Arthur Miller's Essay

Believe
Miller's essay satirically attacks the idea of the death penalty, by putting the idea out of making it a "spectator's sport." He goes through the steps he could take in order to make money out of the whole spectacle, but then goes on to say that none of it would matter because the American public would get bored with it anyway. Although it seems that this article is completely sarcastic, Miller is saying that this is what would have to happen to convince Americans to look at the problem of murder in America, and "a wiser use of alternating current." He says that not until "the point of boredom" would we look at why Americans kill more than any other country. Because no one sees how awful the actual event is, Miller believes that we demand more and more of them. Believing this means supporting Miller in the idea that the death penalty isn't the best way to handle criminals who have committed murder, and that Americans need to wise up to that. A believer in the article might bring up that the suspect for the murder might be innocent, in which case it would be a huge mistake to execute them. Someone who believes in Miller's side might also say that two wrongs don't make a right or bring the person back, or religiously it doesn't make sense to kill another person. Why do someone the favor of getting the murder they committed off of their conscience, rather than force them to live with it for the rest of their life?

Doubt
Doubting Miller's essay would be to disagree with the idea that the death penalty is not a good way of dealing with murderers. Obviously, making the event a spectator sport and charging people to come watch is pretty out there, if you are taking everything Miller says literally. If someone commits a murder of one or more persons, then why shouldn't they be treated the same way? A doubter might ask why pay over a certain number of years to let a person live in our prisons, instead of executing them and having the process be finished in a less expensive manner? Many murderers think these crimes through before they commit them, and may not have a sense of regret afterward, regardless of whether they are going to be executed or not. In turn, a doubter would want the murderer to suffer the same way that the victim(s) and their family had to suffer when the murder was committed. A doubter might also claim that executing murderers might help to deter crime in the future, since most people don't want to lose their own life. If a person has the audacity to commit such an awful crime, then they have to deal with the repercussions. In America that could mean the death penalty.