fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, January 20, 2nd period]

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ethics

Ethics [Tuesday, January 20, 2nd period]

"Today we talk about envy," he said quietly. "There's always something that someone else seems to have that we want: clothing, grades, family, love, looks, acclaim...their achievements remind us of something we don't think we have enough of."

He began pacing as he warmed to his subject. "A wise man once said that envy is the art of counting the other person's blessings instead of your own. An entire industry has sprung up and flourished exploiting the idea that we envy those who have achieved fame." Anakin made a face. "With the equally charming dark side that we'll take joy in watching their failures."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Normally that means that today we would start false rumors about people as an exercise in what not to do. If your voicemail was anything like mine on Sunday, though, you already have more than your fair share of factoids about your fellow students and teachers that ventured way over into the realm of oversharing."

He didn't make eye contact with Ino. "So today, pair up, talk about one of the messages you received that made you wonder something unflattering about a fellow member of Fandom, or one that made you defensive that someone might be believing a falsehood about you, and decide what you will do the next time the phones go insane." He smiled. "It's happened three times since I've been here, so there will be a next time."

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Hurley nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I hope I didn't embarrass myself too bad."

Ino was... trying to think if she'd said anything awful. Or incriminating.

"...that does explain the whole 'gay, and Canadian' call though," she said, frowning.

"Wow," Hurley said. "The weirdest one I got was someone asking if the school taught stabbing as foreplay. Which kinda... worried me, I gues. Not that I recognized the voice."

...

"...I don't suppose you called back and said it was probably highly unlikely to be fun for the person being stabbed, yeah?"

A beat.

"My favourite call was totally the one 'bout setting pants on fire though."

"Oh crap, did you get that one?" Hurley said. "I shouldn't have even replied. I am so sorry." He fidgeted a second. "...pants on fire?"

She shrugged. "I replied to your reply, and who knows where that one wound up?"

And she'd been snippy about it.

"And pants on fire! Apparently 'cause people are annoying and stuff and deserve to have their pants burn."

Hurley chuckled. "Liar, liar, pants on fire?" he offered.

"Something like that! I told them to go for it, just do it away from me so I don't get blamed for it too, but that it was awesome."

"Well, if I hear about any pants fires, I know who to congratulate," Hurley said with a chuckle. "Man, that day was weird."

"I will cheer if someone sets pants on fire," she decided. And she would. "It was mostly interesting, if confusing, but I, uh, didn't know the calls were going the wrong places and now I'm wondering who got mine."

She tugged at her hair. "And I think one of them sounds really awful if you don't know the context of it. Don't suppose you, uh, got anything 'bout going to the onsen?"

Hurley shook his head. "Nope," he said. "I'm guessing you sent one?"

"Not to you," she said quickly. "I was trying, uh, to reach Dojima-san and I think... it's probably gone elsewhere and I don't even want to know what they made of it 'cause it was completely innocent if you knew what we'd been talking 'bout before."

"I should probably mention I don't know what an Onsen even is," Hurley said.

"Hot springs, with you know, bathing facilities around them," Ino explained. "And Dojima-san and I are planning to go at some point. And we're agreed on a cultural point about how we think the rules of this one are irritating and weird."

"How many rules can there be for a bathing facility?" Hurley asked.

"Well," she said, "onsen aren't really meant for playing, they're more for relaxation and stuff, so you're not really supposed to be all that rambunctious, and there's the usual stuff 'bout what can and can't be brought into the water, how you're not supposed to run 'round the outside of them, and how you've got to wear bathing suits."

"Yeah, well, no running makes sense," Hurley said. "That's not what you have a problem with, though, I'm guessing."

She tugged at her hair. "Yeah, no, that's standard no matter what. It's the last one that's more of the issue. It's weird."

"Yeah, I guess if you're, like... bathing bathing, that could be a problem. I think?"

Yeah, he wasn't sure... and right now he was desperately thinking about baseball in order to not think about, say, Ino naked.

"That's what they're used for," she explained, cheerfully oblivious to his line of thinking. "Dojima-san and I think it's a weird cultural thing that people here have got against casual nudity 'cause, seriously, bathing suits so don't happen in an onsen at home, and she said they don't happen much in her country either."

"Yeah, casual, like... yeah, we don't do that," Hurley said. "I guess we're kinda... weird like that."

"Weird," she agreed. "And it's just really... odd when it's in something that's so traditionally another culture and then you bring in that aversion and it's just not the same."

Hurley nodded. "You should totally fight the rule. It's like... okay, I can't come up with a good example. But you're right. It's a culture thing."

"That's what my call to Dojima-san was 'bout," she confessed. "We're going to go there and insist we be allowed to use it the way it ought to be used and cry cultural discrimination if we can't. But, uh, yeah. If you didn't know that then the whole... getting naked at the hot spring sounds a lot dirtier, I think."

It really did.

"...yeah, that would," Hurley said. "It sounds... really dirty, actually. I hope no one mean got that message. Hopefully, like, someone understanding."

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