fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 16, 2nd period]

"'Do unto others as you would have done unto you,'" Anakin quoted as the students found their seats. "On this planet, that phrase is known as the Golden Rule. It sounds quite altruistic, which might be why they are more than a few more cynical versions of it around: 'do unto others before they can do unto you,' and the like. The rule also seems to be assuming that everyone wants the same things done to them. But what if you don't mind getting poked in the stomach? Does it follow that you could aimlessly poke people? What if you don't see anything wrong with stealing, or killing, or hating entire groups of people?"

He shrugged. "I suppose the Golden Rule could be simplified as 'be nice to people, so 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?"

He smiled. "I like to ask nice, easy questions."

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Elphaba nodded in agreement. "I wasn't saying that it might not do good," she said. "But that those who would be begetting the hate probably don't care about a Golden Rule unless they can strip the gold out of it for their own pockets."

She was cynical about most people, it was true.

Really, it was cynicism that Jonothon couldn't argue against.

//Well, if you ask me, which, I understand, yer not,// Jono was just a nosy bastard who liked to give his own opinion, so there, //if anything, th'rule can be twisted around in turn to say, 'if you'd like people to roll over and take any abuse you want to deal to them, you had better be bloody well willing to take just as much abuse in turn.'//

He shrugged lightly. //But th'ones who need it fed to them like that are generally th'ones least willing to pay attention to it, as you've said.//

Elphaba, in turn, finally took a good look at the boy she was addressing and found herself quite curious.

"I was not asking, but the class is a place for discussion," she said. "So it is of course your place to speak your mind. I do wish others would be nice, and treat people justly. But I do not allow myself to hope that they will do so out of some sense of fairness."

Jonothon nodded a little, drumming his fingers against his knee and leaning his head to the side just a little while he thought that reply over.

//Do you suppose, then, that th'way other people interpret a rule like that ought to affect the way that we do?//

There was a whole world of meaning behind that 'we,' yes.

A whole world that Elphaba was unaware of and actually was quite baffled at the seeming inclusion that Jono had offered her.

So baffled she had to ask. "I'm sorry, we?"

That that bafflement didn't go unnoticed, really. Jono took another moment still to take her reaction into consideration before picking his words out a little more carefully still.

//People who have... been on th'receiving end when people decide to leave that rule in a gutter somewhere,// he clarified, though vaguely. //If you don't mind my making the assumption that you have been, of course.//

Elphaba tilted her head a moment. The words meant the cloth over the face were not simply an affectation. The clearness of his voice in her head had made her think there was magic at work, of course, but this solidified that thought. He was empathizing with her, something even beyond what Kurt had shared that first day.

"It is a safe assumption to make," she said. "I do not come from a land of green-skinned people."

She gave him a little smile, appreciating his gesture of inclusion all the more. "But you are right, we must not let ourselves be changed by how others would act. We must only act on what we feel is right, even if others would twist the rules to suit themselves."

Ethics [Thursday, September 16, 2nd period]

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Re: Answer one of the many, many questions! [9/16]

Re: Answer one of the many, many questions! [9/16]

Re: Answer one of the many, many questions! [9/16]

Re: Answer one of the many, many questions! [9/16]