markofthebrave | [ Action, Written ] .052

[Filtered 100 percent AWAY from: Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Yue, Suki, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Shino, Naruto, Sasuke, Itachi, Trafalgar, Nami, Sanji, Luffy, Chopper, and anyone else she thinks might recognize her handwriting, despite the pains she's going to in order to disguise it, or show the journal to people she really doesn't want to see this - Raine and Temari and Iroh.

All replies will be written unless stated otherwise. The camera is obscured by a wrapped around piece of brown cloth.]

Do you think that there's such a thing as a power that is wrong, not because of how it's used, but just because of what it does?

[After staying holed up in her room with the door shut - quite an unusual break of habit for her - Katara decides to head into town. She wants to check out that night club that she'd heard about - she heard there would be music!

From there it's the usual errands, like the grocery store and the Item Shop. Dinner tonight will be Something Spicy, but she hasn't figured out what yet. Maybe it'll help get Sokka out of his funk.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

By what they do - by the nature of the power itself.

It's two separate questions, and yet, not easy to separate.

Ultimately, power itself isn't the problem; it's how it's wielded and the reasoning for wielding it that way. If the person using it is acting for the greater good, and is careful with it, then power, whatever form it has, is 'good'...at least according to the people who benefit from it.

And of course, if the opposite happens, then, yeah, it's bad. The problem comes in when people misjudge their ability to use it if they're trying to do good, or their willingness to ignore the damage it can do just so they can fulfill their own wishes.

The reason that ties into how, is because certain powers, in the wrong hands, become a nightmare and a source of nightmares. Then the wielders get corrupt, the act is corrupted, and ultimately, that makes the power bad.

Example from my own world. We have a religious ritual called an Exorcism. It's very powerful; it's meant to send demons back to their rightful place when they start to manifest in the physical world and hurt people by manifesting inside them and trying to take over.

It's grueling, it's hard on the body and minds of the people involved in it, and it has caused death instead when it isn't done right or the person performing the ritual is using it just to make money.

...and it can be used to create vampires when it's corrupted. That's where they come from, in fact. The first ones. Because someone corrupted the ritual for their own purposes.

It alters life and death, and the state of the soul. It's a horrifying ability...but it's effects can be both good and bad. And the effects are controlled and created by the person performing the ritual. And for some people, it's their only hope.

Edited 2011-09-11 06:32 (UTC)

[That's... horrifying.

It alters life and death, and the state of the soul.]

[She pauses here, again to make certain that this filter is not completely private. It gives her time to think.]

That's a lot to try and understand.

[A long pause here. The tapping of a pen.]

But it seems to me like that power exists to deal with a specific need. That the power exists because there's a certain something it needs to fight. What about powers that exist independently of that sort of thing, but still give someone the ability to take over someone else?

Edited 2011-09-11 19:35 (UTC)

To be fair, you're asking someone who's believe system is that everything exists for a reason. Might not understand the reasons, or, if I know, agree with them, but there's a reason for it. Ultimately, there are no mistakes in regards to creation. Would you question why certain animals eat other animals?

The mistakes come from the people that use those things.

As for the power you're talking about, again, how are they using it? Why? Are they careful with it, or do they just use it with no thought for the result? Are they making people hurt themselves? Or are they trying to keep people from doing harmful things to others? Or themselves?

I'll be honest; I wouldn't like it if someone get into my head, but if the reason was for a good purpose, like...to keep me from hurting someone else, then I'd consider that a good use.

Doesn't the reasons why someone would or wouldn't use an ability have more to do with the person than the ability? Do you think it's possible for people who are trying to do right to use an ability that controls someone else as just a part of - every day fighting?

That's the problem, though; how the power is used is completely dependent on the person is using it. So you're still back to it not being the power, but the way it's being used. The power itself isn't making the decisions of what it's doing, which is what would make it 'good' or 'evil'...which I thought, was the point of your question.

As for your second question; I don't know. How are they using it? It still goes back to that. Are they preventing their opponent from doing more harm? Or are they forcing the person onto the blade? Do they keep them that way or do they let go after the moment is over?

[After a few moments, Derek will add:]

Let me ask you this, since you seem to be focusing on the nature of the power. If a person had this power you considered 'wrong', and it was a part of them, would that make the person themselves wrong? Just because they had it?

And let me ask you a second question. If this power was wrong, and you had the means to remove it from the person, would you? No matter how it was done? If only to prevent it from ever being used for evil?

Edited 2011-09-13 11:13 (UTC)

[This really makes her so uncomfortable. She's actually starting to feel a little physically ill from it. As a result, her answers are short.]

1) I don't know.

2) Maybe. Although that seems dangerously close to being just as wrong.

Do you understand why I asked those two questions?

Not really.

[Sorry, Derek, right now Katara is suffering through a mental play-by-play. Her thinking is not at its most clear.]

Because when people don't ask themselves those questions and know their answers before they mark something as 'wrong'...they often end up participating in genocide, or at least allowing it to happen.

The truth is, you can't really separate the power from the person. Not unless you are willing to do something to that person to get rid of the power.

...Rather like what happens here, on a lesser scale.

[Gaping at this in horror for a moment.]

I would never have anything to do with that.

[She's seen that kind of devastation far too personally to ever countenance such a thing, even if the instinctive horror of something like that isn't enough.]

And that's a good thing.

...A lot of people wouldn't uphold your standards, though. And that's where the danger lies.

...I think there's a danger in a lot more than just that.

But thank you, I'll think about what you said.

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