Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Tuesday, Period 1]

[atreideslioness]

When the students came in this week, there was a passage from the eighth p'ien written on the chalk board.

There are roads which must not be followed,
armies which must be not attacked, towns which must
be besieged, positions which must not be contested,
commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

"Sometimes, we must allow the distasteful thing to happen to make way for a greater victory." Ghanima was leaning against the wall, watching them from behind her glowing eyes as she balanced a sleeping Trebor on her hip. "Sacrifices must be made. This is most easily seen in war; sacking an innocent town for supplies, or killing civilians to prevent your position from being discovered."

"However, it doesn't just apply to physical combat." She shifted Trebor to her other hip as she pushed off the wall to pace between the various piles of cushions or groups of chairs, looking at each of them. "What do you do when your boss, or 'sovereign' tells you to lie about something that happened at work? Or if reporting a crime implicates someone dear to you? Today, we discuss those choices, and how we know which battles must be fought, and which ones we must let pass us by. Sometimes it is a matter of personal conscience, while other times it is the good of one against well-being of the many."

Comments

Re: Discussion #1

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"And I hope I'd stop if I didn't have a train to catch, but I don't think I can say for sure until I was in it. You said there were a bunch of bullies and I'm not a great fighter, so if they did decide to turn on me, things would get dicey. But a homeless person is more vulnerable and invisible than I am, so it's possible they wouldn't want to escalate to me. But I'd be in trouble if one of them was like, 'Oh yeah, or what?' at me."