fandomhigh | Ethics [Thursday, September 30]

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.

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"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."

"And how would that serve as an effective tactic?" Anakin replied. "If the question isn't too dull for you," he added.

"Dull?" William blinked sleepily. "Oh, no, it's not. I just had rather a late night..." he stammered. Or perhaps more accurately, he hadn't even slept yet. Thanks, Sherlock. "Anyway," he continued on an attempt to salvage what dignity he had, "telling someone that you'll return their possessions if they do as you ask was one method." he shrugged. "Of course, some were given to simply destroying things, just to remind everyone else of who had power and who did not."

Edited 2010-09-30 20:24 (UTC)

Anakin smiled. "A parent's last resort," he said. "Two children fight over the same toy, so now no one has it."

Ethics [Thursday, September 30]

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