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<blockquote data-quote="gizmo33" data-source="post: 2167406" data-attributes="member: 30001">I can't think of any reason for any of the things you'd say.&nbsp; If I were neutral and I had to live under a good ruler, I suppose I could make do.&nbsp; But I wouldn't WANT to do it.&nbsp; It would just be a matter of time before the good ruler took offense to something that I did.&nbsp; And if he never did, then what basis would we have for having different alignments to begin with?&nbsp; And if I'm working with evil people, don't they know that I'm neutral?&nbsp; Let's say they don't and it's time to attend the human sacrifice.&nbsp; If I'm doing these sorts of things over and over again to &quot;fit in&quot; to evil society, won't that make me evil?&nbsp; And if I'm not evil, won't they put me on the list of likely human sacrifices?&nbsp;In fact, I'm somewhat stumped as to how to respond.&nbsp; My mind boggles at the number of &quot;poor man's alignment detection&quot; that people attempt in the real world.&nbsp; Political parties and religions are two huge forces that determine how people identify and organize themeselves and they're nowhere near as measurable or definitive as alignment.&nbsp; I just don't think the tiny percentage of people able and willing to hide their alignment from others would have a significant effect on the social structures.&nbsp; AFAIK doing evil things where I live is a necessary and sufficient condition for going to jail.&nbsp; The only gray areas exist because people can't figure out whether or not something is really evil - moral definitions change over time, etc.&nbsp; This is not the case in the alignment system.&nbsp;Among zillion of examples are when a government official places his hand on the bible and swears to uphold whatever it is that socieity wants him to uphold.&nbsp; This is a desperate attempt by people to accomplish what stepping through an anti-magic field and being subject to a detect alignment spell would do *much* more reliably.&nbsp; In what universe do people not want like-minded people governing them?&nbsp; I work in a sensitive government position right now, and I've got to get a security clearance by filling out some paper work so that the government could do a background check on me.&nbsp; I have little doubt that if the government were capable of detecting my alignment they would do so without hesitation.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="gizmo33, post: 2167406, member: 30001"] I can't think of any reason for any of the things you'd say. If I were neutral and I had to live under a good ruler, I suppose I could make do. But I wouldn't WANT to do it. It would just be a matter of time before the good ruler took offense to something that I did. And if he never did, then what basis would we have for having different alignments to begin with? And if I'm working with evil people, don't they know that I'm neutral? Let's say they don't and it's time to attend the human sacrifice. If I'm doing these sorts of things over and over again to "fit in" to evil society, won't that make me evil? And if I'm not evil, won't they put me on the list of likely human sacrifices? In fact, I'm somewhat stumped as to how to respond. My mind boggles at the number of "poor man's alignment detection" that people attempt in the real world. Political parties and religions are two huge forces that determine how people identify and organize themeselves and they're nowhere near as measurable or definitive as alignment. I just don't think the tiny percentage of people able and willing to hide their alignment from others would have a significant effect on the social structures. AFAIK doing evil things where I live is a necessary and sufficient condition for going to jail. The only gray areas exist because people can't figure out whether or not something is really evil - moral definitions change over time, etc. This is not the case in the alignment system. Among zillion of examples are when a government official places his hand on the bible and swears to uphold whatever it is that socieity wants him to uphold. This is a desperate attempt by people to accomplish what stepping through an anti-magic field and being subject to a detect alignment spell would do *much* more reliably. In what universe do people not want like-minded people governing them? I work in a sensitive government position right now, and I've got to get a security clearance by filling out some paper work so that the government could do a background check on me. I have little doubt that if the government were capable of detecting my alignment they would do so without hesitation. [/QUOTE]

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