Ethics [Tuesday, February 2]

[sith_happened]

Anakin, trying to shake off the feeling that he was coming down with something (he very rarely got sick, and this was annoying him), waited for all the students to sit at their desks before addressing them.

"Everyone look under your chairs, please," he said. A third of the students going by how they sign into class would find a bag with a full-sized chocolate bar waiting for them. A third would find a bag with a fun-sized chocolate bar. A third would find nothing at all.

Anakin waited for whatever grumbling there might be to subside. "Anyone feeling a little ripped off right now?" he asked rhetorically. "Two minutes ago no one had any candy and everyone was fine. Now I haven't taken anything away from anyone, no one's any worse off than they were when they walked in the door, and some of you are thinking very nasty things about me. Some of you have more than you did when you came into the classroom and still feel like you've been given an unfair deal."

He smiled. "Isn't envy fun? We never concentrate on the gifts we have been given. Instead we focus on what others have that we want. It's entirely a question of attitude. Today's question: how would someone capitalize on that very human failing if they were seeking to manipulate others?"

Comments

Sign in [2/2]

[sith_happened]

Like you're going to get candy!

Maybe.

Re: Sign in [2/2]

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire Bennet

Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[sith_happened]

Check your seat! Do you have delicious chocolate?

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

Claire bent down and found a chocolate bar under her seat.

She'd probably be willing to share it with someone who didn't get any though.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia had delicious chocolate, but she was totally going to share it with someone who didn't get any. Not that she was copying Claire, but because she was a diplomat, so there.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce checked under his seat. There was a fun sized chocolate.

Bruce apparently hated fun because he wasn't going to eat it. He took his training far too seriously to eat junk food if it wasn't going to be socially impossible to avoid eating it.

He was going to donate it to somebody before the end of the period.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

Arthur had no chocolate, and quite frankly, he was a little confused as to why he should care, exactly.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[not_tylerdurden]

Calvin had a fun size bar.

Emphasis on the past tense.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[puppy_fair]

No chocolate for Zack.

... Awwww. Well, he was going to have to just pick some up for himself after classes and the reserves today, then!

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[therewaslife]

Bod found a full sized chocolate bar under his desk. Bod allowed himself a 'blink and you'll miss it' grin and he stashed it in his bag to eat later.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Not like Effy was going to turn down chocolate, and small bar was more interesting than none.

Gave her something to nibble at while while she listened to Anakin talk.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Jacob had candy, for the two whole minutes it took him to eat it anyway.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchy_smurf]

Illyria had a small chocolate bar, and an expression of impatience, because she didn't really care. Unlike some people who weren't motivated by chocolate, she really did get the point; there was just very little in this world that could inspire envy in her, aside from those who possessed powers she no longer had.

Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[sith_happened]

"How would someone capitalize on the very human failing of envy if they were seeking to manipulate others?"

If you aren't busy bitching about not getting any candy, of course.

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[wantstocheer.livejournal.com]

"By boasting about things they had that other people might not," Claire said. "Or maybe by offering special incentives to people who have certain things?"

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

"You could manipulate others by pointing out that an enemy has something another person is lacking," Griff said, knowing he'd have been fine about not having candy if no one else had gotten any either. Or if he hadn't seen the others find it.

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"If you have something they want and you don't need, bribery is an easy way to manipulate someone," Bruce said. He held up his fun size candy. "I don't need or really want this chocolate bar. If I wanted to, I could give it to someone in exchange for a favor."

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[iknowstuff.livejournal.com]

"The real trick is the person you are trying to manipulate," Layla answered honestly. "You have to know what truly makes this person tick. To know what exactly which button to push so when the object of his envy is flaunted in his face, it'll send him over the edge. Then you have him exactly where you want and can make him do almost anything."

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[therewaslife]

"The easiest answer would be to find something they want," said Bod after some thought. "I think, though, what you offer would be the key point. If I offered you this chocolate bar for a passing grade, you probably wouldn't give it to me. But if you knew I...had the ability to cure a disease you or someone in your family had, it'd make my position more powerful and you more easily manipulated by me."

Bod paused and winced.

"Not you specifically, sir," he promised. "Just in general."

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

"Provoking envy might work to manipulate some people," Leia pointed out, "but it also breeds resentment."

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[not_tylerdurden]

"Giving them candy's a good start," Calvin said, around his last remaining mouthful of chocolate. "The things people will do for a Klondike bar."

Re: Answer the discussion question [2/2]

[bitchprince]

"Holding something over their head, I suppose," said Arthur. "But that's hardly an honourable or respectable way of keeping authority."

Talk to the TA

[sith_happened]

Hello, Griff!

Re: Talk to the TA

[youcantfollow.livejournal.com]

There was nothing under Griff's seat. This seemed to be his lot in life. Anakin was totally earning glares for denying the TA sweets.

Talk to Anakin [2/2]

[sith_happened]

Who is not getting sick. Shut up.

Re: Talk to Anakin [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia had been too cranky at Anakin over the weekend to ask what she had on her mind this morning, so after class she approached him and said, "When am I going to meet Juliet and Rory?"

OOC

[sith_happened]

Now I want chocolate. First person in the thread gets a big chocolate bar, second one in gets a little one, third person gets nothing. Then repeat!