Ethics [Tuesday, October 18, 2011, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

"Welcome back," Anakin said, striding to the front of the class--where the students' desks had been pushed against the walls--to lean against the blackboard. "Today we move away from Kant and onto an American philosopher named John Rawls. He's a more modern philosopher, and the main tenet of Rawlsianism is that most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position. The question, naturally, then turns into 'what is a fair position' and his use of something called the veil of ignorance that magically makes everyone unaware of their positions in society in order to determine if something is fair or not."

He pushed off of the wall and paced down the center of the room. "Rawls also argues that even meritocracy—a distributive system that rewards effort—doesn’t go far enough in leveling the playing field because those who are naturally gifted will always get ahead. Furthermore, says Rawls, the naturally gifted can’t claim much credit because their success often depends on factors as arbitrary as birth order or how you were raised as a child."

He waved his hand, indicating the students should form a line in the center of the classroom. "Today we'll conduct a little experiment in demonstrating privilege. Afterwards, I want you to discuss if such things matter in Fandom like they do back in your home universes, and if not, why not."

He reached for a piece of paper. "Let's begin."

Comments

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[sith_happened]

"If you ever had to skip a meal or were hungry because there was not enough money to buy food when you were growing up, take one step back."

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[godgavemecable.livejournal.com]

Even leaving aside shitty group homes and getting his meals stolen... there had been the three months he'd been living on the street before Fandom. So, yeah. Another step back. And then some nervous glancing around to see if anyone else had done so.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[walkswithcoyote]

She stayed where she was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[wasthecuteone]

The island didn't count; even if they'd had money there was nowhere to buy food. So Petra stayed where she was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi glared at Anakin. Not funny, Professor Skywalker. And took a step back, resigned.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[knight-fatali.livejournal.com]

Seifer couldn't remember before the orphanage, so he figured that didn't count. And Garden took good care of its students, so he stayed where he was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[i-am-the-rat.livejournal.com]

"What if you had the money for food, but you had to skip meals because you were locked in a cage by lava creatures, or lizard men, or cave people, or supervillains, or just because you were lost in the jungle?"

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[hoorayimrich.livejournal.com]

Forgetting to eat while working on an experiment didn't count on this, he was guessing. So, Tony stayed where he was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[sedlexduralex.livejournal.com]

Jocelyn stayed where she was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[exactlyaverage.livejournal.com]

Jack stayed put. Yeah, he was pretty lucky compared to some people really.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[richieryan.livejournal.com]

His foster families had at least managed to feed him, and if they hadn't it hadn't been due to lack of money. When he'd given up on the system he'd managed to keep himself pretty well fed. So he stayed where he was, for now.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[holy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Lucrezia stayed where she was, one step ahead of the white line. And grateful to be there.