fandomhigh | Ethics Class [Thursday, January 6, 1st period]

Anakin stalked through the classroom doorway precisely on time, his cloak swooping ~~overdramatically~~ in his wake. "I am Master Anakin Skywalker," he said as his eyes made contact with every student in the room, "and this is Ethics. Most teachers are spending this week making introductions. I do things slightly differently."

He began passing out a short story. "There's a very famous story on this world of the lady or the tiger. For those of you not from here, the short version is that there was a fictional king with his own sense of justice: instead of a court system, he had an arena with two doors. Behind one door was a beautiful woman, handpicked by the king. Behind the other was a tiger. If you chose the tiger, you were eaten and declared guilty. If you chose the lady, you were considered innocent and immediately married to the lady. The king didn't care about your previous marital status or sexual orientation, apparently."

He leaned back against his desk, though the posture of his back showed that he wasn't very comfortable with the idea of relaxing. "One day the king discovered that his daughter had been having an affair with someone far below her station, so the man was arrested and tossed into the arena. Now the princess knew which door had what behind it, and her lover looked up to her for advice. She had two choices: watch her love die, or watch him marry another woman. The story ends with the princess telling him which door to open, but leaves us hanging as to what waited behind it."

Anakin smiled. "Your task today is two-fold. First, pair up with a classmate--pick someone you haven't met yet--and decide what the princess did. Then tell me what you would have done in the princess's place."

He glanced around the room. "And I am looking for a teacher's aid or two if any of you are interested."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And what would you have done?

Blackagar held up a handy notepad for his response. Oh, the hardships of not having Medusa there to translate. Is this lower class partner I have hypothetically chosen physically inferior than me?

Anakin thought about it, then replied, "Would you choose someone physically inferior?"

I do not believe the Genetic Council would choose poorly for me.

Possibly meaning: choose someone not Medusa. But that could just be wishful thinking. Oh, Marvel.

But if it is my own choice, no.

"Then let's say, no, they aren't physically inferior," Anakin decided, blinking a little at the "Genetic Council" part.

Yeah, you get used to the crazy.

Then, should I be willing to rebel against my father that much, I would choose the tiger. My chosen partner would undoubtedly be able to kill the tiger while I usurp the throne. Purely hypotheticallly.

"It'd certainly make for an interesting afternoon," Anakin agreed.

He'd been in Fandom too long to doubt that someone could kill the tiger without weapons.

I'm certain more planning than an afternoon would have gone into it.

...Yeeeaaah. Just go with it, Anakin.

Anakin nodded. "Though there's something to be said for spur-of-the moment plans, too."

This from the man who'd ended up tied to a post and almost fed to giant Jedi-eating monsters, if it hadn't been for his girlfriend and her hairpin.

Meanwhile, Blackagar was more the 'ponder everything until the last possible minute and then move a city to the fucking moon' type.

That does not sound safe.

"Well, even a well-thought out plan with a tiger isn't going to be safe," Anakin countered.

Curse you and your logic!

You have given the situation. I merely extrapolated my motivations and actions from there. Had I truly wished to wed an undesirable, I would have waited to take the throne and rallied my cousins to rise up and destroy the Genetic Council. Which would have been unwise as they have kept our people safe for thousands of years.

Sigh, Blackagar. Sigh.

Anakin smiled. "Fair enough. Most systems of government aren't based on tigers."

No, here they seem to favour yelling incoherently and doing very little.

He didn't watch much TV, but when he did it was C-SPAN.

Re: Answer the discussion question [1/6]

sith_happened - 2011-01-07 00:25 (UTC) - Expand

hotmugofstfu.livejournal.com - 2011-01-07 00:30 (UTC) - Expand

sith_happened - 2011-01-07 01:57 (UTC) - Expand

Rinoa looked like she didn't want to answer the question at all.

"I ... guess I'd have to pick lady," she said. "That's what you're supposed to say, isn't it?"

"I don't know," Anakin said. "I'm more interested in what you think than what you think everyone else might say."

Rinoa flushed. "I mean, it's ... if you're a good person, then you're supposed to say, of course I want him to be happy, I want him to marry someone else and I hope they fall madly in love and ... that he forgets about me."

Weren't you? Because that was nice and noble and all those other things people pretended to be.

"But then he'll never ever be with you," Anakin said. "It's a legitimate choice. You can choose the tiger."

"Then ... I choose the tiger," she said, still not sure that didn't say something horrible about her. "He wouldn't be happy, and neither would she, and ... if I let him marry her, then I'm almost complicit in this. If my father wants to kill the man I love, then he should do it and not make a game out of it."

Anakin nodded. "Fair enough."

She could have left it there, but this was Ethics, and she should try to be honest, and ... well.

"A-and I couldn't stand it," she added, softly. "If he loved her. That would be worse, than if he died."

That was possibly the worst thing she'd ever admitted out loud.

He looked sympathetic. "I get that," he admitted.

Momoko knew the answer to this one! "I'd totally choose the lady. No question."

"Why?" Anakin asked.

Momoko looked at Professor Skywalker like he'd come to class without product in his hair.

"Why? Because I don't want to kill him; I love him!" Momoko may identify a bit too much with romance stories. "Just because I can't be with him doesn't mean anything. I still want him to be happy and alive and maybe I can at least see him sometimes that way."