(no subject)
Today in my first ever session of Constitutional law we looked at a case from 1803 (Marbury v. Madison) that has defined the power of judicial review, ie, the power of the Supreme Court to declare actions of the other two branches of US government unconstitutional, thereby defining the importance of the Supreme Court in this nation's government. You wanna know what I did? I completely misread the case. No, I got the fact that the Chief Justice was mocking the Legislature with his big constitutional powers but I completely missed that Marbury lost his suit. I need to stop being amused by snarky early 19th century judicial reasoning and actually read what is being said. *facepalm* Thank goodness the professor didn't call on me to recite.
While waiting for the bus listened to hiyacynth's genius Dr. Who mix and had a resurgence of deep, geeky love for that show. Oh, Doctor. Oh, Rose. So much love.
While in the shower last night was thinking about Sam Winchester. Wow, I wish the experience had been half as dirty as that sounds. I, like the big geek I am, was contemplating how much he really would have enjoyed law school. I thought about the Sam we see in 'Dead Man's Blood' who is always demanding answers (Why? What? How do you know that, Dad?) and my knee-jerk reaction was to conclude that he wouldn't enjoy the fluidity of legal opinion. It is very much opinion, there aren't a lot of hard facts and where there are hard facts they're practically intended to be circumvented. Then I had to take a step back and rethink that proposition. Sam's demands to know why aren't really because he needs cold, hard facts to make his world rotate. They may give him a sense of comfort, I can see the kid Sammy clinging to certain, inalienable truths as a child living a transitory and uncertain life, but he gets along just fine without them (contrast that to Dean's deep need to believe that his family is a firm foundation even when reality doesn't bear that out, but that's a meta for a different time). The desire to know what one is getting into before running head first into a dangerous situation is just common sense.
So, if we conclude that Sam isn't fact-obsessed beyond reason, and I think it's safe to say that, his actions in 'Dead Man's Blood' towards John and similar episodes earlier on towards Dean are more about assertion of independence and adulthood with a little left over adolescence thrown in for seasoning than anything else, then what are we left with? In canon we're left with a man who is comfortable with books and studying, a guy who recognizes that reality is in the eye of the beholder and is willing to manipulate the truth in order to achieve a certain goal. Heck, Sammy would probably make a fantastic lawyer. I'm not sure who it was, I think it was musesfool who was discussing fanon perceptions and how, contrary to those, Sam is a fantastic liar and I completely agree. I won't get into it here but Sam's a better liar because he uses truth to construct the falsehoods he wants to sell and that shows a fluidity of thought that even after only one week of law school I can tell is absolutely fundamental in the legal profession.
In conclusion, I need to stop trying to make myself feel better by thinking that a fictional character would be worse at this then I am. Now I'm going to go think about that AU world I've seen around (but never in long, sink your teeth into it fic form) where Sam's a DA and Dean's a cop. Good stuff.
That's it, move along, nothing more to see here.
ETA: After that very important meta discussion I had with myself I turned off the lights and started planning a new Winchester household on Sims. Hmmm, maybe I should go work on that. Should it be adult!Dean and Sam or John and his boys? Should I get Dean a puppy? What am I saying, of course I should get Dean a puppy.
While waiting for the bus listened to hiyacynth's genius Dr. Who mix and had a resurgence of deep, geeky love for that show. Oh, Doctor. Oh, Rose. So much love.
While in the shower last night was thinking about Sam Winchester. Wow, I wish the experience had been half as dirty as that sounds. I, like the big geek I am, was contemplating how much he really would have enjoyed law school. I thought about the Sam we see in 'Dead Man's Blood' who is always demanding answers (Why? What? How do you know that, Dad?) and my knee-jerk reaction was to conclude that he wouldn't enjoy the fluidity of legal opinion. It is very much opinion, there aren't a lot of hard facts and where there are hard facts they're practically intended to be circumvented. Then I had to take a step back and rethink that proposition. Sam's demands to know why aren't really because he needs cold, hard facts to make his world rotate. They may give him a sense of comfort, I can see the kid Sammy clinging to certain, inalienable truths as a child living a transitory and uncertain life, but he gets along just fine without them (contrast that to Dean's deep need to believe that his family is a firm foundation even when reality doesn't bear that out, but that's a meta for a different time). The desire to know what one is getting into before running head first into a dangerous situation is just common sense.
So, if we conclude that Sam isn't fact-obsessed beyond reason, and I think it's safe to say that, his actions in 'Dead Man's Blood' towards John and similar episodes earlier on towards Dean are more about assertion of independence and adulthood with a little left over adolescence thrown in for seasoning than anything else, then what are we left with? In canon we're left with a man who is comfortable with books and studying, a guy who recognizes that reality is in the eye of the beholder and is willing to manipulate the truth in order to achieve a certain goal. Heck, Sammy would probably make a fantastic lawyer. I'm not sure who it was, I think it was musesfool who was discussing fanon perceptions and how, contrary to those, Sam is a fantastic liar and I completely agree. I won't get into it here but Sam's a better liar because he uses truth to construct the falsehoods he wants to sell and that shows a fluidity of thought that even after only one week of law school I can tell is absolutely fundamental in the legal profession.
In conclusion, I need to stop trying to make myself feel better by thinking that a fictional character would be worse at this then I am. Now I'm going to go think about that AU world I've seen around (but never in long, sink your teeth into it fic form) where Sam's a DA and Dean's a cop. Good stuff.
That's it, move along, nothing more to see here.
ETA: After that very important meta discussion I had with myself I turned off the lights and started planning a new Winchester household on Sims. Hmmm, maybe I should go work on that. Should it be adult!Dean and Sam or John and his boys? Should I get Dean a puppy? What am I saying, of course I should get Dean a puppy.