caughtinanetwork | [Video] 02nd Rule

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[Video] 02nd Rule

[Looks like Joshua's up in a tree somewhere. There's a thoughtful expression on his face.]

“In each of us, two natures are at war – the good and the evil. All our lives the fight goes on between them, and one of them must conquer. But in our own hands lies the power to choose – what we want most to be we are.” A quote from an author named Robert Louis Stevenson.

[He now looks at the screen.]

How much of that is true, do you think, Vatheon? Do you think it's through choice or nature for one to be considered "good" or "evil?" Or do they even exist at all in a pure state?

[An amused smile.]

I confess that I might be looking for a debate on the subject, but it's also out of curiosity.

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[Because ten-year-olds are the best for the kind of conversation, yes?]

What about people who do bad things for a good cause? Or they have to give the order for an attack to protect the country? Would that fall in one of those?

[Minako only heard bits and pieces of that. Damn not paying an awful lot of attention at times. It was like a lesson.]

I don't get it, I thought it was always obvious who the bad and good guys are. At least in mangas they are.

[Luckily, Joshua likes kids and gives them respect.]

I would thinks so. Do you think those kinds of people are bad or good?

[Sadly, he can get pretty teacher-like.]

Allow me to give you a scenario. There's a bank robbery and the robber gets caught. Later in the investigation, it's revealed that he stole the money so that he could pay for surgery that could save the life of his wife or child. He could never pay for it on his own, though. Does this make him a bad guy or a good guy in the strictest sense of the meaning?

[She is quiet for a minute. She needs the thinking time.]

Well, he made a bad choice to rob in the first place. What he did can give his family a bad name. Sure, the reasons were good but what does that mean for the family?

I don't think anyone can be pure good or pure evil. There's always- at least a little bit of the other, even if you don't think so.

I think that none of us are fully good. We can only hope through our actions, prayers, and thoughts, to achieve forgiveness for what we do wrong, for our sins. As for us having both good and evil impulses, of course that's true. It's our obligation to focus on the good ones.

Good and evil is too damn objective, if you ask me. That can be redefined easily enough as "what is morally right in my culture, and what is not." And it's sure as hell not a choice between one or the other.

[Dirk raises an eyebrow over his shades.]

Sounds like you got settled damn fast, if you're starting debates on philosophy already.

Oh? An interesting look on it. How is it not a choice?

[Just. Smiles.]

Well, there's very little I can do in this situation, so why not make the most of it? Aside from which, there is no danger here, sans the villainous characters Vatheon might pull in and some of the curses.

Indeed. It's been said that you can't have light without darkness, so the same could be said for good and evil. But what of those who don't ask for forgiveness? Are they still truly evil?

So, essentially, there are shades of grey instead of black and white?

[He likes this girl.]

True. How about this, then? The leader of a country decides to go to war with another country. Is it good because he may be trying to save his citizens? Or is it bad because, in the end, he's ordering an attack to kill others? Regardless of how prepared a soldier may be to die, it can still be considered murder in the loosest of definitions.

I meant more specifically that it isn't just one or the other. Every single decision a person makes is an independent one. Just because they do something considered good one time doesn't mean they'll do something good the next, and vice versa.

Make the most of it by starting debates over morals?

Interesting. So, you take a more objective approach rather than subjective? Then how do you learn to trust someone? After all, a good person might make a decision that turns out to be far from it.

Isn't it the best way to truly know someone?

Yeah, I guess so.

I mean, sometimes it's hard to even know what "good" or "evil" is. You might choose to do what you think is right, and not even realize it's hurting someone.

The possibility of variation doesn't negate trends caused by personality and individual moral standards. An element of trust is one of understanding those patterns in another person.

[Dirk, look out, your manipulator is showing.]

It's a good way to know someone intellectually. It does fuck-all to tell you what they're like in an actual situation.

And if they destroy that trust through some misguided action?

It gives one a facet of who they are by seeing how they view something. Already I can guess that you take a more objective and intellectual approach, and you seem quite sure-footed in your beliefs. Am I wrong? [He shrugs.] That's up to you, honestly. After all, I'm only drawing on what I've heard and seen so far from you, and opinions on people can change, sometimes with frightening frequency.

There is a lot that can bring someone not to ask for forgiveness beyond evil. In my experience it's more often that they feel they can't, for some reason, and there's nothing mal-intentioned about despair, even if hope brings better results.

That's certainly true. The line gets blurred, and sometimes a good cause can turn into something unpredictably awful. Do you think the reverse is also true? That a terrible act can actually turn out to be a good decision in the long run?

No, there certainly isn't if it's driven by despair. But what of hatred or anger?

Choice, definitely.

[Why yes this is relevant to her interests, it may be related to themes from her canon.]

People can be more likely to do good or bad, but ultimately it's their choice.

...I don't know.

I guess if you can accidentally do something bad, you can accidentally do something good. But- I think it'd be harder.

Then that was always a possibility, even if it's unexpected, and I'm not about to worry myself to pieces waiting for someone to prove they can have my trust again.

And you love getting inside people's heads, don't you? Hence the philosophy and your little diagnosis there. Not that I'm disagreeing.

[This feels like his own language. It's almost like a conversation with AR, before he realized that AR was veering off from his own plans so completely.]

Well, an example. A person claims robbery is wrong. They also claim they'd stop a robbery if they saw one. But when one happens, they stand by, because it happened too fast, or because they were afraid. Whatever the reason, you're not getting the same image of the person in each situation.

Sometimes, a bad deed can be salvaged or 'transmuted' into a good outcome. For example, if a 'bad guy' didn't do the things he or she did, then how would the hero ever learn to face the hardships and grow from those experiences?

...isn't that kind of stretching it?

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