fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 6]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance.

It wasn't possible to tell what he thought of them.

"I'm Master Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry, "this is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are--and move straight to our first discussion."

He paced around the room, cloak flaring out behind him, as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said. "Self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they all blither on about how they would set the world on fire, lie, cheat, steal, kill, die, et cetera, et cetera. I've been at this school too long to believe that half of you haven't already been put into this situation and I'm in no mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be. We're going to ground it in reality.

"A month ago there was a woman who was in charge of this school. She had been placed in power legitimately, was allowed to punish in accordance with that power, and began pushing the boundaries of her authority almost immediately. She called students to her office, punished them for slights genuine or imagined, and began escalating the severity and frequency of her punishments, going over the line into what was no longer acceptable."

Anakin crossed his arms over his chest, the scar across his face very evident in the light coming through the window. "It eventually took a team of highly qualified adults to take her out. Today's topic: when do you draw the line? When do you admit to yourself that a problem cannot be solved, that to sacrifice yourself isn't a statement, it's merely pointless? How long does it take for you to check your ego?"

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"So you think large scale rather than small," Anakin mused. "Do you believe the small has less impact?"

"It depends on what the small is," Victor said. "The leader of my country, for example. If he dies in the plane it may only be one person but the impact is great for my people."

"And you'd let that happen anyway," Anakin said, "knowing the ripple effect his death would cause."

"Of course. You're mistaken if you believe that his death would make anything worse for my country," Victor said.

Anakin arched up a brow. "Really. You can see all consequences of his death?"

"Not all of them, but I can work out the most important ones," Victor said.

Anakin motioned with his hand for Victor to elaborate.

"It's a simple exercise in understanding the way people rule, the way mobs react to that rule, and history since it does often repeat itself," Victor said. "The king of Latveria dies in this terrible plane tragedy, so one of his relatives, a baron who makes the former king look like a saint, takes the throne. The people, already oppressed near the breaking point, can't take any more. Talk of revolt begins but nothing is done because they're too scared. They need a person to rally them and inspire them to take up arms. Perhaps a person who can bring them advanced technology that the Latverian army can't create or afford."

"There would be a period of hardship, but in the end the oppressive rulers would be gone and the people would have a new hero to crown. From that point forth, the people at least know that if the new ruler wrongs them, they can rise up."

Of course, in the scenerio Victor was imagining, they would have no desire to rise up against him. He couldn't just daydream about girls like a normal teenage boy.

"And what if instead of uniting behind a single ruler, the nation fractions into regional subsets, or two family members begin fighting over who had the more legitimate claim? What if the people spiral into a never ending cycle of mob rule, petty dictatorships, smuggling and starvation? What if they aren't interested in rallying behind one person?" Anakin countered.

"History shows that people are often more than willing to follow a strong personality who will give them what they think they need," Victor said. "Even the recent history of my people shows that."

"It just takes the right person to pull it all together."

He completely avoided the accusation of "petty dictatorships" although his dictatorship would have been anything but petty.

Anakin was getting the distinct impression this kid wanted to be that right person.

"Watch your second in command," he advised, then turned and walked away.

Victor nodded as a courtesy as Anakin turned.

Like he would need a second-in-command. If anything, he might build a robot for that.

Ethics [Thursday, September 6]

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