Ethics Class #5, Friday morning, 8-10am

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Tara looks tired but happy as the students come in. She wears a scarf around her neck that doesn't quite cover a greenish-purple bruise.

"Last week we looked at power and responsibility. The first hour is an extension of that. I want you to divide into two groups. If your name has an odd number of letters, you're in Group A." She waves to one side of the classroom to indicate that the group should congregate there. "If your name has an even number of letters," waving to the other side of the classroom, "you're in Group B. Go."

Comments

Before class starts

[brambless.livejournal.com]

Post your arrival and before class discussions here.

Re: Before class starts

[sensethevisions]

When Phoebe sees Tara, she looks relieved.

Re: Before class starts

[demonbelthazor]

Belthazor slinks into class, avoiding Tara's eyes.

Re: Before class starts

[wraithbaitjohn.livejournal.com]

Comes in and flops into a chair. For once he's not late.

Re: Before class starts

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka arrived at class looking not at all well. Her eyes were haunted as she took a seat near Bel and Phoebe but saying nothing.

Re: Before class starts

[absolutesnark]

Piper arrives in class and takes her usual seat.

Re: Before class starts

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Mornin', teach," Angelus said as he came in, not quite awake enough yet. He nursed a cappucino.

Re: Before class starts

[sooo_cute]

Quinn takes her seat.

Re: Before class starts

[http://users.livejournal.com/_gottahavefaith/]

Faith shows up to class, an eyepatched and pirate hatted parrot on her shoulder.

Re: Before class starts

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

Callisto turns up to class, looking a bit like she wants to go curl up and have a nap in the Emo ClLoset

Re: Before class starts

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker arrives and takes a seat, yawning.

Re: Before class starts

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Charlie arrived a little late, throwing Tara an apologetic look.

Group A

[brambless.livejournal.com]

[ooc: If your name has an odd number of letters, you're in Group A. If not? Don't you be reading this until you've answered your own question, okay?]

"Okay folks, this is your scenario. Your loved one is suffering - a horrible event or memory that is tearing them apart. You have the ability to remove the memory of that event, excising it from their mind like a cancer. Assuming you must make this decision on your own, without any cue of what your loved one wants - what do you do?"

Re: Group A

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Leave it in," Angelus said. "Pain's felt for a reason. Taking it out interrupts the whole process."

[ooc: Angelus? Be contrary to Angel? Never!]

Re: Group A

[absolutesnark]

"As much as I would hate to see a loved one suffering from a horrible memory, I wouldn't remove it. Instead, I would try to help my loved one deal with the pain."

Re: Group A

[sooo_cute]

"I'm not dealing with them being mad at me if I did the wrong thing," Quinn says. "I'd leave it in and take them to therapy. I hear hypnosis works wonders."

Re: Group A

[http://users.livejournal.com/_gottahavefaith/]

"Nothing. Well, not nothing, I mean- like, try to help them get through it on their own, and stuff. But taking it away from them? That's super shitty. The crappy things in life suck, but they make you who you are. You can't like, do that to someone without even asking first." Faith makes a face. "That's like, hardcore invasion of privacy."

"Shiver me timbers!" the parrot squawks. "Wenches!"

Re: Group A

[forlornslayer.livejournal.com]

Buffy doesn't even think very long before answering the question.

"I do not mess with their mind or their memory. We supposedly grow stronger from pain and we learn from it. As much as I may...love...the person that is being torn apart by this event or memory, I don't have the right to mess with their mind in such a personal way. It'd be a violation of trust."

Group B

[brambless.livejournal.com]

[ooc: If your name has an even number of letters, you're in Group B. If not? Don't you be reading this until you've answered your own question, okay?]

"Alright, here's your scenario. You discover that someone you love and trust has erased a portion of your memory. You do not remember giving consent to this, and you have no knowledge whatsoever of what it was they removed. What is your reaction? How do you feel?"

Re: Group B

[wraithbaitjohn.livejournal.com]

*counts on his fingers* S-H-E-P-P-A-R-D... 8, so even then.

I guess my first reaction is intense curiousity. If this is someone I love and trust in all other situations, then I'm going to assume I can trust them in this too. But I'd want to know what was erased and why. If this is someone I'm able to love and trust than this is also someone who wouldn't take something like this lightly. There must have been something serious on the line. My life, or possibly my sanity. Maybe someone else's.

I'd be a little anxious until someone could answer my questions about whether or not this is a part of my memory that I'm going to need in order to function or not - did I forget my 5th birthday party or how to drive a car? One has a larger impact on the way I live my life right now than the other does. And I'd probably get a little aggitated until someone could tell me why (and, knowing me, how) it was done.

Re: Group B

[demonbelthazor]

Belthazor cheated, counting the letters in "Cole" so he could be in the same group as Phoebe and Beka.

Re: Group B

[demonbelthazor]

After waiting a few minutes to make sure Tara wasn't going to boot him out of Group B, Bel answered the question. "I think I'd be angry at first. I don't like the thought of a portion of my memory missing. But if it was someone I really trusted -- I'd have to wonder if I asked them to do it for some reason. There are some things that someone may have done that they don't want to remember...."

Second hour

[brambless.livejournal.com]

"Time's up, folks. Back into a big group, and we're discussing your respective scenarios. This one is a class discussion - I want you talking with each other, not with me."

[ooc: which means replying to the last comment in the main thread (although I expect there to be some breakoffs for individual discussion and argument) instead of replying to this one.]

Re: Second hour

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe is still thinking about the question and the question from the other group that she had heard them discussing.

Emo Closet

[brambless.livejournal.com]

If you need it, it's here.

OOC Discussion

[brambless.livejournal.com]

As always, if this hits any of your RL buttons, as opposed to your character's buttons, I need to know immediately. Failing that, feel free to direct your snark and peanut-gallery-ness here.