This is interesting!
And
@Igeo654, I saw some of your suggestions here in regards to Nickelodeon, and they are certainly intriguing!
Thanks! I appreciate you finding it interesting!
@gap80 If a massive rift in the space-time continuum formed while I was sleeping in my apartment and ISOTed me to the Kentucky Fried Politics universe (presumably with my birth certificate, health insurance card, my collection of books, and social security card so people knew I wasn't insane or an imposter), what would I find different? How advanced is technology compared to OTL? Is the political culture of TTL's USA unrecognizable to an American from OTL?
I have an iPhone 11 and am typing this on a 2020 dell laptop. I have Barack Obama's
A Promised Land in my collection.
Slightly more advanced, probably close to OTL technology in 2030. I think TTL's current political culture is similar to OTL's in some ways but different in other ways.
On the subject of long-serving senators IOTL - what happened with Patrick Leahy? I don’t remember seeing any mention of him ITTL.
Leahy served as State’s Attorney of Vermont’s Chittendon County during the 1970s and as the state Attorney General from 1983 to 1991 and again from 1999 to 2019. He ran for higher office numerous times but never won.
Technology being 8-10 years ahead of OTL would make for some interesting butterflies if I was ISOTed into the KFP universe. I would cheer on UHC for largely averting the massive growth in healthcare spending IOTL and not creating the Charlie-Foxtrot that is the US healthcare system IOTL. I would find it refreshing for the GOP to actually be a fusion of libertarianism and conservatism like it claims to be unlike the abomination of Christian white nationalism that it is IOTL. And of course, I would like for the world not to be on the brink of WWIII due to a conflict in Ukraine.
I would imagine that exceptionalism would be much higher than OTL due to America not getting bogged down in multi-trillion-dollar proxy wars in the 2000s and triumphing over North Korea, Libya, Cuba, and Vietnam. Cynicism would also be less prevalent in American politics.
I would imagine Breaking Bad and Orange is The New Black not existing due to both being based on problems that are largely handwaved away ITTL.
That all sounds about right, yeah.
@gap80 I would like to know what happened to these people.
Bill Nye the Science Guy: Does he still make fun science videos that elementary school teachers use in substitution of actually teaching science? God, I loved his videos as a 2000s kid.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
I know it was mentioned a little while back, but Ben Shapiro's fate hasn't been addressed. Perhaps include other figures of the OTL Intellectual Dark Web like Steven Crowder and Michael Knowles as well. A liberal or leftist Ben Shapiro would be a twist.
Gabe Newell: Does he still create Valve ITTL? Is there a company out there ITTL that effectively monopolizes the PC gaming market? Or is it thankfully more decentralized?
As an avid gamer, I'd like to see there be a "Kentucky-Fried Video Games" spinoff TL created, starting in the early 1980s and going into 2022. That might be wishful thinking, however, given how most people born 1980 and later IOTL don't exist in KFP or exist with a different mother/father. It could be guesswork.
Edit: What happened to Joe Rogan?
IOTL, Bill Nye "applied four times, unsuccessfully, for NASA's astronaut training program" (wiki). ITTL, he gets in and becomes one of the more "visible" astronauts due to becoming the "face" of NASA's PR campaigns in the late 1980s, where he used his comedic skills to promote NASA through what he calls "edutainment." The success of these promotional shorts and PR campaigns leads to Nye making cameos and short appearances in some comedic movies and TV shows. His growing media presence, though, leads to him not being taken very seriously by NASA higher ups, and while he gets to travel to the I.S.S. in 1992, he is always passed over for major missions. When he's not even considered for the Mars mission, he leaves NASA to host his own TV show focused on what Car Sagan (whose own career was pretty similar to OTL's here) called "pure science." This alternate Bill Nye The Science Guy lasts from 1997 to 2009. After an initially tense few years between Nye and NASA, the 2 make amends to pair up and cover the Marstronaut Mission in 2003. Since then, Nye has focused primarily on science advocacy.
I'm not sure what happens to Tyson ITTL. His father Cyril deGrasse Tyson (1927–2016), was a human resource commissioner for the mayor of NYC IOTL, so maybe here, New York City mayor, so if he doesn't become fascinated with science at the age of 9 (1967 or so), maybe he gets into city politics? He also was captain of his High School wrestling team IOTL, maybe he becomes an athlete? I dunno. my guess is his life is pretty similar to OTL's here. Thoughts?
Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, Michael Knowles - I don't want to drag current politics into this thread, sorry.
Gabe Newell and a KFVG Spinoff Thread - I don't know enough about the gaming industry to say, sorry. What do you think, does the gaming market sound more decentralized ITTL?
Hmm... If Rogan still is born (in 1967, roughly 35 years after the POD, about 15 years after the POD begins affecting things nationally and about 7 years after the POD begins influencing things worldwide) maybe he becomes a kickboxing or martial arts professional like he originally intended and now hosts either a sports-centered podcast-like series or covers sports for a TV channel/network or something...
What is the equivalent to TiVo in this timeline?
I think I answered this in a previous post, I'll check...
There's this guy by the name of Daryl Davis, he's a musician and activist who has actually led over 100 people to leave the Ku Klux Klan. He was born in 1958 so he'd still exist, and the part of me ends up wondering what he'd be up to ITTL. Part of me imagines he'd be invited to the White House during Jesse Jackson's administration based on that achievement alone.
What a great man. That sounds like it'd make sense, since said activism began in the 1980s IOTL I could see it happening in a similar manner here. Maybe he's a bit more prominent and successful ITTL, too. Let's say the invite to the White House happens in the summer of 2004, to highlight the administration choosing "love and hope over fear and hate" in the face of Senator Goetz winning the GOP nominee for President that year!
View attachment 785934
I am choosing to believe this is one of the Colonel’s great-great-great (maybe) grandchildren.
Cute. I wonder how many people dress up like The Colonel for Halloween IOTL. That number would probably be higher ITTL, right?
In case you're unfamiliar with who I was talking about, here's a video of him:
Great video!
Curious about your decision
@gap80 not to cover the OTL intellectual dark web since you covered Jordan Peterson in one article (although it was fairly brief). I'll say that anybody born after January 1, 1980 ITTL doesn't exist or exists under one different parent and thus aren't the same. Doesn't mean there won't be an intellectual dark web in the KFP universe, I don't see the US being pinko enough not to have one.
Gabe Newell: Likely becomes an executive at Microsoft in the early 2000s (he worked in the company on early versions of Windows prior to founding Valve IOTL)
It's possible that PC gaming would be more decentralized.
Yeah, there most probably is a "dark web" ITTL, I just don't want to drag current politics into this thread.
PC gaming could very well be more decentralized ITTL as far as I can tell.