cannibalmind: (getting the scent)
Dr. Hannibal Lecter ([personal profile] cannibalmind) wrote2011-09-12 05:50 pm

For [livejournal.com profile] lastvoyages: Second Casefile [Written]

[Private]
Case Study Two: Richard, "Ritchie", Inmate to Will Graham, last name unknown.

Ritchie presents as a quietly nervous young man with the distinct goatish odor of schizophrenia to him. Outwardly neat, presentable and soft-spoken, he carries around a tremendous amount of tension and I suspect has a violent temper. From his dependency and immaturity I suspect that he never had the opportunity to grow in a healthy manner before he was struck down by his illness. He does not appear to have received treatment, or even a clear diagnosis from a professional, and may well be in complete denial about his illness. Will and I discussed him, and his Warden agrees that acknowledging what the young man has suffered, alone or near to it and certainly without proper help, will be key to gaining his trust and cooperation. Despite his illness and certain...unpleasant proclivities toward women, he strikes me as quite intelligent and with a great deal of untapped potential.

Note to self: talk to him one on one.

[Public]
Every culture and society has its own moral standards. I speak not of the laws of a society, but rather its unwritten cultural rules and mores--that which is assumed to be so obviously right and wrong that it need not even be codified.


As an example, consider the four Japanese Pillars of Moral Character. [His pronunciation of each term is perfect.] On is the principle of repaying one's debts, both literal and debts of honor. Gimu is the principle of owing allegiance to the holder of any debts you cannot repay, such as when one owes one's life to another. Giri refers to the execution of one's obligations, both of occupation and of private life, to the best of one's ability. Finally, Ninjo, the compassionate acknowledgment of the interconnectedness of all people and in a larger sense, all living things. The value of these principles were impressed upon me in my youth, and I have come to be reminded of them of late.

Yet no moral code means much of anything unless it is internalized and brought into action by individual people. In internalizing cultural mores, of course, the mores themselves tend to change. People will relate to one part of a code and yet find others irrelevant to their lives; others will attempt the whole exercise, subsuming any personal moral thought in favor of what their society deems to be right. And even then, the ways in which each person acts upon commonly accepted morals changes with their characters. A soldier sees nothing contradictory in fighting for peace, for example, though he by all rights values it more by knowing its opposite so intimately. Yet many civilians would see this as a contradiction. They forget the need for rough men standing ready in the night because violence is so foreign to their day to day experience. Who is right? Is there not room in society for both points of view?

Is morality rigidly unshakeable at its heart, or is it fluid and subject to cultural, situational and personal relativity? I would argue the latter...but only to a point. Like a willow tree, morality bends with the wind, but it has certain immovable roots. Can they be identified and agreed upon? And if so, what are they?

Where is your baseline for morality? What do you believe are the moral arguments that all can agree upon, or which are most practical?

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
Why not discard them altogether, construct your own system for your own peace? [It's clearly not meant as a practical suggestion.]

I'll be lucky if I'm ever able to say the same.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
Between you and I...

When I died I found that it was my unmet obligations that I regretted the most.
no_fastolfe: (Default)

[personal profile] no_fastolfe 2011-09-16 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
They can defend themselves from other robots. They can intervene in human conflicts, prioritizing the least amount of harm to all parties.

But they were not designed simply for the joy of creating them. They were designed to aid humans. It would be cruel-- immoral-- to design a being that desired more than it would be provided.

[identity profile] doctor-j-crane.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 10:51 am (UTC)(link)
Suicide is impossible here, even if I were interested in it. Which frankly, I'm not.

I'm glad that you're taking your assumptions elsewhere. You obviously have a lot to learn about the barge.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
But because you had wanted to fulfill them, or felt a duty to?

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
You must be interested in it if you're talking to me like this.

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
If it is possible to design an intelligent being capable of full satisfaction with its existence, I would think that to be preferable. Humans are fraught with unattainable longings, and though it drives us forward it is quite painful.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Both. I had not allowed myself before that moment to fully understand how important it was to me to regain my honor, and make up for the breaches I had made in my own code. I am not a good man. I admit that fully; I would not be an Inmate here if I were. But...I am still a man of noble aspiration.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[She doesn't know how much of this is true. If he's here, he's done some terrible things, but if there's anything she's learned professionally, it's just how many kinds of sinners and criminals there are. Your murderer might not be your liar or manipulator, and that second might not do it out of malice.]

What do you aspire to, if you were to be freed?

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-16 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I would want my practice back, for those were my best years. A quiet home somewhere with a well-stocked kitchen and art room. And...well. Some things are impossible. But those are the basics.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 12:54 am (UTC)(link)
Peace, then, was what you fought for before? [sotto voce] No... that's simply what he had, before whatever brought him here.

I mean, you would only take back what you had before? You seem much easier to please than most people here on either side of the bars.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose if I could have anything it would be my ancestral home and holdings. But...yes. It is true, in many ways I am a simple man with simple needs.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
Then... if I can ask without being too presumptuous?... what is it that brought you here?

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
I have done several very wicked things which Will Graham mentioned in a Bargewide warning. I have killed several times, for example.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
Please forgive my ignorance. I wasn't present for that warning. I'm a fairly recent arrival, you see. How long have you been here?

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
A few weeks. Ironically the man to whom I owe the debt of honor is Will Graham.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] nicebluehat.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
At least this place might offer you the opportunity to repay it.

[private, JP]

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
It is a hope of mine.

[identity profile] doctor-j-crane.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
No, I just happen to be extremely bored.
no_fastolfe: (Inspiration)

[personal profile] no_fastolfe 2011-09-17 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
It allows for spontaneous insight and creation, our longing for the unattainable. And yet it makes us violent and insincere in our interactions with one another-- even Aurora is not without its politics, its petty schemes. I do not like politics, and much prefer the company of robots.

[identity profile] cannibalmind.livejournal.com 2011-09-17 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I can understand the latter very much. I find the T-X's company refreshing. There is no judgment, no dissembling, and no pulling of verbal punches. With her I always know precisely where I stand.
no_fastolfe: (Default)

[personal profile] no_fastolfe 2011-09-18 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately, with the T-X any organic life stands as the enemy. While I understand this is not her choice, it makes me somewhat reluctant to interact for long periods of time with her.

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