Inbox: Ximilia

[singlelogbridge]

// Wei Wuxian

TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO

XIMILIA

Comments

[singlelogbridge]

I've gone and befriended a teacher! How will my reputation ever recover? Ahaha, I tease. I bet you're a very good teacher, Minimus. Patient and kind with your students, hmm?

[legalcy]

You're not my student, thus you have no need to worry about your social standing.

I believe I'm patient with my charges. Kindness is more of Lug's strategy; I try to keep the students on task.

[singlelogbridge]

[Oh my god, Minimus is a riot.]

well you've been kind to me so I bet you're kind to your students. what else are you like as a teacher? do you give lots of homework? lots of reading? how about practical application?

[legalcy]

Is this relevant to the formation of the club?



Regardless, we should leave each meeting with an agreement to read a particular book. Discussing our observations of the themes isn't homework, it's the point of the club.

[singlelogbridge]

it's relevant to my endorsement! How can I ask someone to join a club if I don't know what it'll be like for them?

That's acceptable. Now tell me, do you believe there is only one way to interpret a story? Fictional or otherwise?

[legalcy]

There should be one acceptable interpretation of a true story. Non-fiction does not mean that some details can be invented to better suit a retelling. A fact is a fact!

The real issue is the debate on the interpretation of a work of fiction. We don't know what the author had in mind, thus the reasoning behind their language must be deduced through conversation with other readers.

[singlelogbridge]

And what about a true story told from two different points of view? The hero to some is the tyrant to another. Which can you say is true? The villainous heretic in one story, might be nothing more than a failed savior in another.

But I'll give you it's certainly interesting to see how people interpret fictional stories in different ways.

[legalcy]

Between the two accounts, a picture of what actually happened can be determined. When evidence for either claim is lacking, we cannot continue pursing that avenue, thus the argument moves onto a different part of the story that we can ascertain. From there, we might be able to come up with a likely explanation for the conflicting statements.

[He's treating this like a court case.]

With fiction, we can fill in the gaps with our imaginations without legal ramifications.

[singlelogbridge]

But who's to say that both accounts aren't true? What is objectively true for one person, is most decidedly not for someone else. Who says the conflict is real at all?

[Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian doing what he does best, challenging conventional ways of thinking and enjoying the hell out of it. It's much more fun to do with someone like Minimus who seems less likely to throw something at him for it.]

[legalcy]

How do you mean? If you are talking about emotions, those are subjective interpretations of the same event.

[singlelogbridge]

That's true and fair, but where do we draw the line between emotions and perceptions of a person or an event?

To draw inspiration from recent events, is a group overthrowing a government a group of opportunistic traitors, hungry for power, or selfless revolutionaries, fighting for justice? If you read about it one hundred years after it's happened, will you accept that it was whatever the historians said it was? Who gets to decide the true narrative?

To be clear, I believe there are actions that are objectively wrong, but I don't wish to simply accept a truth put before me as truth because someone else has defined it as such.

[legalcy]

The record should not use such charged language when discussing the truth. It is up to the individual whether a set of actions should be considered heroic. If the group opposing the government lead the country to be more peaceful and prosperous, then they were in the right. Unfortunately, all societies are doomed to self-cannibalize and ignore their original code of conduct to consolidate power.

It's inevitable that they will not always be the "heroes" in the narrative.

[singlelogbridge]

On that we definitely agree, friend. And the record will unfortunately never be free of bias.

[A pause and then]

so what do you think, would you have kicked me out of your class if I was your student?

[legalcy]

That depends on the class. Literature, I would warn you about interrupting other students. If it were history, I would have to balance the time spent addressing your observations with continuing on with the lesson.

[singlelogbridge]

[He bursts into laughter at that.]

But I haven't interrupted anyone!

[legalcy]

Perhaps we should confirm you behavior in one of our literature sessions.

[singlelogbridge]

I guess we'll have to! what day were you thinking this group should meet?

[legalcy]

Wednesday. Not much else is scheduled then.

[singlelogbridge]

Then wednesdays it is. I'm looking forward to it.