Empathy is something that really interests me. It really comes down to a system of 'things like me/things not like me'. 'Like me' can be your family, your community, your nation, your species, or even several species. It all depends where you draw the line. Almost all complex life has 'like me' rules, even some plants. You empathize with things like yourself, you help them, and you care about them. In early societies, the first laws usually show this. To be a kinslayer is often the highest offense that can be committed, while killing other things is something you're praised for. There's a biblical story about a woman who invites a man into her home and offers her hospitality. And when he goes to sleep she drives a tent stake through his head. Although this is the murder of a man who was a guest, god praises her and says everyone should be like her. The guest was a foreign man, so the 'like me' rules said that laws didn't apply. Humans have a strange tendency to keep increasing the things 'like me' applies to as time goes on.
Of course, there are some things that don't have these rules. Anything that doesn't live with others of its kind or take care of its young can lack them. And 'like me' rules tend to occur later in life as well.
It's hard to say if Ice lacks any form of empathy, or if it's that those around her are not things like her, or if it's just age. It could be a combination of things. But, following human rules, if humans aren't things like her, it's no more wrong for her to kill us than it is for us to kill her.
Whether or not Ice is a human in any way is a bit of a question. She's certainly not a pure human, as she lacks reflexive, instinctive behavior all humans have and has some physical differences, although exactly what she is (or even was) isn't clear. Her genetic lineage is entirely unknown. There are a lot of possibilities. She makes some effort to figure it out herself in the story.
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Re: Attempts at analysis.....pretty interesting
Date: 2004-06-26 07:59 pm (UTC)Of course, there are some things that don't have these rules. Anything that doesn't live with others of its kind or take care of its young can lack them. And 'like me' rules tend to occur later in life as well.
It's hard to say if Ice lacks any form of empathy, or if it's that those around her are not things like her, or if it's just age. It could be a combination of things. But, following human rules, if humans aren't things like her, it's no more wrong for her to kill us than it is for us to kill her.
Whether or not Ice is a human in any way is a bit of a question. She's certainly not a pure human, as she lacks reflexive, instinctive behavior all humans have and has some physical differences, although exactly what she is (or even was) isn't clear. Her genetic lineage is entirely unknown. There are a lot of possibilities. She makes some effort to figure it out herself in the story.