It's for the page on 'Chaotic Good.' The use of freedom here made me think of the way freedom is bandied about by reactionaries. Because d&d is relevant right now, the lib energy of d&d, and the way we love to look at our world through pop culture, I immediately realized libertarians and radlibs see themselves as the chaotic good type. They get to be pro individualist capitalism and they get to pretend they could be the good one with it.

But when seen through this subtype of chaotic good, good before freedom, you see the way their understanding of 'good' is held back by wanting to protect rights.

It's just funny to me how libs who want to protect something like free speech are actively prioritizing that over the good for others. Like they actively know it's not good to let people just say something offensive, but they should just have the right anyway.

It's something that I appreciate in leftist spaces. I'd rather have a content filter or spoiler tag over slurs/fucked up images. It's not the best system, but Hexbear is one of the few places I feel safe talking and it's within a community that also excludes bigots.

I dunno. What do people think about the Character Alignment chart and its applications to morals and philosophy? Does something like that help you better conceptualize politics? Where do you think the liberalization of character alignment hurts society most?

Also, since I'm high, I'm also willing to answer questions. And I feel chatty. Will also do requests for short pieces of writing, creative writing advice, stories, opinions, or whatever.

  • Sen_Jen [they/them]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I think most people have always misunderstood the alignment chart. Lawful vs chaotic, in my understanding of it, isn't about following the law vs breaking it, it's about having a moral code vs doing what feels right. It makes sense for paladins to be lawful because they have a religious doctrine to follow, not because they follow the laws of the land. A rogue could also be lawful if they only steal from the rich. A chaotic character wouldn't have a moral code, and their judgement would change based on the situation they're in.

    I also think the good vs evil is never really implemented properly because DND is a fantasy about being heroes. Everyone will want to be good, and most quests will revolve around the party helping people. I think the alignment chart needs to be done away with in favour of a group of values that every character needs to choose, and their commitment to serving those values vs serving their own needs.

    • booty [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Lawful vs chaotic, in my understanding of it, isn’t about following the law vs breaking it, it’s about having a moral code vs doing what feels right.

      Sometimes its supposed to be that. More often it's much more general, about your literal alignment to the cosmic forces of order vs chaos. A fey creature isn't chaotic because it does what it feels like, it's chaotic because that is the type of creature it is. Just like a human is a mammal, and a biped, a fairy is chaotic.

      When it is decoupled from the cosmology and turned into a matter of personal choices / morality it loses any coherence it had.