Advanced Criminal Justice (Class 2), Period 2, 01.12.05

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Tuesday was fun. Please, no 300-comments today. Knock about 100 off that total, please? Otherwise, good work. If you have Homework or EC from Tuesday, you can drop it off below. One note about fiction in this class: You can know that when Tick talks about Looney Tunes or Disney, he is talking about a fictional cartoon. Tick's take on it - a take that isn't wrong - is that these cartoons aren't fictional, they're just historical records from another dimension. Question his view to him and he will look at you funny. Class Info Post.]

The Tick stood behind the podium at the front of the class as usual. On the podium was a small plastic figurine of an anthropomorphic, gray rabbit. Lockheed was perched on his regular bookshelf.

"Hello, class! For the next week, we will be focusing on one individual and his relationship with that cute girl next door that we call Justice. This individual's name? Mr. Bugs Bunny." Tick held up the figurine. There may have been a Six Flags logo at the base. "Those of you who had class with me last semester may recognize this rascally little rabbit. He was one of the offenders in the Hunting Season Lecture. He is a busy guy with a lot of enemies, so we have plenty of reasons to talk about him."

"Today we will focus on his relationship with a Mr. Yosemite Sam. While we have previously discussed Mr. Bunny's reckless and devious - if not precisely criminal - behavior, it is, up to a certain point, difficult to blame him for instigating anything with this varmint. Mr. Sam is, quite frankly, a vile human being, obsessed with his own personal gain and is willing to attempt to murder innocents in this pursuit. I haven't seen any accounts of him successfully murdering - or even successfully shooting - anyone, but he always leads with his guns whenever someone poses a threat. Mr. Bunny often poses a threat, usually due to sheer coincidence."

"As we've seen time and again, there are repeated murder attempts that Mr. Bunny refuses to report to the police. Perhaps he likes to get out of trouble on his own. Perhaps he finds being shot at exciting. Perhaps he actually wants to die, but he hasn't found someone capable of actually shooting him. I can't speak for Mr. Bunny. But I can say that Mr. Sam has it in for him, coming back time and again even after falls that should have killed him! All to threaten Mr. Bunny some more."

"My question to you, class, is if you came across a clash between Mr. Bunny and Mr. Sam, how would you deal with the situation? Some questions you should think about but not necessarily answer before you give your response folow: Do you let them sort it out themselves? Arrest one? Send one or both to a counsellor of some sort? And when would you interfere? Would you take the chance and get inbetween them? Or would you take another chance and count on Mr. Bunny outsmarting Mr. Sam once again, hoping that both survive and you can confront each individual while they are momentarily alone?"

"Discuss, class!"

Comments

Re: Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Hmm... Interesting analysis, Callisto! But what if either Mr. Bunny or Mr. Sam were hurt while you stood by? And if it were a contest between gods, what does that mean in terms of Justice?"

[OOC: Just a note to students reading this: I try to avoid annoying follow-up questions. If I ask follow-ups, I'm doing it because I think it's a natural part of the conversation. I will never ask stupid follow-up questions just to do so. Unless it's funny. But that's something else entirely.]

Re: Talk

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"In the case of injury, it becomes a case of a superior force attacking a weaker, it would now be wrong to stay uninvolved. The gods don't recognise mortal concepts of Justice, they simply don't care that it would be unjust to use Mr Bunny and Mr Sam in that manner."

Re: Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

"Very interesting, Callisto! Well done! And you totally just gave me a topic that I will be using at some point in the not-too-distant-future. Mwahahaha."

Re: Talk

[janet_fraiser]

"Why would the gods use Yosemite Sam and Bugs Bunny to battle it out?" asked Janet.

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Because the fights with Medusa and every champion wanna-be weren't getting the ratings?" Angel suggested.

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam shrugged. "Well, it's not like you can just pick up a champion on any old street corner and give him an overarching destiny to save the world."

Re: Talk

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker snorted. "Wanna bet?"

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Oh, please, like that's remotely plausible," Sam shot back, "there's no way a guy like that is going to be as enthusiastic or driven as someone who gets into it on their own."

Re: Talk

[fates_jaye]

"Except in the movies, where the guy who doesn't want his destiny ends up having to suck it up and save the world because a family member or his girlfriend is at risk or something," Jaye shrugs. She really should get out more.

Re: Talk

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

"I'm not saying it's a good plan, I've just read enough prophecies to know that various entities love coercing poor schmucks into doing their dirty work for them. And depending on the level of belief and/or reward, they sometimes get what they want."

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Totally," Angel said. "I mean c'mon - how dumb would that be?"

Re: Talk

[mparkerceo.livejournal.com]

Parker snorts again, then winces.

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"It'd be ludicrous. Next thing you know, people would be calling themselves champions and the word would become completely overused no one would know who to look to in times of trouble. It'd be nothing but chaos."

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Exactly," Angel said. "Then it's like any idiot could call themselves a champion just because, I dunno, they fit the coat right. Besides, what's a champion do anyway? Sounds like some jerk who gets off on having a shiny title. Bet the real earth-saving's done by everyone around him."

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam started laughing. "Ooh, a unifying coat of champions theory? Is the coat technicolored?" She took a sip of coffee and sobered, "But yeah, everyone knows it's the unappreciated support staff that does the real work. Or there's a team that works together."

"One guy? He'd go nuts from the pressure." She sniffed. "What kind of screwy system is that?"

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Seriously! Plus, all your eggs in one basket much? It doesn't even make sense."

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Hmm. "Well, if the entity choosing the champion wants the poor guy to be doomed to failure for some stupid reason, that could do it?"

Re: Talk

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

"Probably. Especially considering how sadistic some of the folks handing out destinies are."

Re: Talk

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" She'd kind of tripped and fallen into her destiny, if you could even call it that. "I didn't realize."

Re: Talk

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

"'Destiny.'" Bridge interjects, "is usually just code for 'what someone else wants you to do without asking any inconvenient questions.'" He then tilts his head. "But then again, what do I know? Enrolling in SPD was my choice, not anyone else's."

Re: Talk

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin snorted from his spot in the back of the room, but offered no further comment.

Re: Talk

[bugofjustice.livejournal.com]

The Tick had surprisingly little to say on the subject of Destiny after last semester.

Re: Talk

[actingltcrumpet.livejournal.com]

"Because they were bored and thought it would be comical?"

Re: Talk

[can_be_more]

"Because Jake drank decaf?"

Re: Talk

[psycho-barbie.livejournal.com]

"Because the gods are petty and cruel, and they plague mankind with suffering? Or they just got really bored?"