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

Group Discussion!

[sith_happened]

"Does this experiment really mean anything, given our unique location?" Anakin asked. "Are there questions you think would help to clarify a more Fandom-standard starting point, and then we could deviate ahead and behind from there?"

[OOC: Make it messy, folks!]

Re: Group Discussion!

[failsatspirit]

Korra rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I don't know that all of the questions made sense," Korra said. "They seemed to assume everyone was coming from the same place or something."

Re: Group Discussion!

[district12baker.livejournal.com]

"I think that the questions were better suited for this time period and location. I'm not sure if it's possible to come up with a set of questions that everybody could relate to," Peeta said. "Not that's necessarily bad. I couldn't really relate to the questions at all, but it's for reasons that I wouldn't wish on anybody else."

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"No," Sparkle ground out, with his seven steps back and a look on his face that suggested that he was regretting not walking out of the room on question number one. "I don't think the experiment means anything no matter where you're at. What's the point of showing off who's more messed up than everyone else? Is it like, oh, hey, that kid didn't have food or books or encouragement in life, so that guy that took like a dozen steps forward can feel better about himself now, or what?"

Oh god. Sorry, Anakin.

Re: Group Discussion!

[nottrivial]

"I don't think that's the point," Alec volunteered quietly, looking up from where he'd been not-so-subtly eyeing a rune on his hand. "I think it's meant to give the professor context on where we're coming from. Not make any of us feel better about ourselves."

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"Easy to say when you're standing on it, isn't it?" Sparkle had a bit of growl in his voice, but there was hardly any heat behind it. Okay, so the kid wasn't seven freaking steps back. But he seemed to feel awkward enough about it, so... he wouldn't go for the jugular or anything. "I could have just told him where I was coming from, no audience necessary."

He wouldn't have, because Sparkle and half-truths and tall tales went together like chocolate syrup on a sundae. But he could.

Re: Group Discussion!

[nottrivial]

"It might simplify things for him to see it all at once?" Alec guessed, glancing over at Anakin in hopes of a hint as to whether or not he was on the right track. "And it-- helps the rest of us know what things to be careful about. When we speak."

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"Yeah, well, some of us and what's left of our pride might not give a shit what people talk about," Sparkle grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "If I wanted people to be careful talking to me, I'd tell 'em. And if I catch anyone walking on eggshells because I took so many steps back I'll punch them in the mouth."

... He probably would, too.

Re: Group Discussion!

[nottrivial]

Alec just shrugged. "Just an idea," he said, visibly withdrawing. "Didn't mean to be offensive."

Re: Group Discussion!

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

If anyone other than Sparkle had said it, Sholeh wouldn't have spoken up. But it was Sparkle and he'd flung her over his shoulder not four days ago. Surely he wouldn't snap at her for venturing an opinion?

=He is kind of capricious, though.=

*Hush, Zeela,* Zhahar scolded. *Or she'll never say anything at all!*

"It might be more for us than him," she said, and though she was speaking up, she wasn't doing so loudly. "We can kind of look at one another and see us all spread out and maybe realize that we're going to all have different opinions on things. Not just because we come from different times and places, but because of where we are in regards to this line, too. You and I will believe differently because we come from different landscapes, but you and someone from your Toronto might, too, if he were closer to this side of the line. And maybe he and I would share beliefs in common, even though we're different, because of that similar upbringing."

Even if Sholeh wasn't entirely sure this was where she belonged. Some of the questions were a bit...vague.

"There are a bunch of ways people can be grouped. This one is a little less obvious than some of the others, I guess?"

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"Is it really that much less obvious?"

Sparkle made a broad gesture with one hand to the people on his side of the line. And then made another to the people on hers.

"Tell me you can't guess just by looking at us where on this spectrum we'd be standing, girly," he stated, flatly. "Street punks to the left. I've met way too many on your side of the line that decide I'm not worth the time of day, because I'm this many steps back."

It was kind of interesting, chewing on that way of saying it. Of course all of the things that hold people back in life are steps backwards, aren't they?

Re: Group Discussion!

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't have guessed," Sholeh said in a small voice. "I always thought you looked, well, like the way you wanted to look." Did people who were on that side of the line all wear lots of eye makeup and have spiky hair? Sholeh didn't know!

"I never thought you weren't worth the time of day. You're my friend."

Re: Group Discussion!

[monkeymonkeydie.livejournal.com]

"Says the guy who WON," Bucky grumbled. "This thing is stupid. I'm more oppressed than you!!!"

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"If I take all your food away and tell you you'll never go anywhere in life, would that make you feel better, pussycat?"

Sparkle liked to be helpful that way.

Re: Group Discussion!

[monkeymonkeydie.livejournal.com]

"No, I get that at home," Bucky grumbled. "How about, instead, you give me all your money and then disembowel yourself?"

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"Cute," Sparkle snorted, shaking his head. "How you think I have any money, standing this far back."

He did, of course. He had a job in town, which meant he had more money now than he'd had in pretty much his entire life.

But it wasn't like he was going to tell Bucky that.

Re: Group Discussion!

[pursuedthestars]

"It's ten questions," Jim said, almost dismissively. "If this really managed to pin down all of life's problems in ten stupid questions, then he deserves a medal. Me? I think it's a fun little game but that's it. Means nothing."

Re: Group Discussion!

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Sholeh raised her hand, but not very high. "I'm not sure all the questions applied to me. They seemed to take a lot of stuff for granted, I think."

And then she tried to make herself as small as possible.

[Remicaid today, so SP is necessary.]

Re: Group Discussion!

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"So some of us are white trash and others aren't. Your point?" Miriam said.

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"I figure we're standing back here to show everyone else that hey, bitch all you want, but just be happy you're not those guys," Sparkle offered, arms crossed over his chest and looking kind of cranky. "Gotta love being an example of how it could always be worse."

Seven steps back apparently meant that Sparkle's view on the world was exceptionally jaded.

Re: Group Discussion!

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

Miriam wasn't nearly as righteously indignant as this kid, but she snorted in agreement. "Maybe they should've asked questions like 'Have you ever broken a nail right before the big dance?' 'Needed the beamer but it was out getting detailed?' Then they should share their pain."

Re: Group Discussion!

[myownface]

"If nothing else, maybe they'll feel less left out. View of everyone's asses from back here isn't all that bad, really."

... Hey, if Sparkle was going to stand at the back of the room, he was going to find himself a bright side, damn it.

Re: Group Discussion!

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"And now we know whose pockets to go through when we're short on cash," Miriam offered.

Re: Group Discussion!

[nonelikemesince.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure what the point of this whole thing was," Anakin said, looking annoyed (and, quite possibly, not terribly unlike his namesake at the moment). "Actually, no. I know what the point was supposed to be, but it seems to me like these questions assume someone who's disadvantaged is going to stay that way."

Which probably said more than his position relative to the line did.

Re: Group Discussion!

[craftyladyparts.livejournal.com]

"I'm not sure any judgements can be made at all about how useful or not this is right now," Jessica said. "If we kept these results in mind as we went through the semester and compared where people ended up to how much people at different spots agreed, we might be able to draw some conclusions, but my hunch is that it wouldn't prove useful. There's too much generalizing, but I don't know how you could do it any other way."

"Really, it's basically an online purity test deal. It doesn't mean much, but it can be interesting to see where you end up on this scale."