At least one of your views is wrong. Unfortunately, this simple concept evades the majority of Americans.
Being open-minded can be difficult, but any logical person should see the benefits of such a mindset.
For instance, capital punishment remains a pivotal issue in America. To say the topic ruffles feathers would be an understatement. People tend to hold strong, unmovable opinions on capital punishment, even when evidence may prove them wrong.
Recently, I’ve struggled with my view on capital punishment. Some may label people like me as “unsure” or “confused.”
However, you can’t reasonably deny the significance of allowing new, revealing data into your mind.
At this point, I still believe capital punishment is a fair judgment for certain crimes in this clearly imperfect world.
The idea of equal compensation, not revenge, drives this viewpoint: if one takes a life, he loses his life as compensation. You may think comparing lives to debts is inhumane, but the following comparison works with objectivity: if one owes $100, he shouldn’t pay less or more than the debt. The same principle could apply to human life.
Even though I believe in the principle of equal compensation, this rational evaluation falls apart when considering capital punishment for two reasons: racism and eyewitnesses.
First, the Balrus study, conducted by David C. Baldus, Charles Pulaski and George Woodworth, looked at about 2,000 murder cases in 1970s Georgia. The study found that capital punishment was assessed in 22 percent of cases with black defendants and white victims, as opposed to 3 percent of cases with white defendants and black victims.
Second, eyewitnesses often form important portions of cases, including murder cases. How can we rely on the naked words of others to execute someone? This process is chancy at best.
While capital punishment is ideal for equal compensation, it doesn’t work efficiently in our unfair justice system.
The lesson of this analysis is not to become rigid with viewpoints. Rigidity can hide the truth from our minds.
Furthermore, our unwillingness to compromise our ideas could foster bloodshed.Think of all the men who killed thousands or millions in order to realize a notion.
Of course, rigidity won’t drive most of us to genocide or terrorism. Still, our unfaltering concepts may disrupt our relationships with those close to us and-obviously-the extent of our education.
I wouldn’t encourage anyone to give up all his opinions. Yet it never hurts to delve into your beliefs to confirm the fairness of the thoughts.