Philosophy of Choice [Monday | Period 1]

[not_in_the_book]

"You're walking down the street," Ronan said, and around the class the Danger Shop took the appearance of a city street. "It's late-ish -- say ten o'clock. You're on your way to a club, or just leaving the theatre. Maybe you're meeting friends for coffee, or you just had dinner with your parents.

"And across the street, you hear someone shout for help. Looking over, you can see something going on in an alley across the street. What do you do?"

Ronan made a small gesture with his hand, and somewhere across the street, behind the crowds walking down the other sidewalk, a small scuffle began in the alleyway; someone screamed.

"If you're like most people," Ronan continued, "the more people who are around, the less likely that you'll help. This is called the 'bystander effect'."

The screams continued. "So," he said, raising an eyebrow at the class. "Are you going to help, or not?"

[Wait for OCD is up!]

Comments

Re: Debrief

[not_in_the_book]

Ronan snorted. "To be fair," he pointed out, "I think a lot of us probably didn't start the headlong charges until after we hit our teens. But I'm still amazed that I made it out of mine, sometimes."

Especially after that incident where he kind of threw the Spear of Light through his own chest.

"And sometimes, we'll judge that random person on the street to be worth dying for -- but that doesn't make that the right choice for everyone."

Re: Debrief

[myownface]

Sparkle just wrinkled his nose and patted his pockets down to see if maybe he had his smokes on him. No luck. Damn it.

"Everybody here is insane. Everybody. Completely cracked. Nobody has to die in this situation. What, are people that desperate to die heroes around here? Get a nice writeup in the paper, maybe some kind of pretty poem on their headstone?"

It was the only explanation. Had to be.

Sparkle did not understand you people.

Re: Debrief

[not_in_the_book]

"I've been called that before," Ronan admitted. "And, hey, I've died before. Not many people would have known about it -- no nice write-up, no pretty poem.

"I'm not saying it's the right choice. But it's a right choice, sometimes. You're right -- I don't think anyone has to die in this situation, and running into it without thinking is a fast way to get dead for most people. This just... isn't really an island of 'most people'."

Re: Debrief

[myownface]

"Right," Sparkle grumbled, shaking his head and giving up on the smokes, settling for the next best thing. He pulled a sparkler from his pocket and lit it. "Codenames and spandex. Magic spells. Where I come from, dead means dead, you don't get a second chance. So, shit, if everyone else has the luxury of burning up their first one, all power to them."

Somebody wasn't feeling a serious case of powers envy or anything, here. Honest.