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

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]

[likes_scoundrels]

"Want some?" Leia said, holding out her full-sized bar to Arthur.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

Arthur glanced at Leia. Then he glanced at the bar. Then he glanced back up to Leia. "No, thank you," he said (it always sort of surprised him when he realised he hadn't forgotten every single one of his manners in Fandom), "I've already had a meal this morning."

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

"Are you not a chocolate lover?" Leia asked, breaking off a small piece of her bar for her own consumption. "Perhaps Master Skywalker should have picked something else to try to provoke envy."

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

"I can't say it's a regular part of my diet, no," Arthur agreed, glancing towards Master Skywalker himself. "But I get his meaning."

No, Arthur didn't. 'Envy' was just not really in his realm of experience, unless you counted his eight-years-running vendetta against Morgana (born of a bruised knee and the muddy wreck of a jacket).

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

Leia nibbled on her chocolate. "I think it's silly," she said, "but I won't turn down good chocolate. I think he spent too much time in the chocolate dunk tank this weekend." She nodded toward Anakin.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

"I did see he'd been set up in one of the booths," Arthur said, thoughtfully. "He does seem slightly off." Yeah, because Arthur was an expert on Anakin.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

"'Off,' is a nice way of putting it," Leia said, rolling her eyes. So far Anakin wasn't anything like she'd ever imagined he'd be.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

His father would be so pleased Arthur came off as more of a dipl--

Okay, that would be a lie. "I try to give the man a fair cop."

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

"He's my father and he's bent on controlling my life," Leia said, "so I think I'm entitled to be critical."

It was very possible Leia and Arthur had entirely differing ideas on the respect due to a father.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

Possibly because their respective father (figures) had entirely differing ideas about when and how to show affection to their children.

Going by that understanding, Arthur was forced to serve up a, "Well, I suppose so. If it's necessary."

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[likes_scoundrels]

"Definitely necessary," Leia grinned. "It's my sacred duty as a daughter." Girls were totally allowed to drive their fathers crazy.

Re: Listen to the lecture [2/2]

[bitchprince]

Just ask Morgana!

Arthur squinted at her with some difficulty. "Still," he hazarded, "It may be a better idea not to discuss his..." Pause. "Idiosyncracies with another in his own class." Cough.

It wasn't that he was terrified of Anakin. It was more that there was, you know. A way you did this kind of thing.

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.