I'll admit I'm curious, what do people picture this hypothetical time traveler to look like when they talk about what they would say to them. I imagine what they're interested in would vary a lot depending on who they were.
Because I see posts like this:
and I think to myself, they must picture this time traveler as an American White man, because I imagine they wouldn't get the response they were hoping for from pretty much anyone else.
Modern man: "So yeah everybody is whiny and stupid these days, and frivolous law suits everywhere"
Hypothetical Black American time traveler: "well that doesn't sound too good, is the KKK still getting away with hanging black people from trees, and entire towns in some states banning anyone like me from entering the town after dark?"
M.M.: "well no, civil right ended most of that in the 60's and 70's, our President is even Half Black now, anyway I was talking about how everyone is so stupid and whiny compared to the rugged individualists that lived in the 1950's. Hey where are you going?"
H.B.A.T.T: "yeah look I'm now in a time where I can actually go in any restaurant I want without getting a black eye or a jail sentence, if you want me to stick around I can play the world's smallest violin for you, otherwise I'm gonna go check out that internet porn thing people keep telling me about, maybe I'll even sit at the front of a bus if I'm feeling adventurous enough."
Ontopic: I think people from the first world 1950's would have enough experience to grasp the internet, cell phones and computers pretty fast. I imagine how small and powerful they all are would be the sticking point, miniaturization seems to be something a lot of sci-fi at the time never really grasped when it came to things like computers and T.V.s. Social stuff might throw them for a loop too, the information overload of going from a time with local radio, papers, and 10 or so T.V. channels to a place where everyone, no matter how inane or stupid, can have a voice that the rest of the world can see would be kind of a shock.
Because I see posts like this:
Also desert punk and shootthebandit, so amaranth doesn't think I'm trying to single him out.amaranth_dru said:
and I think to myself, they must picture this time traveler as an American White man, because I imagine they wouldn't get the response they were hoping for from pretty much anyone else.
Modern man: "So yeah everybody is whiny and stupid these days, and frivolous law suits everywhere"
Hypothetical Black American time traveler: "well that doesn't sound too good, is the KKK still getting away with hanging black people from trees, and entire towns in some states banning anyone like me from entering the town after dark?"
M.M.: "well no, civil right ended most of that in the 60's and 70's, our President is even Half Black now, anyway I was talking about how everyone is so stupid and whiny compared to the rugged individualists that lived in the 1950's. Hey where are you going?"
H.B.A.T.T: "yeah look I'm now in a time where I can actually go in any restaurant I want without getting a black eye or a jail sentence, if you want me to stick around I can play the world's smallest violin for you, otherwise I'm gonna go check out that internet porn thing people keep telling me about, maybe I'll even sit at the front of a bus if I'm feeling adventurous enough."
Ontopic: I think people from the first world 1950's would have enough experience to grasp the internet, cell phones and computers pretty fast. I imagine how small and powerful they all are would be the sticking point, miniaturization seems to be something a lot of sci-fi at the time never really grasped when it came to things like computers and T.V.s. Social stuff might throw them for a loop too, the information overload of going from a time with local radio, papers, and 10 or so T.V. channels to a place where everyone, no matter how inane or stupid, can have a voice that the rest of the world can see would be kind of a shock.
