fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

Current Mood: pensive
Current Music: Mockingbird - Rob Thomas

Entry tags:

ethics

Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

Anakin walked into his classroom precisely on time and gave the students assembled there an appraising glance-as the door clicked shut behind him. "I'm Master Anakin Skywalker," he said in a voice that was intended to carry. "You may address me either as Master Skywalker or Professor Skywalker. This is Ethics, and we're going to skip the introductions--I'll figure out who you are, if I don't recognize you already--and move straight to our first discussion."

His cloak flared out behind him as he handed out the syllabus. "Today's topic," he said, pointing to the top of the page, "is self sacrifice: knowing the difference between saving people and being a pretentious twit."

Anakin wasn't a great believer in softening his language.

"Any time I ask a a group of people what they would do to save someone they love, they 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 five years now and realize that half of you have probably already been put into this situation. I'm never in a mood to hear adolescent ramblings about how wonderful you were or might hypothetically be."

He leaned back against his desk. "What I want to know is what would make you walk away. When do you decide that the risk isn't worth the cost?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nobody's taking me down without a fight," Kennedy answered, leaning back in her chair with every bit of the brash overconfidence that made people want to hit her sometimes, "but as long as I get to make a difference for somebody, save somebody's life or do something to help stop the bad guys, I'd do it."

No one ever said she thought her plans out thoroughly.

"But what if it didn't stop them?" Will pointed out. "And your presence in the next... altercation," that so many people seemed to be thinking specificially of battles seemed terribly out of his own range of experiences, "could have made an even bigger difference?" He paused. "Not that seeing the future is some simple matter, but if you knew your chances of success would be higher with some other avenue of, well, attack, why not wait?"

If Kennedy's response came out a little bitchy, well... she wasn't so much a fan of having the holes in her ideas pointed out in front of a full class. Plus he was right. Dammit.

"What if we can't wait?" she countered. "What if it's a situation where I don't have time to stand around and weigh the odds?"

God, she could hear Constance now, saying 'I told you so.'

Pff. There was always time to weigh the odds. Of course, hypocritically, William had done plenty of barging on ahead with a plan even when he knew there would be consequences. But then, the strap was hardly the same as dying, wasn't it?

"A split-second decision is still a decision," Will argued.

Kennedy didn't quite roll her eyes, but even if she wasn't a hedgehog right now she visibly bristled. "Yeah? I wanna see you make a split-second decision and then write me a five-page essay on the reasons you made it the way you did."

"Shall you require citations in the form of footnotes, or would you prefer endnotes?" Will shot back without missing a beat.

"Ten-point, single spaced, and--" Caught off-guard by that flash of humor where she totally hadn't been expecting it, and reminded somewhat of Constance, Kennedy glanced in Wesley's direction, then back at Will, and raised both eyebrows.

"...so you're not, like, actually from the Watchers' Council and forgot to mention that or anything, are you? Just getting that question out of the way."

"The what?" William gave Kennedy a puzzled look.

"Guess that answers that." Even though she could so see it. Kennedy shrugged at him. "Never mind I asked, 'kay?"

Oh Kennedy. Telling William Murdoch to 'never mind' something was like waving a great big sign saying that here was something that merited further investigation.

"Right, then," he nodded. It wasn't precisely agreeing to her request, so therefore if he should find out more about this Watcher's Council, it won't have been a lie. Ah, loopholes.

Anakin, having fought with Kennedy, rather expected that response.

"But isn't finding out that your sacrifice was worth it something that is normally only discovered after the fact?" he replied.

"Yeah, that's the snag in the whole theory," she admitted, not looking too bothered by it. "All I know is, if it was a choice between me or someone I loved, I'd take it for them."

It was probably painfully evident that the thought she'd put into the question had never really gone that deep.

"And what if the self-sacrifice wasn't just your life?" Anakin replied. "What if it was to compromise your principles instead?"

Kennedy... looked kind of offended, actually. "What, like I'd ever do that?"

Yes, she had principles. Try not to faint. ~~Wait, wrong Whedonverse franchise.~~

And this was where it got dangerous for Anakin to know you outside of the classroom. "Say Tara was held hostage. They give you the choice of either renouncing your gender preference or killing her outright. What do you do?"

Aw, man.

Aw, man. Low blow (metaphorically, of course), Anakin. And a good one.

"How is that even a fair question?" Kennedy sputtered. "I mean, yeah, I'd say I'd do it, but come on, it's not even-- I mean..."

And there went coherence.

Anakin smiled ~~evilly~~.

"Sometimes dying is the easier choice, isn't it?" he said.

Yes. Yes, it was, but Kennedy wasn't about to outright concede she'd lost the argument.

Besides. If she really, really thought about it? It wasn't even a question. "I'd do it for her," she answered, gritting her teeth.

"What if they swapped Tara out for a school bus full of children?" Anakin asked.

Okay, now Kennedy was getting annoyed on several levels, and annoyed enough that she couldn't quite sort out why. Maybe just the idea of Tara in that kind of danger had touched a nerve; maybe it was that he kept pushing with the questions; maybe it was that thinking about the answers made them less clear-cut than she'd been so sure they were.

"God, what do you take me for?" she snapped, completely forgetting (or possibly not caring) that she was talking to one of the most intimidating teachers in the school. "I'm not the kind of asshole who'd let a bunch of kids die if I had any say in it."

His lips quirked up a bit. "Temper," he replied. "What if it was a busload of criminals?"

"Aw, man," Kennedy bitched, backing down just a little. That one... gah. She ran her hand through her hair. "But they're human beings, so... I guess I couldn't..."

Her shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I guess I'd save 'em too."

"There's no right or wrong on these," Anakin said. "I'm just trying to get you to think."

He paused and then added, "Oh, and you're going to be a TA for me."

"There's always right and wrong," Kennedy insisted, though a touch less certainly than she was used to sounding. Because there was, dammit, it was just, um. Sometimes fuzzier in places.

Like a slightly moldy peach.

Okay, ew.

And hang on a second. "Wait, what? Me? Why?"

"There's generally a right and a wrong and a huge swath of gray in between that teenagers forget to account for," Anakin replied. "And because you're putting thought into your replies and I want to reward that."

Being his TA was a reward, yes.

Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]