My attempt at a second interview did not go as well as the first. It was very hard to get things to load today; and when I finally found someone to talk to I got through the first question, Second Life logged me out, and I could not log back on for a few minutes. When I did log back on, I had been placed in Korea, and couldn’t teleport anywhere else. While I was still in Dublin, I did notice that there were more people dispersed around the area this time though. As I was trying to find people to talk to I noticed that the Dublin island we are on has many shops, small restaurants, little parks or gardens, and an amphitheater. These things seem to encourage guests’ to explore the island and enjoy the scenery outside just as much as they do the Irish pubs. I also noticed that some people obviously didn’t want to talk to me. As I would walk close by where they were they would leave the area. However, when I did try to interview someone they came up and stood in front of me to have the conversation. This shows that the culture is open to new people, and tries to make some sort of general polite contact with them. I’m pretty sure the guy I interviewed also might have tried to speak to me through a “call” or just a computer mic. However, due to things not wanting to load I couldn’t tell. Hopefully the next interview attempt will go a little better.
DellLacombe (left) and BethJoy2 (right) at the Blarney Stone Irish Pub
My first interview in the Dublin community was fairly successful! At first it was difficult to find people, but using the mini map helped. People were very willing to talk, some even tried to say hi to everyone as they came into the location we were at.
The person that I interviewed was very willing to answer my questions, and also willing to share information about Second Life in general. I do think that interacting in some of the same things as the other users in the location help to connect with them so that they are more willing to answer questions.
Here is a look at part of my interview:
[14:35] BethJoy2: Hi, I’m from the USA and I am using Second Life in a final project for a class. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?
[14:36] DellLacombe: Sure, go ahead!
[14:36] BethJoy2: Thank you!
[14:37] BethJoy2: When you first meet a stranger in Second Life do you normally stand close to them or farther away?
[14:37] DellLacombe: Close
[14:38] BethJoy2: Does that change depending on their gender, age, race, or social class?
[14:39] DellLacombe: No, because when I meet a new person in SL I understand that I know nothing about their real life gender, age, race, or social class.
[14:48] BethJoy2: Is there a limit you place on how personal your conversation becomes? What would be a “polite” conversation to keep in place? Does this change based on if you know the real gender, age, or race of the person?
[14:52] DellLacombe: My limits on conversation in SL mimic my limits in RL. It depends on how well I know the person, and how comfortable they are in talking about different things. I have some friends in SL I can talk about absolutely anything with; other are more uptight. One thing about SL though is that it seems to compress the time it takes for you to feel like you know someone; where in RL it might take a couple of months to consider someone a ‘friend’ that might only take 3-4 weeks in SL.
[14:54] DellLacombe: And knowing the RL information doesn’t change things.
[14:54] BethJoy2: That’s very interesting. So if someone expresses a belief you find to be odd does it offend you or make you more curious? Do you ask them to explain them self?
[14:55] DellLacombe: It makes me curious and I’ll often ask for an explanation; though I am kinda quiet and unless I was really curious I might just let it go.
[14:56] BethJoy2: I can relate to that. Can you give me an example of a belief that you find offensive?
[14:59] DellLacombe: I feel that beliefs are neutral. We all have our own beliefs just like we have our own opinions and our own favorite colors. A person’s beliefs are not really anything that can be judged because they are what they are; just like their favorite color. Somone may say that they like Yellow, and I don’t like that color, but I don’t think less of that person for liking that color.
I interpreted Appiah’s view of cultural imperialism to be that cultures are influenced by others, and tend to change some of the traditional things they might have done in the past because of this influence. He makes it clear that some wish for their culture to remain true to what is was originally through phrases like, “Cultural preservationists often make their case by invoking the evil of cultural imperialism.” Appiah seems to dismiss the idea of cultural imperialism because it occurs all around. And sometimes it is hard to stay true to your culture because of the changing world. The Vietnamese Zao, for example, that tends to no longer dress in his traditional clothing because he can’t afford the clothing. Appiah also mentions that the French visit English language sites on the internet and watch American movies. Their culture has been affected by the American culture; much like the American culture has been affected by food from other groups of people. I eat less “traditional American” food than I do anything else. In short, cultures can’t always help that they change based on other cultures. It is just something that happens everywhere.
Appiah gets his golden rule of cosmopolitanism from a sentence in The self-Tormentor. Translated the line reads, “I am human: nothing human is alien to me.” This goes well with what we have learned from the rest of the book. If nothing is alien of foreign to us then we have tried to know and understand many things respectively. Trying our best to know about as many people and things without judgment is what the book is about.
When saying that “Cultural purity is an oxymoron,” Appiah means that it is pretty impossible for a culture to be completely pure of any other culture. Appiah makes this claim to help further suggest the idea that all people and cultures are influenced by the others. We are exposed to each others cultures through all sorts of things around us. Being culturally pure is just impossible in today’s world.
Between Shadow and Light 