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Oppression, Resistance & Revolution: Friday

Magneto wasted no time when the bell rang. "Sit," he ordered and began to pace up and down the rows of the classroom. "In our first class we discussed a cause that was important to you," he continued. "Some of your causes... were lacking."

After, giving a few students a dirty look, he continued. "In our last class we witnessed what can happen if oppression goes unchecked. If you look at the history of this planet you can find others as well. For many of these acts of oppression, there was also a movement to resist such actions. Some were more effective than others."

Returning to the front of the classroom. "Looking at history there were several tipping points which created resistance movements. Before the American revolution started there were Americans dropping cases of tea into Boston Harbor to protest taxes. During the civil war, a group of Northerners established an underground railroad to help slaves make their way to freedom. During world war II, families found hiding spaces for Jews who were persecuted by the government."

He gave the students one more look. "Last week you saw a tragedy. My questions for discussion today is at what point would you have done something to prevent it?'

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Like you're tripping.

Karla

Korra

Evan Sabahnur

Marasiah Fel

Victor Mancha

Ace McShane

Loki Laufeyson

Peeta Mellark

Stephanie Brown

Surreal

Hanna Marin

Billy Kaplan

Darcy Lewis

At what point do you no longer worry about retribution and begin fighting for a cause? What is the tipping point?

Evan chewed the inside of his cheek while he thought of his answer, and then, finally, he looked up and spoke.

"I think... as soon as it looked as though somebody was being targeted, or about to be targeted, unfairly... that's when I'd feel as though I have to do something. Even if it is something as simple as letting people hide in the basement, or throwing tea overboard."

His cheek-chewing turned into lip chewing, for a moment.

"Sitting back and knowing that there's something happening out there is hard. Not just going out there and forcing everything to be a certain way is harder."

"And what if you think someone or group is being targeted fairly?" Magneto asked with a raised eyebrow. "Even if that means their rights are violated?"

"If their rights are being violated, then there's nothing fair about it," Evan replied, lifting his chin a little. "And everybody should be allowed to have the same basic rights, no matter who or what they are."

Evan had been standing up for the rights of a lot of people lately, including Magneto's own right to be here and teaching, when Karla tried to have it out with him over it at the club fair.

"So long as one person's rights don't infringe on another person's... So long as nobody's hurting anyone or pushing them down out of hate or fear or for personal gain, fine. But when that stops, that's when I see the 'unfair' part kicking in."

Edited 2012-09-21 17:08 (UTC)

"When it gets personal," Sia said. "Which isn't the way it should be, but the way it is for probably most people. When the problem begins to affect them personally, when they no longer stand to lose what they once would have, that's when they'll act."

Magneto eyed Sia for a moment or two before he began to walk around the room.

"They came for the Communists, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a Communist;
They came for the Socialists, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a Socialist;
They came for the labor leaders, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a labor leader;
They came for the Jews, and I didn't object - For I wasn't a Jew;
Then they came for me - And there was no one left to object."

He paused as he stood next to Sia's desk. "Tell me child, what happens when it's suddenly personal and there's no one to help you protect you or your family?"

Victor shifted in his chair, twirling a pencil as he thought.

"I don't think being worried about retribution is a good reason to stay out of a fight," he ventured. "But, I guess you have to get involved when the consequences are worse if you don't. Like, if you know innocent people are getting hurt and you could stop it."

"An excellent answer," Magneto said with a nod. "Innocents getting harmed would be one. But what about people's rights? If a woman sat down at the front of a bus and was arrested for not moving because of the color of her skin would you get involved?"

"Does she want me to?" Victor asked. "Could I do anything there and then that would actually help, or would it just mean there were two people in jail instead of one?"

He shrugged. "It's not a simple situation. I'd be trying to end segregation, sure, but that's not what you asked."

Ace frowned a bit, then shrugged, not lackadaisically but because she couldn't think of a better way to put what she was going to say, so she might as well go with it. "When you know there's something wrong. There's always ways to fight even if you have to keep it a secret."

"Good answer. But there are plenty of things wrong in the world," Magneto countered from a devil's advocate position. "Where would you begin?"

"With the ones I've got a chance of doing something about, I guess."

And this was exactly why Gotham's masks maintained secret identities. What Stephanie wanted to do was deliver a passionate, if possibly disjointed, argument about the subject, but she was trying to be a good little non-identity-compromising Bat.

Instead she shrugged, and it took some effort to affect a slightly bored and indifferent tone when she asked, "If a cause means that much to you that you'd fight for it, shouldn't retribution be one of the last things you worry about?" She understood completely why it was a worry, of course, but that needed to stay firmly in the Robin column, not the Stephanie one.

"And if I remember correctly, when I asked you if there was a cause you would die for you said the world wasn't worth the effort," Magneto countered. "And that you wouldn't risk your life except for people you care about if you really had to. My question to you is what is your tipping point? At what point do you draw the line before it's too late?"

Yes, because Korra's problem was waiting to start fighting.

"As soon as you can," she said. "You might need to hold back long enough to plan effectively, but you shouldn't hide behind that as an excuse."

Surreal listened, watching her classmates, before shaking her head. "Your question makes no sense," she stated. "Life is action and reaction; nothing is fair, everything is retribution for something else."

"You fight or you don't. It's as if you are asking when and how we chose to breathe."

Who better have a good answer...

Billy had a number of what he considered to be good answers, but actually voicing them was a different story. To say this topic intimidated him would be an understatement.

Who is there for you

Yeah. You know me.

How have I been earwormed with this twice in like a month? How?

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Oppression, Resistance & Revolution: Friday

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