Ethics [Thursday, September 30]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had backed himself up against his desk looking a little hunted as a unicorn talked to him. "You're so tall," it was saying happily. "And have such nice blue eyes--"

"Um, right," he said, turning his attention to the class. "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.

"Oooh, chocolate!" the unicorn squealed. "That's so nice!"

Anakin ignored the unicorn as he 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."

"That's really smart," the unicorn commented.

Anakin moved on. "Isn't envy fun? Under its grip we never concentrate on the gifts we have been given."

"Like your hair," the unicorn added.

"Instead we focus on what others have that we want," Anakin said as his cheeks heated. "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?"

He looked around. "And where did that rainbow come from?"

The unicorn looked embarrassed.

Comments

Sign in [9/30]

[sith_happened]

Like you're getting chocolate! Maybe.

Re: Sign in [9/30]

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

Rosalind

Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[sith_happened]

Check under your seat as you boggle at the unicorn. Did you get anything?

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

... The unicorn deserved a momentary gawk, it did, truly.

And Rosalind was... not best pleased to find chocolate, a full-sized chocolate bar to be exact, under her desk. She didn't really care for chocolate.

Sigh. Perhaps she'd envy those who had none instead and that way the assignment would still be--completed, if in a roundabout fashion.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[furnaceface]

Jono was... staring at his fun-sized chocolate bar, and not particularly envying anybody in the room for having more chocolate, or less of it.

He was, however, somewhat envying their ability to eat it.

He looked more than a little sullen as he nudged the stupid thing to the far corner of the top of his desk, and then crossed his arms over his chest and proceeded to try to look as though he wanted as little to do with it as absolutely possible.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

No chocolate for Zatanna. Bugger. She spared a few seconds on the unicorn, but really, she supposed it would be best if she didn't ask the professor just what the horned horse was doing there. Besides complimenting him, of course.

The only thing it had caused, though, was giving her sudden chocolate carvings, so she would be going to buy some later that day. Rather than envious, she supposed there was no point on glaring at the students with chocolate, since they hadn't agreed on anything that she knew.

...That didn't mean she was going to glare at Anakin then; he was trying to prove a point. That left Zatanna without much to do, besides thinking about chocolate.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully had immediately popped a square in her mouth. And now, after looking around and realizing that not everyone got some, she felt guilty. SIGH. Moral lessons.

She might have been looking for someone to share it with.

She held some out to the unicorn, boggling.

"OOooooo! You're so nice! And you have such pretty hair!"

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[didntchewgrass.livejournal.com]

Elphaba had one of the fun-size bars. She looked at it, and wondered why it was considered 'fun'. It was Munchkin sized, perhaps. Munchkins weren't particularly fun, either. At least not to Elphaba.

She was not, however, hungry. So she looked around and said "If anyone doesn't have any and wants it, I will give you mine," she said.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara considered her chocolate bar thoughtfully, it wasn't that she didn't enjoy it, she just found she didn't like too much of it at one sitting.

She ended up slipping it into her empty agiel holster (feeling slightly ridiculous), it might be useful if one of those strange sparkly horned horses started following her around and saying blatantly untrue things again.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

The unicorn. Whimsy. Of course.

And as for the chocolate? That was more chocolate than he'd ever seen at one time in his life.

Logically, he knew sharing it would be the right thing to do. But then there was the fact that he'd spent the last eight years in an environment where if you had something someone else wanted, you couldn't expect to have it much longer.

So, yeah. That chocolate was getting eaten. And then William was going to go back to trying his very best to stay awake and listen to the rest of the lecture.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

Azula took the chocolate from under her chair and proceeded to eat.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall shrugged at the fun-sized bar he found. Whatever.

He was more concerned with the unicorn. It wasn't bothering him, yet, but he didn't like the cheerful way it kept looking at him.

Re: Listen to the lecture [9/30]

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

James looked and found nothing. He shrugged. If he wanted some, he could get some chocolate from the store or...by other means.

Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[sith_happened]

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

Of course, if you also want to hypothesize about where the rainbow came from, feel free...

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"First by finding out what the person they wish to manipulate likes and dislikes," Rosalind said, her voice level and cool. "And then comparing those lists against what they, the manipulator, can afford to spare in pursuit of their particular goals. Different goals require different measures and the effort needed to manipulate someone may not be worth it."

A pause.

"Some, too, are harder to manipulate even if you offer them something they adore." Which sounded a bit awkward on her tongue but Rosalind ignored that.

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

"Is there a difference between envy and greed?", asked Zatanna, although more to herself than to anyone else. "If I was envious of someone with a chocolate bar, seeing how I didn't get one, I would probably be a little more hostile; you know, envious. But if I activelly worked to get a chocolate bar for myself, even if it meant to do, um, unholy alliances, that would be greed. I don't need to be have envy to have greed. And it sound as if people usually manipulate the greedy ones."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Playing on someone's need to keep up with others?" Scully asked, as the unicorn nuzzled her hair. She set her jaw, and resisted the urge to swat it. "It's classic advertising. 'Everyone has this, you should have it to.'"

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"I suppose mockery comes to mind," Wesley said, totally thinking of someone he knew. "By making somebody feel, er, insufficient or somehow lacking by not having something they want, one can make them more... er, malleable."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

"Most of my own experience," William said, trying his best to stifle a yawn, "has been that those who are bigger and stronger often take things from the ones who cannot defend themselves, and then seek to taunt them with the knowledge that their own property is now in someone else's possession."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[azuldragon.livejournal.com]

"Envy is a very easy thing to capitalize on," Azula said. One of the unicorns complimented her hair and she accepted this with an imperious smile. She might not even kick them for the fun of it. "I do want to ask where these creatures spring from."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[nohaircutsplz]

Medusalith didn't know much about envy, personally. Jealousy was more her game, and there was a subtle, but important difference. "I suppose you could...make it appear that you can give them that which they envy?" she suggested. "Or hold it over them that you have it and they don't."

Re: Answer the discussion question [9/30]

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

"Envy is pointless," Squall grumbled. "And it makes people do stupid things. If a person has something that other people wish they had, the weak-minded fools will sometimes follow them around and fawn all over them, like it can somehow rub off on them."

Talk to the TAs [9/30]

[sith_happened]

If they aren't too busy fending off the unicorn compliments.

Re: Talk to the TAs [9/30]

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

What? Just a fun-sized chocolate bar? Man, that was a ripoff, and Kennedy thought-- to hell with logic here-- she should've gotten the big one on the basis of being TA. (Kennedy had issues with entitlement. Surprise.)

The unicorn's effusive compliments weren't disabusing her of this notion at all. At all.

Talk to Anakin [9/30]

[sith_happened]

Who, after class, will be showing the unicorn holos of Juliet and wondering if he should bring her to the island. Don't little girls love unicorns or something?

OOC

[sith_happened]

It is nasty outside, you guys.

Re: OOC

[seaweed-demigod.livejournal.com]

It's FREAKING AWFUL. I'm surprised your power's not out!