Ethics [Monday, March 11, 5th period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin was leaning against the desk as the Ethics class walked in. A crumpled version the syllabus was in his hand.

"I hope you all stayed dry this weekend and kept your fish throwing to a minimum," he said. "The syllabus says that we're supposed to begin a discussion of the seven deadly sins today, but I want to get to know you a little bit first."

He was supposed to be a new instructor, after all.

"What manner of action do you find unforgivable?" he asked, his voice and manner completely unreadable. "Treason against your country or homeworld? Stealing from the defenseless? Slavery? Murder? Let's not worry about extenuating circumstances for the moment. If I were to tell you I killed children, most of you would recoil, correct? Where do you draw that line in your head? How far does someone have to go before you say 'that's wrong and there's no getting past it'?"

He avoided John's eyes as he paced around the room, finally pointing at a student. "Go ahead."

Comments

Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Where do you draw the line and say "okay, that's not right"?

Re: Answer the discussion question

[cat-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

"Are we ignoring context, then?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

"Let's assume that someone is not killing someone else because his daughter is being held hostage or he's been programmed in some way to do so. He's in full possession of his faculties and he is doing terrible things. Is that wrong?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[cat-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

"How often does that actually happen?" Schrodinger asked. "That there are people who are just completely monstorous, and completely sane? Doesn't someone doing something like that imply to begin with that they do not have full posession of their faculties?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

Katara was surprisingly uncomfortable with the question given that she had spent the past week in the company of someone she used to point to as the epitome of unforgivable.

"Attacking people who can't fight back," she said in a small voice.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded slowly.

He'd done that.

"Would it matter if they believed that attacking was a matter of survival?" he asked quietly.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[southernbender.livejournal.com]

"How could it be?" Katara asked. "If those attacked can't fight back, how could the attackers' survival be in question?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[whitedeathpod.livejournal.com]

John winced but gave his answer nonetheless. "When innocents will be harmed if you don't stop."

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin's eyes were painful as he made fleeting eye contact with John.

"That's a good line to draw."

Re: Answer the discussion question

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle gave her answer a lot of very careful consideration before she answered. "I'd say...that the line is drawn between people who are aware and people that aren't. Killing children is so detestable because they're innocent; usually, they haven't consciously entered into a situation where they know they could be taken advantage of, so taking advantage of them would be wrong. So, yeah. That."

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

"What if the children have been trained in combat?" Anakin asked. "Would that make a difference?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

"I don't know if you can just ignore the context," Dean said.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin nodded. "I agree that there's a difference in someone stealing bread because they're hungry and stealing a starfighter because they're bored. But at the heart of it, do you think stealing would be wrong?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[likethegun]

"My personal line is probably at hurting or killing innocent people," Sam said. "As opposed to those who aren't innocent, I mean."

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

"Who do you consider to be innocent, then?" Anakin asked.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[fates_jaye]

"Just don't be bitchy," Jaye says.

She kind of operates on a different level than like, most of Fandom.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin blinked.

"O...kay," he said slowly. "But what if someone really deserves it?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[bruiser-in-pink.livejournal.com]

Molly thought about her answer for a long time before responding. She thought about her parents and Alex and how she felt about what they had done.

"I don't know where my line is," she finally said.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin tilted his head to look at her, then gave her an encouraging smile. "That's all right," he said. "It's a harder question than it looks, huh? Would you agree that killing people for the hell of it might be excessive?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[strahl-pirate.livejournal.com]

"I believe that's difficult to say. There are always extenuating circumstances," he shrugged thinking back to his own experiences. "I suppose you can only look back at what you did and ask yourself if the end justified the means."

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

"And if they didn't?" Anakin asked. "How do you adjust?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

Irulan frowned. "It is difficult to say but I suppose, if someone hurt people I consider friends I would be cross."

Understatement.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin picked up on the tenor of her emotions and smiled. "Only cross?"

Re: Answer the discussion question

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentines tended not to have much in the way of morals- if it was good for a Valentine, then it was just plain good- so it took a bit of consideration before this particular one managed to drum up a reply.
"Not right would be..." he paused to think a moment more, "not admitting that you've done wrong, even if you know you have."
Not that he was referring to himself, of course. Anything that might relate to this particular answer was entirely his tower's fault and he was entirely in the right.

Re: Answer the discussion question

[sith_happened]

Anakin looked up sharply at Valentine's answer before slipping back into teacher mode.

"Interesting," he said. "Is this a confessional thing, like down at the church?"