Ethics [Thursday, September 2, 2nd period]

[sith_happened]

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?"

Comments

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"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?"

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

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.'

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

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.

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

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."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

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

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

"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."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

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

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

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

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/2]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

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.