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Talking Through The Problem

So we were in raid chatting it up like one does when one is waiting for stuff to get going, and a friend of mine was talking about how on their podcast they were asking listeners to call in or email with which fandom they'd like to live in and why. Many people mentioned their favourite universes: Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, even World of Warcraft. And I tossed out Gilmore Girls.

Yeah, that was the reaction of many of my friends, too. "Gilmore Girls? The TV show about the mother and the daughter?" Yes, that show. Exactly that show. That's the universe that I'd like to live in. Seriously. It's awesome there.

It's pretty clearly a post-scarcity universe, since no one ever pays for anything or does any sort of work that they don't want to do. I mean, Lorelei manages a hotel and works pretty hard, but given the size of the house she lives in it's pretty clear that the money thing isn't really an issue (I mean, the crazy cat lady and the jazz musician live in a house next store and there's no clear indication of what they do or make).

But that's not the real reason I want to stay there (though post-scarcity societies are inherently more ideal). The reason I want to stay there is that nothing terrible happens. I mean, there's plenty of conflict and everything, but in Star Wars or Star Trek or places like that, there's all of this huge dangerous conflict where people get blown up and killed and shoot people and deal with tons of trauma. I mean, yeah, it's exciting or whatever, but there's a constant fear of death (even though in many of the universes there's ways to get better from being dead). Many of the problems presented in the various universes involve shooting stuff or sometimes blowing things up.

In Gilmore Girls, though, the problems are still big and still important, but nearly every problem is solved by talking it out. Sometimes it takes more than one try (or even more than one episode), but the solution to problems is communication and consensus. And everyone talks fast and is clever and funny and there's no bad people, just people with different points of view.

I like Gilmore Girls. And if I had a chance, I'd like to live there. I mean, who wouldn't?

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