There are two sides to every story: for September 6, 2011

I've lately been struggling with the idea that there are two sides to every story in my personal life, so it was fitting that this weekend's reading involved this hard-to-accept concept.

The Older Sophists, as it mentioned on page 73 in Ancient Rhetorics, held the belief that every argument had an equal and opposite counter argument, the idea of "dissoi logoi;" thus, two sides to every story.

The book went on to mention some ancient rhetor who discussed "that good and bad are the same, depending on circumstance and point of view" (73). This also stuck with me. We all have different moral compasses, acting in a way that we feel is best for us and coincides with that moral compass. Sometimes this lines up with others', but often it does not, hence disagreement, on all levels.

I don't mean to get heavy and controversial, but this where we get terrorist attacks. The terrorists acted in their evil ways because they believed that flying planes in the Twin Towers, killing thousands, and leaving a nation distraught was the best course of action. To them, it was a good thing. On the other side of the coin, there's the victims of this heinous act, victims who call it heinous and their actions evil. Our bad is their good.

The rhetor also mentioned that good and bad are different. "Things that are good for some people cannot be bad for them, too" (74). If you morally believe something is wrong, you're not going to do it, at least not in good conscience, unless you've convinced yourself that it is the right thing to do and have rationalized your actions.

However, ultimately, in this case, you will realize what you did was wrong because that is what you believed first.

I'm not entirely sure where I was going with that, but there you have it.