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

"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."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A pause.

Probably more video games, Topher answered honestly.

Heard you got your ass handed to you. Maybe it's time to stop.

Ender cheated!

No, he hadn't.

I don't actually care about the details, Peter informed him.

Also, he was not very nice, Topher complained, ignoring that request. He followed that up with a simple, mature expression of his feelings on that subject.

:(

For some reason, Peter thought he was hilarious for texting, Sorry, did my little brother make you cry?

No! Nor had any physical damage been done. FYI. But he didn't wanna talk about the Ben thing.

It was maddening!

I don't know why you're even yammering on about that, Peter replied. What, you think Tony is going to exhibit spontaneous conversion due to prolonged contact with them? Because I can tell you, that's not how it works.

Topher was just going to turn around and gape at Peter in a combination of horror and puppyish disappointment.

Peter, why?!

Peter shrugged with both of his shoulders. It was a legitimate question!

Edited 2011-10-19 03:59 (UTC)

I don't think that!

He kind of thought that. A little.

As long as you don't wander off into that delusional neck of the woods, son, Peter wrote wisely.

Yes, he was calling Topher 'son'. Trying it out, as it were.

Or maybe just making fun of him. Either or.

Topher took an especially long time writing his response, because he kept having to delete things and try again.

~~I didn't!~~ No, that wasn't right. ~~I'm not!~~ Still no. Shut up!

There. That was better.

That was not as witty as you thought it was, Peter wrote.

Well, this wasn't working. Clearly they needed another strategy to get Topher off this for his own good.

Who says I thought it was witty?

A familiarity with his behavioral patterns, mostly.

Edited 2011-10-19 04:13 (UTC)

You spent five minutes trying to come up with it.

No! I was texting other people!

Now that was just absurd.

There was really only one answer to that. Who?

So maybe it amused Peter to watch Topher squirm.

Fortunately, Topher had a go-to other person!

Kenzi.

Too bad she was also in this class and not currently on her phone ~~I hope~~. He realized this seconds after sending the text, then hastily hit the cancel button repeatedly, but to no avail.

Crap.

I think the legal term is 'busted', Peter wrote.

Typo! I meant Ben.

Yes. Obviously.

Oh, of course, Peter wrote, After all, those names have two letters in common.

The look he sent Topher clearly read 'stop digging deeper, dumbass'.

Edited 2011-10-19 04:23 (UTC)

That's two-thirds of Ben's name.

In case Peter wasn't aware.

But sadly not the first letter of his name, Peter wrote back. Stop digging, Brink.

...digging what?

He was so confused over here. So confused.

Re: Chat before class [10/18]

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