all, now after reading the play, I think very differently about the right to think. For me, it has gone from a given right I always had to something that is now more like a privilege. I feel like I have it until I misuse and then it could be taken away forever. Everyone should be guaranteed the right to think whatever they want whenever they want to. Unfortunately, that right is slowly fading away. In a country that prides itself on freedom, the right to think is a freedom that doesn’t stand for too much anymore in society.