Cultural-Identity, Attitudes and Assimilation

I honor you and respect you Des, I really do, but honestly, this is NOT how _I_ define myself. I'd hate to have society dictate how I do it. Isn't being a good human being enough? Is it required that I marry and pump out 8 or 9 kids (Indonesia being one of the most over populated nations on the planet) that will end up working in a Nike factory for 20 cents a day? Can't I just live a good life, volunteer for those organizations that are important to me, and in general, hopefully leave the planet in a little better shape than it was than when I entered it? Do I have to get married? Do I have to have children?

[Edit: To Rod: Life is NOT about getting naked on the beaches with the locals. It's about learning their cultures. Go to Europe first.]

Are you Indonesias? Go back and take another look Oryx. It's a new paragraph but he was still describing how the culture is in Indonesia. Not his personal opinion or the world in general.

I know that Bradley. I was merely pointing out that I would rather not view Indonesia as the glorious enlightened gorgeous place that he does. It's a festering pit of over population, mass environmental destruction, and social mores, which although I will defend to my last breath their rights to have, are completely alien and misogynist in my view.

[Edit: Did I mention corrupt political practices?]
[Edit2: And Yes, I've been there.]
[Edit3: Yes it's beautiful, yes it's great, cultural, ancient, yaddah yaddah. I sure do want to live somewhere that a woman can sell her body for a dollar. What I'm REALLY saying here is that Desmond is insinuating that their way of life is better and more pure than the American way. Everyone's all smiles, and you're judged on whether you have kids and get married or not. Seems very unfair to me.]

I think we have cultural identities within SL. Think of some of the stereotypes - furries, barbie-type women or bald, shirtless muscle men in black trousers - we've all seen dozens of these types!

How dare you attack me for being a bald Barbie with a furry ...

Oh wait ...

LOL

Shouldn't that read; "In my opinion life is not about getting naked on the beaches with the locals"?

Life is about whatever you want it to be about. If you're happy to let society tell you what life is about, then great, you choose that. If you'd rather define it yourself then great, you can choose that too.

Life is what you make of it, not what others tell you to make of it =)

20 cents that was ROBBED from nike by somebody selling prim shoes! organise another AR hey
no culture to be found outside whitebread europe and the good ol USA. of all people i thought you would know better than that, onyx.

Ah! To sail, across the beautiful green-blue sea .. La Mer ... La Manche!

What's that coming into view? La Belle France?

Oh yes it is. That's the Oxides plant at Calais billowing into the air.

Moral of tale = everywhere has good and bad. Go two miles up the road from the Oxides plant and you'll be in gastronomic heaven.

Can't say I personally judge a culture by whether their women are model pretty. Strikes me that's one of the things most wrong with the world, the reliance on the superficial. Find me the country where the hearts are all filled with joy and love and I'll be there in a flash.

No problem nana.


There are a lot of wonderful places out there with awesome cultures. I'd love to live in many of them. I'm not saying that the US and Europe are the end all-be all of world civilization. To the contrary, US and Europe are often really self-centered and elitist. It's just that Europe is often a really easy starting point for people who've never been outside the US, like old Rod up there. The transportation system is excellent, health care (in case you need an emergency appendectomy during your vacation) is superb, the money is easy to understand, there are ATMs and high technology readily available, and it IS full of some great culture. That's why I'd recommend it to a first time voyager from the US.

I enjoy seeing cultures other than European as well, and I'm never one to say that one culture is better than another. I can say that some countries have some serious issues and would NOT recommend them for new explorers.

I think that like most immigration to a new land, a fundamentally SL culture will eventually develop. The common ground is that we come as individuals here and are somewhat freed from where we came from. That can take time to assimilate but I I suspect it will be a powerful impetus to change.

I think it will less about the culture where we came from and more about how open we are to other people as individuals. And I suspect time zones are a more dividing factor than culture.

I love meeting and talking to people from other cultures. I just wish there was a really great translator. Anyone have any suggestions?

Not at all.

Every place has problems. However I think it's pretty vital to see a different solution to living. You've focused on their problems, and that's fine, yes, they sure have some. We all do.

But the 'go to Europe first' concept is a bit... well... why stop at Europe? Why not just stay at home, as there's less exposure to problems that way? Indonesia's just like here. I wouldn't advise someone to hang out in Aceh or downtown Jakarta any more than I'd say they should hang out in south central Los Angeles. Women aren't selling themselves for a dollar in most of the country.

And as for happy hearts, the Polynesian isles still pretty much win hands down.

They get a bit bored there (small place, little seasonal change if any) but it's peaceful, it's pretty, it's safe. Having been to some other Pacific islands, it's night and day - some are horrible and you'd beg to leave after 4 hours.

True true.

Europe's probably a cheaper plane ticket than Fiji...

At any rate, it doesn't matter. What does matter is that it's important to experience other cultures regardless of their spot on the globe. If that spot happens to be a little virtual place called SL, I think that's totally awesome and we should nurture it, not condemn it.

Then happy hearts it is. Think I can get there for £40? That's all I have till payday!

I prefer to see and experience other people's cultures, rather than encourage everyone to conform to some ideal.

I'm American, and oddly, my RL is full of far more diversity than I ever see in SL. In my Seattle neighborhood for example, my neighbors over the fence and I can barely understand each other. My neighbors two doors down speak a North African language and wear traditional birkas. When I go to shops and restaurants, I'm a minority as a Caucasian. I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else, either.

So I find myself somewhat dissapointed when avatars' native cultures get diluted in SL.