Robyn’s Blog

I think that Errol Morris hasa really unique take on the issue of the death penalty.  Instead of citing some of the typical arguments against the death penalty, Errol Morris suggests that people become obsessed with the idea of vengeance.  In their eagerness to see the prevalence of justice, they become less concerned with the actual facts and evidence of the presented case, and more concerned with simply giving a killer what he/she deserves.  In doing so, people end up creating their own facts.  Morris says that the “need to believe what we want to believe is stronger than our need to understand the truth.”

The ability of people to convince themselves of things is absolutely amazing.  But in the end, there is a set reality.  W edo not exist inside our own consciousness.  There is a truth.

Or is there?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but I don’t think that I need to.  I think of it as something akin to Pascal’s Wager.  For those of you who are not familiar, Pascal’s Wager is an atheist argument for the existence of God.  According to Pascal, you might as well believe in God, because if you believe in God, and there is a heaven, you can get there, and if there isn’t, no harm done.  On the downside, if you disbelieve in God, and there is a heaven, you’re screwed.  Here is a little illustrative diagram:

The way I see it, we might as well believe that there is a truth, using the same logic as Pascal. 

Hmm.  Seems like our lives might make more sense if we believe in truth.  That is, unless we just want to hang out at the 7/11 with our slurpees all our lives, in the words of Dr. Campbell.