text;

[arachnesweb]

Greeting to you all, New Moore!

I've 8een taking some time l8tely to read a lot of the 8ooks availa8le on human history, and I must say that I am delightfully intrigued 8y it all! 8ut I have also heard that for many, the things I have read in these 8ooks do not exactly apply, even if they lived on a planet also called 'Earth'. So I pose a question to you all today; what was your world like? Was it alike to the world that we've 8een 8rought to life in? Was it completely different and is this entire culture alien to you? I have no real purpose for gathering this inform8tion, I'm just rather curious and I must admit I do enjoy accumul8ting knowledge in general. If you'd 8e willing to reply I'd 8e quite gr8teful!

Thank you all. ::::) ~AS

[She figured a while ago she ought to start marking her posts so people would know it was her and not Vriska, so... let's see if initials will prevent confusion!]

Comments

[notjohnsmith]

While it's not a completely foreign culture, New Moore is different than home in any number of ways. The really obvious ones, like forcefields, people vanishing and reappearing, and twice-monthly ventures into insanity, should probably not be considered cultural by nature. Culture is a story a group of people tell about themselves, and this island is too incoherent to satisfy any audience who might be viewing it, even living in the age of nonsensical reality television.

Beyond that, though, New Moore has a strong resemblance to American culture, much more than to Japanese. In the age of globalization and telecommunications, where American broadcasts, music, and novels reach every corner of the world, it's impossible to say that it seems foreign and unfamiliar to anyone except residents of places like Tuva, where technology seems to be crawling about a century behind. But even if it isn't alien, that doesn't make it the same sort of attitudes and outlooks we're all used to.

You might be able to call American pop culture the "lowest common denominator," something that would be most familiar to the highest number of people, wherever and whenever they're from.

[arachnesweb]

[Kyon you are so great *A*]

8eautiful description, thank you! Luckily enough for me I suppose, American culture is something I'm rather familiar with inform8tion wise. I would wager to assume that the 8eta S8ur8 players are rather good indic8tions of the many aspects of American culture, considering each of them are loc8ted in different areas of that country, Jade excluded of course. I've talked to many different incarn8tions of them a8out their worlds, so I'd assume my inform8tion is relatively accur8. Not to mention the 8ooks I've found in the li8rary during my searches, which also seem to primarily focus around America compared to other countries loc8ted on Earth... on a slightly unrel8ted tangent, I was actually rather surprised to find that some aspects of culture between Earth and 8eforus/Alternia are also rel8ted! For example, your 'Japan' and the language associated with them follow quite closely to East 8eforus and the accent those from the area are known for.

So what you're saying is, essentially, American culture is a general constant 8etween worlds, even those that aren't necessarily loc8ted on Earth or the like? It just happens to 8e a sort of cultural anomaly that many people 8etween several different worlds and universes understand the societal standards expected of them from this culture? That is incredibly interesting!

[notjohnsmith]

It might just be an indicator of a culture that's so banal and simplistic that it's possible for anyone to understand...

[arachnesweb]

Touché. Alien cultural differences aside, I must admit that adjusting to the culture here has even 8een easy for me, and I'd assume for the other trolls as well. I suppose if I had the choice, I'd happily accept 8anality when thrown into a new world than a unique cultural experience that takes time to understand and conform to. Thinking a8out it, perhaps that's the idea here?

[ohmycod]

(psst get a room)

[arachnesweb]

Meenah, please!

[notjohnsmith]

I have to admit that seems almost too sensible for me to believe it's deliberate on the island's part, but if Occam's Razor can really be considered to apply in a situation like this, it's still the best explanation I've heard.

...I don't suppose you have a theory ready that could explain why the laws of physics, probability, causality, and almost any other kind of consistency are placed on indefinite hiatus twice a month?