lastvoyages Inbox

[forensicks]

[Walter has recorded a video message from the point of view of someone who has just come through the door into his cabin and sees Walter at his desk in the chair turned around to face the viewer. He gives a little salute-wave.]

Didn't get me. But nice try.

Comments

[abrightboy]

What do you feel generally prevents people from carrying out their worst impulses? What do you feel it is that makes one person not kill the subject of their rage, for example, when another person would?

[forensicks]

I'm just saying, the taste thing clearly did not work.

[abrightboy]

I think it didn't work because she viewed it only as a punishment. It didn't give her a real sense of why violating someone else's bodily autonomy because it fulfilled what she wanted without regard for what they wanted was wrong. So he'll have to come up with something a little punchier. Probably not actual punching.

[forensicks]

[His tone making it extremely clear he does not see:] I... see.

[abrightboy]

You can say that you don't. Happy to explain.

[forensicks]

I think that the biggest, maybe even only factor in whether to kill someone is if you'll get caught. That's it. If you won't get caught or don't care, then the horse is out of the barn.

[abrightboy]

Everyone gets caught here. You knew you'd get caught. You still did it.

[forensicks]

So of course I'd think that then.

[abrightboy]

Really? I'd assume you couldn't possibly think that, if the deciding factor is whether you'll get caught and you did it anyway, knowing you'd be caught.

[forensicks]

No— that's not what I'm saying. If you're twisted enough to want to do something transgressive in the first place, and you no longer care about getting caught, and no one prevents you from doing it, then you're going to do it. And that's what happens here. All the time.

[abrightboy]

That's why consequences have to be meaningful enough to quell the urge to do those things. They have to untwist the people so they don't want to.

[forensicks]

Well, did the taste thing do any untwisting?

[abrightboy]

I don't know, Walter. I'm not allowed to talk to her.

[forensicks]

But like... No, right?

[abrightboy]

I can't know that without talking to her. I'd like to be unkind and say 'no'. I'd like to be unkind and slap her right across the face. But honestly? It might have had an effect that was just... too small to stop this particular impulse. Or it might have had no effect at all except to breed resentment in her. Hard to say without talking to her.

[forensicks]

So it's almost like there's some kind of reason societies have objective laws instead...

[abrightboy]

Y’think?

[forensicks]

Yeah, you know, "lawless" and "no justice" are terms with very negative connotations.

[abrightboy]

And quite rightly so, in my opinion.

[forensicks]

So, you know, a social experiment where prisoners are detained both with extremely short sentences and with cruel and unusual punishments... would be problematic?

[It's not the first time he's used this exact framing.]

[abrightboy]

If it were meant to be a justice system, absolutely.

[forensicks]

[LOUD SIGH OF FRUSTRATION]

[abrightboy]

I understand that it frustrates you that this isn't as simple as "you did X, so your punishment is Y", because that would mean you would know what you have to do or how long you have to wait to go home. But look at it this way: this is meant to be a journey of self-discovery, so that you can learn what brings you misery and what brings you genuine joy and you can go back to your life in a way that makes living it more satisfying than it was the first time. And there's not a set amount of time or a set 'punishment' that can make you learn that. You can resist looking into yourself and I think you largely have, because you consider it drinking the Kool-Aid, but you're the one prolonging your time here, in that case.

[forensicks]

[Longer, more frustrated sigh.]

Yeah. I am a bad person. I am the problem. Is that what you want to hear? Because "criminal gets to just move on and live a satisfying life" is drinking the Kool-Aid. I know that because... Whatever. I obviously don't know anything.

[abrightboy]

You're not a bad person. You wouldn't be here if you were a bad person. And 'the problem' is... problematic, because you're not the problem, but a problem you have is your choice of perspective. So tell me how you know 'that'.