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 - 8

[sith_happened]

"If you were raised in an area where there was prostitution, drug activity, or violent crime, take one step back. If you were raised in an active war zone, take two steps back."

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[suitably_heroic]

... yeah, okay, Atton could take those two steps and he wouldn't even be lying about it to any degree.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[failsatspirit]

Korra stood still, yay for certainty?

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

Nope, Peeta stayed where he was. District 12 was pretty safe for the most part, though he knew that was out of fear.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[myownface]

And that was one more step back for Sparkle. Good times.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[pursuedthestars]

Jim took a step back.

Yep, even Iowa had a seedy underbelly.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[nottrivial]

Well, from a Nephilim's mentality, all of New York City was a warzone. Demon war. You know.

Two steps back for Alec.

And there was that line again.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[childhood-taunt.livejournal.com]

Matt smirked slightly. He almost took two steps back because... well he did grow up in Hell's Kitchen.

He just took one step back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[notyetplatypus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Chas was not meeting anyone's eyes as he took another step back.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Well, there was Renna, of Renna Savvi a Sherin, who was a bit of a lightskirt, but by this point, Sholeh was pretty sure she didn't count. She stayed put, glancing behind to see where everyone else was--and then quickly looking forward again.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

And back one more went Miriam.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[notconflicted]

Yeah, Sia could take two steps back here.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

. . . when, at any point in Anakin's life, had there not been some kind of armed conflict? Maybe not an all-out galactic war, but there was always something. Because look at the canon name.

Two steps back it was.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[nomelancholy.livejournal.com]

Now this was a question Ulrik had a bit of trouble with. His early childhood had been fairly safe, but then he'd spent some time with Gustav Adolf's army, at an age that he knew most would consider him still a child.

In the end, he stayed where he was. Actively seeking out battle seemed to go against the spirit of the question.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[monkeymonkeydie.livejournal.com]

Bucky moved back once. Suburban Boston was SCARY.

Re: Experiment in Privilege - 8

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

Jessica took one step back. Even if her original 'home' didn't turn into a chaotic mess, she was still from New York. Come on.