Line #17 PlayingWith/EarthThatUsedToBeBetter


1	'''Basic Trope''': Earth is still habitable, but it's not well-regarded by the rest of human civilisation.
2	* '''Straight''': In the year 2525, humans have colonized the Solar System with planetary cities and space stations, but Earth is seen as a museum at best and a polluted, overpopulated WretchedHive at worst.
3	* '''Exaggerated''': EarthThatWas -- Earth is a burned-up husk, being cannibalised for minerals by the few refugees who've bothered to return.
4	* '''Downplayed''': Earth is a decent place to live, but the futuristic, utopian colonies are obviously ''better'' and anyone with half a brain wants to get there.
5	* '''Justified''': Whatever caused humanity to leave Earth ''en masse'' in the first place has left it scarred and inhospitable.
6	* '''Inverted''': In a SpaceWestern, Earth is the settled and civilized New York to the CattlePunk colonies.
7	* '''Subverted''': Propaganda portrays the colonies as shining beacons of civilization and the Earth as a WretchedHive CityPlanet. When someone born off-world does return, she's surprised by how average (even superior in some ways) she finds Earth life to be.
8	* '''Double Subverted''': ...But the spaceports are oases of cleanliness and safety compared to the rest of the planet.
9	* '''Parodied''': People go on and on about how primitive, polluted, war-torn and generally terrible Earth is... when we finally see it [[TakeThat it's exactly like Earth is today]].
10	* '''Zig Zagged''': With [[InterplanetaryVoyage interplanetary travel so expensive and time-consuming]], the vast majority of colonists have never seen Earth, so their stories are based on hearsay, myths and propaganda. Ask 10 people and you'll get 15 contradictory descriptions of what life on Earth is like, with some people looking through the NostalgiaFilter at the Cradle of Humanity, and others dismissing the barren husk we used up and had to escape from.
11	* '''Averted''': EarthIsTheCentreOfTheUniverse.
12	* '''Enforced''': The author wants to focus on the emerging society in the extraterrestrial colonies, without everyone banging on about [[TheOldCountry how wonderful Earth must be and how they can't wait to go back there someday.]]
13	* '''Lampshaded''': "Grandpa, why don't you ever talk about the Old World?" "When I was your age, ''my'' grandpa used to tell me how beautiful Earth used to be. My daddy used to scowl and yell at him, tell 'im he was livin' in a dream world. Then one day, we packed our things and got on [[SpaceElevator the elevator]], and I looked down at the [[{{Mordor}} black and red, the yellow clouds drifting across the land]], and I guessed my daddy was right."
14	* '''Invoked''': The OneWorldGovernment starts making propaganda about how much better off-world life is to encourage people to buy into long-term {{Terraforming}} contracts and stick them out.
15	* '''Exploited''': People having given up on Earth as a place to live, and with everyone of any power and influence living off-world, there's no pesky conservationists to hinder its descent into an even worse state, a blasted industrial hell run by {{MegaCorp}}s and staffed by powerless serfs working for the promise of a ticket out.
16	* '''Defied''':
17	** Appalled by what we did to Earth and realizing its immeasurable historical value, the human space powers agree to turn the planet into one giant conservation area. They remove harmful industries, improve the living conditions, clean up pollution, re-terraform damaged environments, and preserve important cultural sites. Earth gradually develops into an {{Arcadia}} for tourism and educational trips.
18	** The Earthly government(s) impose harsh taxes on space colonies to ensure that the colonies stay weak and Earth can maintain its dominance.
19	* '''Discussed''': A HumanPopsicle wakes up on a GenerationShip, and immediately asks what the new capital of civilization is now that our best and brightest have doubtless left Earth behind.
20	* '''Conversed''': ???
21	* '''Deconstructed''': The colonists are all people who wanted to leave Earth in the first place, and cognitive dissonance has only exaggerated their feelings by convincing them they must have had a really good reason for leaving. Meanwhile, Earth natives have plenty of their own stereotypes about how nasty, brutish and short life is in the colonies. The reality is that there's a lot of variation in living standards wherever you go -- settled, terraformed planetary colonies are nicer than frontiers, large scientific-research {{Space Station}}s are nicer than those dedicated to asteroid-mining, etc -- and Earth, as today, is no exception.
22	* '''Reconstructed''': While the above is true, the pollution, overpopulation and nuclear fallout on Earth put it several steps below the nicer parts of the Solar system.
23	* '''Played For Laughs''': A new arrival from Earth is treated as a FunnyForeigner (or should that be AmusingAlien?) from a stuffy, backwards planet.
24	* '''Played For Drama''': There's considerable diplomatic tension between Earth (which still has most of the military technology in existence and is constantly on the brink of war) and the colonies, who look down their noses at the homeworld and are sorely tempted to [[TheWarOfEarthlyAggression declare independence]].
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26	Back to EarthThatUsedToBeBetter, though I can't see why you'd want to.
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28	%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
29	%%
30	%%* '''Implied''': ???

Context PlayingWith / EarthThatUsedToBeBetter