Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Sept 22, 2021 17:31:16 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] Left Ear managed to only blink once at another sudden change in venue. She'd become accustomed to using the holodeck, but wasn't so used to the environment changing so rapidly around her. It was disorienting as she found herself sitting at an entirely different type of desk and even the smells changed. This one smelled of wood and dust and age and the Sivaoan stared around in curiosity until Judy began to lecture. As the captain spoke, Left Ear's head began to tilt to the side until her neck was almost at a ninety degree angle. Her head popped back to vertical.' Sorry, Ccaptain,' the cadet replied, her little stutters with English expressing themselves. ' De-mo-ccrat-icc re-pub-licc,' she pronounced carefully. ' Those words don't translate properly to Sivaoan. But I think I understand your explanation. It sounds very complicated.' Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Sept 22, 2021 18:21:21 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]Judy flashed a gentle smile. She'd forgotten just how alien to Sivaoan society the idea of centralized government was. "In a society of millions, or trillions, there are just too many people for all of them to be directly present in the government, so what we do is elect people to represent us."She thought for a moment on how this point could better be made. "Imagine if this building was completely full, to standing room only. Imagine trying to have a nuanced discussion with all the people in the room at once. It would be impossible."
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Sept 27, 2021 14:37:59 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] ' I see,' Left Ear said thoughtfully. It was so alien. She couldn't imagine Sivaoans trying to set up that type of government. ' It must be difficult, though. What if a group disagrees and wants to do things differently?
On Sivao, camps in the same area tend to all run about the same way, but I've heard of others that do things differently. It just depends on the Elders.' Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Sept 27, 2021 20:33:05 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]"Well, the fundamental tool of decision-making in democracy is voting. You vote between two options, or for or against a single idea, and whatever the majority decides, wins," Judy explained. "There are nuances to that, but that's all in your readings."Judy had included readings on the legislative process, as well as on modern, preferential voting systems. However, these weren't core topics. "Because a democracy gives all people an equal say, it's egalitarian - no one is considered superior or inferior to another. Nevertheless, Adolf Hitler, the man who built Auschwitz, was elected to power in a democracy. How could that be?"
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Oct 12, 2021 14:00:14 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] Readings, so much reading. Actually, Left Ear kind of liked it, but it was still novel to learn so much by reading words put on a page or screen rather than from a teacher. She committed them to memory just as easily, though it took a little longer to recall information she learned that way. But Judy was going on, and Left Ear's nose wrinkled as she considered how someone who did such terrible things could have been elected. ' Did he hide what he believed? Trick the people? Unless they all believed the same thing? The Sivaoan's eyes widened in horror at that thought. Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 14, 2021 16:33:10 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]"Well, remember the pyramid we talked about earlier?" Judy asked rhetorically. She began to rev up an explanation of how the pyramid factored in here, but decided that, as a teacher, she could do better. "Germany had fallen on hard times, and people already held racist atittudes about Jews. How do you think that factored into Hitler's rise?"
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Oct 17, 2021 2:29:38 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] The cadet's nostrils flared as she thought about Judy's question. She didn't want to try to answer too quickly, since it seemed like an extremely complicated issue. ' They...' Left Ear hesitated. ' Since things were bad...they may have wanted someone to blame. If a new leader gave them a direction to vent their frustrations...I still can't imagine.' She shook her head. Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 17, 2021 19:13:10 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]"Okay, let's bring it closer to home."The gears in Judy's head turned quickly. "Imagine there were some individuals who had failed the walk, living in a village. Just living, as members of the community, stigmatized but tolerated. Now imagine suddenly the village falls on hard times, there's less animals available to hunt, and people are going to bed with empty stomachs."
"Now imagine someone comes along and says, that if you just got rid of those deadbeats who failed the walk and aren't contributing anything, you wouldn't have this damn food shortage. Imagine that."
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Oct 20, 2021 17:29:05 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] Again, Left Ear pondered. She'd never thought about her culture as it compared to others' except for the Eeiauoans. This was a difficult concept to apply to her people. ' Well,' she said slowly. ' That's why we live the way we do. If an area's resources become depleted, we move the camp. Actually, we try to do that before resources become depleted, but...I guess if there was a widespread disaster.' Left Ear was trying to imagine a scenario of a magnitude that would trap a camp in an area and reduce the amount of food available to them. She thought back to the events that had caused the Exiles to leave Sivao and why her people held so stubbornly to a way of life that most people she'd met since leaving would consider primitive. ' If the Exiles hadn't had the ability to leave Sivao, I suppose it could have come to that. Their cities did untold damage to the planet, so they couldn't be allowed to just stay in their cities and leave the rest of us to the old ways, but trying to incorporate them back into a nomadic lifestyle would have been difficult. They would have been treated even worse than those who haven't finished the Walk.' Her face scrunched. ' But I'm not sure that fits. They weren't innocent.
'I guess some of them might have been. Children, others who didn't make the decisions, who just happened to live in the cities because their families did. But I think they would have been treated the same.
'But I'm just not sure this type of scenario could happen on Sivao. We held onto guilt for over a thousand years for banishing the Eeiauoans. Can you imagine our shared guilt if we started killing off people like that?' Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 20, 2021 18:37:00 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]Left Ear, having previously appeared to grasp the concept, now seemed to need more explaining. "Human societies have been haunted as well, for generations, by atrocities that we've committed. What happens after the fact doesn't negate the fact that the event happened."With that point made, Judy returned to the analogy. "Anyway, I think you've overcomplicated the analogy. Going back to our one village, imagine there's nowhere to migrate to that has more plentiful hunting - doesn't matter why. The food shortage goes on for years, and has not been solved. Can you then imagine thinking, contemplating the possibility, that if you didn't have all those deadbeats, you'd have more food for yourself? Just imagining that, in isolation?"
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Oct 28, 2021 13:40:53 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] Left Ear scrunched her face - nose wrinkling, eyes narrowing to slits, whiskers pricking forward - as she tried to imagine the scenario Judy postulated. ' I suppose so,' she finally said. It wasn't a comfortable prospect to consider about oneself or one's people. ' I guess people can be brought to any number of atrocities given the right circumstances.' Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Oct 31, 2021 23:36:36 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 2]"And that's the point I'm getting at!" Judy exclaimed with evident pride. "No one is too good, too pure, too kind to be driven to commit unspeakable atrocities, and if you convince yourself that you would never, that only makes you more likely to do it."It could happen anywhere, to anyone, and throughout history, it had. "Now, where were we?"
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Nov 4, 2021 17:26:57 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1 - October] The time had come. She couldn't avoid it anymore. Left Ear stood outside the holodeck doors staring down at her furry toes. Her ears, whiskers and tail drooped in a most desultory fashion. It was time for her to learn to swim. She'd avoided it thus far, and mostly not intentionally. Sometimes it was nice to be a doctor. The infirmary was the only place she felt somewhat normal since Serenity, and she'd been working extra shifts. But missing her swimming lesson, well, there had been accidents and emergencies that had required extra help from any doctor who was available. Left Ear couldn't work up much emotion about the lesson. She'd probably be scared once they got to it, but right now, it was just another thing she had to do. Tag Judith Eastman
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Judith Eastman
Civilian
Grandma
Posts: 2,593 Likes: 84
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Civil Servant
Species: Human
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Post by Judith Eastman on Nov 4, 2021 17:58:09 GMT
[Capt. Judith Eastman(-Williams), PhD - Holodeck 1]After Serenity, and after Judy's own travels, Left Ear's training was resuming, with only one major item left - swimming lessons. Judy resolved, in light of the circumstances, to be gentle in handling the subject matter, although she was going to pursue the curriculum as designed. She strode to the holodeck, wearing a light tie-dye minidress, where she saw the dejected Left Ear. "Good morning, Cadet," she greeted, gentler than in past training sessions, before entering the holodeck. "Computer, aquatic program Williams-3."The holodeck transformed into a large, open-air swimming pool, seemingly in the backyard of a suburban home. Judy took off her dress, revealing a low-cut sky-blue bikini. "Don't worry, I won't make you wear a bathing suit," she quipped.
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Left Ear to-Ennien
Medical
Posts: 229 Likes: 3
Rank: Civilian/other
Position: Cadet/civilian healer
Species: Sivaoan
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Post by Left Ear to-Ennien on Nov 9, 2021 18:01:07 GMT
[ Left Ear - Holodeck 1] ' Captain,' Left Ear responded quietly with a small nod, but not really looking up. She followed Judy into the holodeck and continued to look down as the captain activated the program. Her head jerked up, nose wrinkling as a harsh chemical smell filled her nostrils. That brought Judy into view in her very brief swimsuit. Left Ear was a little shocked for a moment. She wasn't used to humans baring so much of themselves and had become accustomed to the idea that they rarely did so except in private. She'd seen a few naked humans, of course. As a doctor, it could hardly be avoided, but the setting made a big difference. Her tail twitched slightly at Judy's quip, but Left Ear's thoughts were elsewhere. ' What is that smell?Tag Judith Eastman
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