[network] Night 378 | @Ecks | I am two and what is this | video [open]

[ecks]

[Many people here will recognize the inside of the sports shed on the campus of the elementary school. Newer people may not have seen Ecks's face before; she's a patchwork woman with a perpetually blank expression, and when she speaks (turning the tablet around as she does so, so that she's only visible for a moment at the start of the video) her voice is flat and inexpressive.

The new subject for viewing is a conical hat with the word 'DUNCE' written on it in big, red letters, which she has set on the floor of the building.]

What is this? What is a dunce? This hat is not comfortable or warm. What is its purpose?

Comments

[ecks]

[That is how Ecks learned, too; this is all new to her but she's explored the school enough times that she has a general sense of how things must have been done here.]

Why would children mock another child?

[warriorscribe]

Because children are still learning right from wrong, and that means they can be cruel to one another at times. Some simply have a mean temperament regardless of how they're raised, and yet others learn it, whether their example is a parent, mentor, or an older child they admire.

Ideally, they should learn unwarranted cruelty is wrong before reaching adulthood.

[ecks]

If they had rules they could simply follow the rules and do the right thing. It is not difficult.

[Just the briefest flicker of self-consciousness here.]

It is usually not difficult. If there are rules.

[warriorscribe]

Very few children are so perfectly obedient. Humans are made to question and test rules. Our oldest story is about breaking a rule, at its core.

This allows unjust or obsolete rules to be abolished. But it also means that, until they learn what things are unjust and unhelpful, most children will break rules they shouldn't. Mistakes and missteps are part of the process of learning, after all.

[ecks]

I am perfectly obedient.

[No, she isn't.]

I am perfectly obedient when I should be obedient.

[warriorscribe]

You also aren't a human child. You may think differently. For example, you already understand the concept of obedience in context, and that there are times when you should not be. What are those times, and how did you come to understand why?

cw: child soldier/terrorist

[ecks]

When I am told to murder someone who does not deserve to be murdered. I came to understand why when I thought about how it felt when other people hurt me and when I thought about not wanting to die and about how the people I murdered did not want to die and I did not have a reason why they should die that was satisfactory.

cw: child soldier/terrorist

[warriorscribe]

[That...is a lot more than he was expecting to hear. He's glad he doesn't feel up to talking, since he wouldn't be able to hide his shock if he wasn't using text.]

That's called "empathy", Ecks, when you consider someone else's feelings as you would your own. Like you, human children must learn it. However, they are not usually given such extreme examples to learn from, so it is more difficult for many of them.

cw child soldier/terrorist

[ecks]

Oh. It was normal. I did not know anyone who had not murdered other people until I came to Norfinbury.

cw child soldier/terrorist

[warriorscribe]

It's still extreme. You can be taught that it is normal, but those predisposed to questioning things or sympathizing with others will certainly work out something is wrong.

I am glad you came to that realization.

cw child soldier/terrorist

[ecks]

I am glad, too. I like having friends better than murdering people. I like it much better.

[warriorscribe]

[What in the world, that's cute...]

That's a lesson more people ought to learn, I would say. So simple, and yet some prefer misdeeds anyway. I agree, Ecks. Having friends is much better.

[ecks]

[That's a low bar for cuteness, Enoch.]

Some people are assholes.

[warriorscribe]

[It's the childish earnestness of it, the conscious thought to choose friendship over strife, and the fact that everything is so awful he's grasping at every bit of light his mental state allows him to see.

Norfinbury's knocked the bar down a few notches.]

Indeed. With luck, they will learn. Failing that, with luck, they will not find themselves with power the way the people of this world did.

[ecks]

is it possible to make a person learn?
I learned
I think other people do not learn

[warriorscribe]

It's true, you can't force someone to learn when they don't want to. All you can do is present evidence they are wrong and hope they decide to accept it.

[ecks]

that is frustrating
i do not like it

[warriorscribe]

It is frustrating, but it is right. There is no alternative, not without crossing very far-flung moral boundaries.

[ecks]

like reomving a person's free will?

[warriorscribe]

Precisely. A person's thoughts and beliefs, whether true or not, should always be their own, above all else. Far be it from us or anyone to change that.

[ecks]

that is frustrating because some people are stupid and cruel but also I think you are right anyway

[warriorscribe]

I know. It may be tempting to resort to cruelty in kind. But you seem to know already that's the worse option.

[ecks]

I have tried it
the results are not good
it is wrong and also it does not work

[warriorscribe]

That's right. People who don't realize they're being cruel won't suddenly see it if they're hurt, and people who don't care can't be made to by force.

I'm sorry you had to learn that by experience, regret can be a painful thing to live with, even if it's important.

[ecks]

do you have regrets?
how do you stop feeling sad and also be someone people can trust?