Applied Ethics A: First period [10.08]

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Harriet was looking thoughtful as the students arrived, sitting behind her desk with a cup of tea. "Good morning. We are deviating from the syllabus once again this week, but I am quite certain none of you will object." Once everyone was settled, she walked around to lean on the front of the desk. "Which brings us nicely to what we're going to talk about: objection, protest and resistance, concepts I have a feeling many of you are familiar with. Specifically, when is it ethical to disobey the law, or, to step back slightly, a set of rules?"

Her smile was wry as she looked around the classroom. "I think I won't get much disagreement if I say: when the rules are unjust. Of course, then you have to decide whether a given rule is unjust." She was quiet for a moment, gathering her thoughts. She hadn't actually planned any of this out. "Everyone agrees to give up a certain amount of freedom to live in a society, whether it's a country or, just as a hypothetical example, a boarding school on an island. We agree to abide by the rules, even if we might want to break them, even if sometimes we do break them, because they are necessary for everyone to exist peacefully, and for the school to function effectively and not dissolve into chaos.

The person in charge, the person making the rules, is responsible for the safety and wellbeing, the health and happiness, of every single person in that society. Every single one. Personal feelings, dislikes, prejudices must not be allowed to influence her actions, because when they do, that is when rules start to become unjust. One group is favoured over another, ridiculous, sometimes vicious, rules are passed arbitrarily, out of anger or hatred or a need for revenge, out of a desire to exercise absolute power over people. The breaking of them is rewarded with even more vicious or arbitrary punishments."

Her voice was very sharp and she lifted her chin, studying each member of the class in turn. "This is not acceptable. Those are unjust rules, and I think one can safely say it is ethical to disobey them." She took a calming breath and smiled again. "And not just to disobey them, but to actively protest them. However, there are ways and means of doing this, some far more acceptable than others. Violence is rarely, if ever, acceptable." She handed out some material. "Just as a few examples.

Now, for the purposes of this exercise, I want you to use this school as your society, just so you have something familiar to work with. Get together in pairs or groups and identify any unjust rules you might be aware of, and why they are unjust, unjust punishments that have been handed down, any protests that have been made against those rules and how effective they've been. Brainstorm other ways to protest them, ways to actively disobey them. Think about what you're trying to achieve, and how your action is going to help you achieve it. Even come up with actual plans, if you'd like, just to take the hypothetical exercise to its conclusion."

"But," she held up a hand for emphasis, "do not forget the consequences. In that first rush of needing to do something, consequences get forgotten. But there are always consequences, not just for you, but for those around you: friends, families, fellow objectors, everyone else in the school. What could happen? What, if you can identify any protest activities which have occurred, has happened? You must always weigh the consequences of any action carefully when deciding if it is right to act."

[OOC: please wait for OCD It's up. Pretty self-explanatory this week, I think. Get together and talk about what's been going on at the school, and maybe ways to stop it. My comment notifications for this journal are almost nonexistent - if I miss pings, please feel free to poke me on email: idontlooktired (at) gmail.com or on AIM: iplayoneonfh. Apologies for those I've missed previously.]

Comments

Sign in [AEA]

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Is it arbitrary to ask for it to collapse?

Re: Sign in [AEA]

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn Hood

Re: Sign in [AEA]

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn Summers

Re: Sign in [AEA]

[ktarian-wildman.livejournal.com]

Naomi Wildman

Re: Sign in [AEA]

[ashockingbitch]

Jenny Sparks

During the endless lecture [AEA]

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Do whatever you think is right.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn is trying to take notes, but all she ends up are drawing diagrams of things in her notebook.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

During the lecture, Dawn started making a number of lists. The first was arbitrary rules, the second was people who had been injured (and how), and the third was things that needed to be done.

First thing on the third list was to talk to Rikku about weaponry.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke glanced over at Dawn's notes, then motioned for her to hand him the paper.

He had a name to add.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn slid the paper over obligingly.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke wrote his name in bold letters, then rolled up his left sleeve to show Dawn the scarred-over gash streaking down his arm.

His eyes were thunderous.

Re: During the endless lecture [AEA]

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie was trying to make a list of goals, when Harriet mentioned that.

1. Get Umbridge to leave.
By
1. Making her miserable enough to quit
2. Tricking her? Making her think there's a better opportunity elsewhere?
3. Getting her arrested for abuse (Magic hard to prove, not impossible...)
4. Convince the Board she's bad at her job

Get together and talk [AEA]

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

In a purely hypothetical manner, of course.

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

Gwynn looked around for someone to talk to. She had a lot of questions.

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

Luke gave her a small smile.

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[notafairmaiden.livejournal.com]

She smiled at Luke. "Why do people do things like this? I don't understand."

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[tatooine-doofus.livejournal.com]

He shrugged. "Power becomes all-consuming," he said. "It happened at home for me, too. The rules were slightly less stupid, but the malice behind it was the same."

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

Dawn had had caffeine and was really, really annoyed. This was going to go beautifully, of course.

[ooc: Here, but not here here until 8 pm EDT.]

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[ashockingbitch]

Jenny liked caffeinated, annoyed people. It described her about forty percent of the time. Also, this girl had been making lists, which suggested she knew far more about the situation than Jenny did. So she sat down next to Dawn and said, "Hi, wanna work together?"

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Sure. Hi, I'm Dawn, by the way. So, what do you know about annoying people?"

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[ashockingbitch]

"Jenny, hi. I've been doing it recreationally and as part of my job for most of my life, so I hope a bit."

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle sighed and slouched a little. She had a feeling that, whoever partnered with her, it was most likely going to go the same direction as all the other...conversations on this topic.

Re: Get together and talk [AEA]

[girlzippo.livejournal.com]

Charlie was looking at her list and finding #4 kind of appealing. Would a letter work? Or maybe sending them a video...?

Talk to Harriet

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

There's no more TA. If you want to take on the position, this would be a good place to ask about it.

OOC

[idontlooktired.livejournal.com]

Because without one, the world may end.