fandomhigh | The Art of Pacifism; Tuesday, Fifth Period [ 02/08 ].

When the students came into their classroom today, they'd find a text sitting beside their mugs of cocoa. "My duckings ♥," Shunsui said with a pleased smile once everyone got settled, "I have quite a treat for you today ♥! Today, we are going to be discussing one of my favourite pieces of literature, besides, of course, my own book ♥. Written by a very smart and clever Greek by the name of Aristophanes, this play is a political satire against the Peloponnesian War of Ancient Greece, where the illustrious woman of the play's title comes up with a most intriguing solution to peace: she rallies up the women of the Grecian world to form a pact to finally bring an end to the war by withholding sex. Devastating, I know ♥! But incredibly effective; as the play itself points out, a man cannot concentrate on swinging his sword when his other sword needs swinging ♥.

"It's a classic example of the 'make love, not war' philosophy that had such vital life in the 1960s ♥. It was the Vietnam War rather than the Peloponnesian War, then, and it was an actual movement instead of a parody play designed to make a point, but the idea is the same: it is much better to offer our fellow brothers and sisters love rather than war ♥.

"Naturally, thought the play is short, I cannot expect for you to all have it read by the end of the class and still have time to discuss it, so I have given you each a copy to take home and read over the week. We will discuss the idea of love over war today, and then again next week after you've had a chance to read through the text and see if it manages to influence your opinion any ♥. Today's discussion, then, shall be a broader one: does love have any place in war? Is it necessary to have love to keep a war humane? Or is there no such thing as humane war, and therefor, love could only interfere with the success of a war? The play was written to make people laugh, but it suggests that the world is a better place when people spend more time with each other than with their weapons ♥. The war is a senseless waste of time, money, and resources, when peaceful times are spent building the nation; wars not only break the nation, but it also disturbs families and relationships. And, of course, in unity, there is strength ♥. This could be said for either side of the coin, but isn't it much better to have that unity in peace rather than war ♥?

"When the Chorus of Men claim, 'There is no beast, no rush of fire, like woman so untamed. She calmly goes her way where even panthers would be shamed,' the Chorus of Women proclaim in response, 'And yet you are fool enough, it seems, to dare to war with me, when for your faithful ally you might win me easily.' Perhaps it is just me, but it seems to ask, Why go into war when peace could easily be an option ♥? Or is it not so easy? Is holding back something...anything...that the other party might need, be it sex or be it goods or resources or hostages or treasures, and refusing to give it back without the promise of peace a nefarious course of action ♥? Or is any means of achieving peace acceptable means ♥?

"'We love peace, but not peace at any price,' says Douglas Jerrold, and Marvin Gaye, another personal favourite, informs us that 'War is not the answer, because only love can conquer hate.' But where do you stand on the place of love in war ♥?"

[[ OCD is, like soldiers of Athens, up ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Making love, not war.

Gabrielle ~~omg picking an icon for this was hard~~

Andrew Wiggin

Jeremy Darling

Chuck Bartowski

Squall Leonhart

Tara Maclay

Makita

Blackagar Boltagon

Bruce Wayne

Anduin Wrynn

Jenny Sparks

Raven

You've got cocoa and a dirty play (http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/lysistrata/summary.html) to leaf through should you get bored, or if you're just distracted by thinking it couldn't be that dirty, but then you'd be wrong.

This week was definitely pushing the romance. Or dirtiness, in the case of this play, which Chuck half flicked through before deciding he stood a better chance of coming out of this without ending up bright pink if he just closed it again.

Cocoa it was then!

... Yeah, Jeremy was going to be engrossed in the play for much of the class, after having flipped through it once he started getting bored.

Dude.

Squall leafed through the play and snorted. Clearly, this Aristophanes person had never been at war.

Tara gratefully sipped her cocoa as she leafed through the play. This was a nice, happy class to come back to school with.

And, as usual, Shunsui wants to know what you think about what he's had to say and what other might have to say about it, too. What is love ~~baby don't hurt me~~ in a world of war? Does it have a place at all? Is it necessary, or a distraction, or a dream?

Squall's thinking on love had changed a lot in the past few months. Before, he would have called it stupid and pointless.

"Love is part of being human," he pointed out. "It's going to be present during war whether you want it to or not. It clouds people's judgment, which is bad, but it also can inspire, which is good. And it can make a person more likely to be merciful, and whether that's good or bad is debatable. Also, it's each soldier's responsibility to keep their emotions in check and follow orders. Love is part of that."

He shrugged. "But you said the play isn't about love, it's about sex. That's completely different, and not at all relevant to war one way or the other."

Shunsui grinned a little. "I wouldn't say they're completely different ♥," he said thoughtfully. "And it isn't just about sex; it focuses in particular in sex between a husband and a wife, as a foundation for a family, and family is..."

Here, Shunsui trailed off and grinned again. "Well, I'll let you read it first; it is about sex, yes, but not just sex."

"So... People who are married need sex in a way that people who aren't don't? Usually, people say it's the other way around." Squall shrugged. "And I realize Aristophanes was trying to make a point, but it's still stupid to suggest that a war got resolved because no one knew how to masturbate."

"He says, as if sex and masturbation are quite on the same level ♥," Shunsui said, shaking his head in a gesture of disapproval. "Don't tell me this generation is so jaded on romance and love to truly believe such things. You'll break my heart, Squall ♥."

"I didn't say they were," Squall countered. "But anyone weak-willed and hedonistic enough to have their judgment compromised after a few months without sex doesn't have the temperament to be a soldier."

"And therefor," mused Shunsui, "has no business in a war in the first place ♥!"

Of course he's available to talk to in private before or after class, as well!

If you have not read Lysistrata before, you should. You so, so should.

Dirty, dirty Ancient Greeks. Some of it makes even me blush; I love it.

The Art of Pacifism; Tuesday, Fifth Period [ 02/08 ].

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