fandomhigh | Ethics [Tuesday, February 10, 2nd period]

Anakin was in a very good mood this morning. Something about seeing old friends and a wife's ex-boyfriend transformed into a girl had cheered him right up.

"Today we talk about something called the Golden Rule, a concept which unites many separate religions on this planet," he began, leaning against his desk and stared around the classroom. "It sounds altruistic: 'do unto others as you would have done unto you', but there's a couple of logical flaws in it. What if you don't mind getting poked in the stomach? Does it follow that you could wander around aimlessly poking people? What if you don't see what's wrong with stealing? Or killing? Or hating entire groups of people on principle? If the practical application is supposed to be you randomly help people because they could be good, wouldn't the opposite be that you could randomly harm people because they might be evil?"

He shrugged. "I suppose the Golden Rule could be broken down to 'be nice to people, and they'll be nice to you' but out here in the real world, we all know it doesn't exactly work like that, and the concept could also be reinterpreted as 'it doesn't bother me, so why does it bother you?' Is this a case of aiming for an ideal and hoping that it will cause a ripple effect of positive things, or something overly simplistic that taken to its logical extreme renders itself useless? Has seeing it on everything from coffee mugs to tea towels made the very idea of it trite, or does it still have a place in the mind of someone trying to lead an ethical life?"

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"Yeah, but... someone once told me that what's 'nice' is kinda relative," Hurley said. "So... it's hard to make rules and... stuff."

Anakin nodded. "I'm not very good at nice," he said, "but it doesn't mean I wander around kicking puppies for fun."

"Yeah," Hurley said. "And like, friends tease each other to show that they're friends, sometimes... but if someone else teases someone, it's not okay. And stuff."

"Intent counts," Anakin agreed, "but sometimes people are just incredibly bad at social interaction."

Like, say, Anakin. "Should they be judged by your standards on what is considered polite?"

"It depends," Hurley said. "I mean, if they're, like... making out at a funeral, that's not cool."

Anakin made a face. "That is definitely uncalled for," he agreed.

"So, like... big stuff is easy to say it's bad," Hurley said. "Little stuff is easier to breeze by and let go."

Ethics [Tuesday, February 10, 2nd period]

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