Ethics [Tuesday, August 28, 2012]

[sith_happened]

When Ethics began, the desks, instead of being set up in the usual rows typical of a classroom, had been shoved to the sides, and a long line of white tape had been stuck down the middle of the room. The instructor was also nowhere to be seen.

This served a purpose: breaking the students' preconceived idea about what a class devoted to ethics might be about, and setting them up for nervous chatting before Anakin arrived.

He did, precisely two mintues late, clicking the door shut behind him. "Welcome to Ethics," he said. "I'm Master Anakin Skywalker. Please set yourselves up along that white line."

He waited until all of the students were lined up before explaining. "There's a philosopher from this world named John Rawls, who believes that most reasonable principles of justice are those everyone would accept and agree to from a fair position. In Fandom especially, we are coming from a variety of cultures and traditions to examine ethical dilemmas, and so the idea of a 'fair position' is a bit of a moving target. The choice that might be right for you might be completely contrary to my own life experiences, but that will not make your point of view less valid."

Anakin began pacing, his cloak swirling around his ankles as he did so. "Rawls believed that to come to this fair position, a magical 'veil of ignorance' must be put into place in order to erase everyone's knowledge of their places in society." He smiled a little wryly. "I'm not saying that at some point, Fandom might not do that sort of work for us and erase your memories of who and what you are, but today we're going to conduct an exercise that's slightly less drastic--one that will make you examine the parts of your life you might take for granted, and how that affects your view on the world."

He glanced down at 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

[suitably_heroic]

Atton took a step back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[failsatspirit]

Korra didn't move.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

That was one benefit to being a baker's son. Peeta stayed where he was, but frowned because he knew firsthand that he was lucky in that department.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[myownface]

Sparkle was starting to feel a bit anxious by this point. Making a break for the door would, if nothing else, make him feel a little less like he was being put on the spot, even if everyone else here was going through the same.

But he stepped back, anyhow.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[pursuedthestars]

After finally taking one step, Jim didn't move this time. He'd been pretty well cared for in that realm of things. Food hadn't been an issue.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[nottrivial]

Alec didn't move and wound up staring at the floor for this one. Call it privilege guilt.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[childhood-taunt.livejournal.com]

Matt flushed a bit at this one. His dad always did what he could to put food on the table but...

Matt took a step back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[notyetplatypus.livejournal.com]

Chaz was always, always hungry. He took a step back, turning funny colors.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

There had been hungry times, but that was because the harvests were poor, not because they were. Sholeh stayed where she was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

Miriam sighed and took another step back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[notconflicted]

Sia got to stay in place on this one, too.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

Being on a mission (or an ill-advised adventure) didn't count, so Anakin stayed where he was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, nope. Staying put.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[monkeymonkeydie.livejournal.com]

Bucky had to skip meals ALL the time. For definitions of "skip" that included "wait an hour or two because it's not dinner time yet".

So he moved back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 5

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

Jessica had spent nearly a year on her own after she broke loose. There were some hungry nights in that year. She stepped back.