031. [Text]

[explosivecombat]

You know, I've realized that whenever I address the network nowadays, I always include some sort of apology for the morbidity of the subject matter; the subject matter is never any better the next time around, which I think just draws the validity of the apology into question by now. Ah, but that's neither here nor there - the subject today is still, however, not any better, so consider the apology this afternoon as genuine as it always is.

[In other words, sorry-not-sorry. Kimblee...]

I would like to discuss morality today, actually - perhaps befittingly, since there are so many morally dubious individuals around as of late.

Assume for a moment that you come across someone in peril; you're in a secluded area, and no one else is around to help this individual but you. The specific sort of peril they're in doesn't matter, but for the sake of argument, assume that it's something that you can handle easily - assume that assisting them won't kill you, and even if the situation you envision is dangerous you can call the authorities for help and that would be considered "assisting" for the sake of this experiment. For whatever reason, the person in peril cannot save themselves; if you don't do anything, the situation will prove fatal for the person you've come across.

No one will know if you help the person or not. You won't be punished or penalized in any way for not helping them - in other words, you have no legal obligation to do so - but if you don't, the person in peril is going to die. You've never met the person before this moment; there's nothing about their appearance or situation that implies that you should consider them an enemy, but they aren't explicitly a friend or an ally either. Just a random stranger that you are given the option of rescuing.

Most would probably agree that rescuing a person in peril like that is the "right" thing to do; I'm sure some would disagree, either because their beliefs are a bit unorthodox or because they want to feel edgy. So my question isn't necessarily what you believe - my question is why. Can you justify it, or are you just operating under "what feels right"?

Answer me anonymously if you'd like; as usual, your identity doesn't necessarily interest me, but your answer does.

Comments

[explosivecombat]

Is that so? I've never heard of souls working in quite that way, myself, but then most people aren't familiar with how they work in my world, either. The soul is directly linked to one's morality, then...?

[soundmind]

Humanity and morality are intrinsically tied together, I've learned, and it does make up a large chunk of your soul. Sometimes people stumble and their fear overtakes them, they start to lash out and think being free from fear means being free from "rules." Sometimes those people start to kill and devour the souls of others.

I know that sounds totally ridiculous, but it's happened. Thankfully it's not terribly common, but there's always the risk. From what I'm seeing about other people here, it doesn't seem to be a universal concept.

[explosivecombat]

No, no, I understand what you're saying - it sounds like your world is based around things that we usually take to be mere metaphor here. An inability or unwillingness to play by humanity's rules renders one a monster; a lack of morality means that there is, so to speak, nothing separating you from the dogs. They're all concepts we understand, they just aren't quite so...physical, where I'm from, nor are they nearly so obvious.

[soundmind]

Well, it's not like there aren't criminals in my world, but I guess the difference between them and the kind that would become monsters is that they have their own set of morals or circumstances are different. The idea of morals and what's right and wrong is a lot more complicated than I can explain, since I'm still a kid.

The way I see it, people have free will for a reason, and it's not anyone's place to tell them what to do, even if it means trying to "reform" someone that's bad, even gods don't have this right. All that can be done is protecting others from those that would harm them and most especially safeguard their souls. [Since obviously if a soul is lost it can't be brought back, the end.]

By the way, sir or ma'am, this was a really loaded question.

[explosivecombat]

I'm aware that it was loaded; however, loaded questions aren't inherently bad ones, assuming you don't particularly care about the answer. My interest is in the way people choose to answer, rather than in trying to glean any sort of "right" answer or change people's opinion in any way.

"Sir", by the way.

[soundmind]

Sir, then. You said you don't care about identity, it's not like you're trying to make a list, so--

[She's thinking about it. So sue her, she likes puzzling it out.]

Are you determining what sorts of worlds other people came from, or what kind of people were brought here? It is a pretty eclectic group.

[explosivecombat]

It's a very eclectic group, yes; that's precisely why I ask questions like this.

Can't a person simply like talking to others?

[soundmind]

I guess but, another reason people ask questions like this is to compare their own thoughts or learn about how others think.

It might not be such a bad thing if it causes discussion.

[explosivecombat]

You're saying that as though seeing how others think is a bad thing by comparison.

[soundmind]

No, not at all, it gives me opportunity to form my own list of people to avoid.






I'm kidding.

[Maka no.]

[explosivecombat]

Well, then, never let it be said that I've never done a public service.

[Kimblee, really.]

[soundmind]

I'll fashion up some kind of medal for you if we ever get to meet, sir.

[MAKA DON'T JOKE WITH THE CRAZY MAN HAS BEING AROUND STEIN DESENSITIZED YOU THAT MUCH.]

[explosivecombat]

I've never really been one for medals, actually.

I'm former military, you see.

[soundmind]

Were you? What was your world like? Or is that a secret?

[explosivecombat]

It's not a secret, no, though that's a bit of a broad question - what are you wanting to know about, exactly?

[soundmind]

Let's see... [truthfully she's super curious and isn't sure what to ask first.] What did your military do exactly? Was there something they were protecting the world from?

[Maka not every faction is put together for the purpose of fighting monsters.]

[explosivecombat]

[...Maka, the military was run by the monsters...]

Oh, no, it was nothing nearly that grand; our government is highly militarized - there's a hierarchy that dictates who runs the country, culminating with the head of state/head of government, rather than any sort of democracy.

[Democracy has always struck him as a painfully stupid idea, anyway.]

Those who aren't involved in that hierarchy are in the military for the same reason most in other armies seem to be - we're tasked with serving and defending our country. We haven't known peace in hundreds of years; we're almost always at war with someone.

[soundmind]

That sounds terrible. How do you keep anybody from becoming tyrannical? Or maybe...if there's always a war going on, that doesn't happen, does it?

[explosivecombat]

I doubt that anyone who tried would last long in office; it's to the country's benefit to ensure that the people are content with their ruler. Otherwise there runs the risk of anarchy, and once that occurs then we'll be easily taken over by our enemies.

So it's possible, but as you've said, it doesn't happen.

[soundmind]

[That's not entirely true, everyone loves Lord Death of course, anyone that doesn't though...tends to cause trouble. Maybe her world is a little too black and white to compare to others.]

I see. The President puts a lot of faith in Lord Death to keep the country safe, so we don't have as much strife compared to others I guess.

[...]

This is a stupid question, but is it just humans fighting against each other?

[explosivecombat]

It's more unusual than stupid; from the sound of it, monsters are fought often in your world, so I think can see where you're coming from.

It's not entirely humans against one another where I'm from, but that's what it is for the most part. There are also beings like the chimeras - they're created by fusing two living things together into one complete form. That's a branch of alchemy that I'm not familiar with, however, so unfortunately I can't tell you much about it; creating chimeras using humans is banned as a practice under our laws, but some of the animal hybrids are useful as guards or weapons.

[soundmind]

I see. That sounds like how the witch Arachne created the Demon Weapons.

[A pause, then she realizes that Mr. Anonymous Sir might not have heard wind of information about her world in the slightest, so she explains--]

Demon Weapons are people with the ability to transform their bodies into weapons. Arachne experimented and created the first Demon Weapon over 800 years ago by combining the soul of a witch with a non-living weapon. I've read a little about this "alchemy" you're talking about and the Gorgon sisters are probably what you would call alchemists in your own world, at least they like experimenting and toying with nature to meet their own ends.

But, Demon Weapons aren't forbidden or anything, it's become something that's a recessive gene in families--they're born every day and the Academy takes them in to train them so they don't accidentally hurt anyone. [Naturally there are Weapons that grow into a thuggish lifestyle due to the mistrust regular people have towards them, but that's a whole other topic.]