fandomhigh | Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 3, Thursday, 1-20

Today, class was meeting in the Danger Shop, which was only because Alex's students might want to speak with individuals themselves. ~~and so I can play with NPC icons~~

"Last night was a busy one, in your country," she said, once everyone had filed in to a replica of their usual classroom. "You asked the patrol guards to keep their eyes open for any suspicious or questionable activity, and they found a fair amount. The official tally is on the blackboard."

The tally, on the blackboard, was in no particular order and read as follows:

• Two men engaged in a barfight; both were injured, one seriously.
• An alleged would-be burglar entered the home of a resident. The resident fired a gun at the presumed burglar. The presumed burglar is in critical condition.
• A homeless man stole several food items, at gunpoint, from a grocery store.
• A woman discovered her husband in bed with another woman, and stabbed him.
• A CEO hired an assassin to kill the CEO of the company's chief competitor; the hitman succeeded.
• Two adult siblings engaged in what both claim was consensual sex.
• A woman has been printing and mailing out a newsletter which insults you and spreads lies about your regime.
• A man gave a prostitute money in exchange for sexual favors.

"The patrol guards placed these people in separate cells. This is where the real fun starts. None of what happened last night was, technically speaking, illegal. We haven't instituted a formal rule of law yet. That doesn't mean we can't punish any or all of those people, if we see fit to do so, but it does remind us that we might want to put together some laws, and announce them to the populace at large. The populace won't automatically follow all of your rules, but it's nice for them to at least know what's against the law, and what punishment is assigned each crime.

"Leaving aside the issue of retroactive legality -- this is a thought experiment, so we can do that easily enough -- which of these people broke the law last night? What mitigating circumstances do we want to take into effect, when issuing punishment? And what exactly are we going to punish our citizens with? Death? Exile? Imprisonment?"

Alex nodded to the doorway on the side of the room. "We can summon anyone you like, for you to speak with, in case you'd like to get a clearer view of the facts of these cases. Next week, we're going to talk big picture, putting down rules and coming up with guidelines, instituting a police presence and determining the fate of criminals. This week? We're going to handle just these cases. Who broke the law, what law should we have in place to guard against that behavior, and what punishment should the guilty receive?"

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"Fight fire with fire," Alexander said, "and serve to them what they themselves are serving. If, that is, the activity is indeed conflicting with the well-being of the society as a whole. A bar fight is just par for the course, I would believe, though if I had a man on my side who was more likely to succeed than others, that might discourage it from happening too often. And who am I to hold it against a man for deposing a...CEO or evil wizard or tyrannical dragon if it is best for everyone? I myself have done such things. But if a man is causing tyranny in disposing of innocents, then it is my duty to make sure that he is disposed of, as well."

"Does your response change based on the CEO's motivation?" Alex asked. "I don't think he was concerned with the good of the populace. More the good of his particular business, and ridding it of a key competitor."

"Perhaps that competitor could have done well to be more vigilant, then," Alexander reasoned. "After all, one cannot expect to be in a position of power without putting himself at certain risks."

"True," Alex said. "I suppose that would certainly lead to a Darwinian competition among the business types."

"My apologies," Alexander admitted with a faint, bashful smile, "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that term..."

Alex offered him a smile in return. "Survival of the fittest," she said. "Only the strong survive, that sort of thing."

Which wasn't technically what Darwin had been advocating, but everyone seemed to use the term as a shorthand, anyway. Alex wasn't going to confuse the matter by going into that.

"Where I'm from," Alexander offered, "that sounds a bit on how things just are. There are dark times, of course, but the heroic are strong and survive past the adversity into prosperity."

Alex was nodding again. "It leads to a bit of chaos," she said. "But it does create a ruthless sort of efficiency. And in dark times, chaos can be lower, or even nonexistent, on the priority scale."

Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 3, Thursday, 1-20

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03

Re: Discussion - Punishment - NAT03