Do the Daleks have their own culture?

Despite being a genetically-engineered race of evil, xenophobic, emotionless war machines, the Daleks do have a rudimentary 'culture', as there are small hints and examples of this scattered throughout Doctor Who's history. In this video, we are going to examine some aspects of Dalek culture and see if we can draw any conclusions

All footage is the property of the BBC. Music by Murray Gold and Frank Klepacki

[lordinquisitor]

Funny thing about the dalek poetry; militant societies throughout history have often used poetry and songs to direct soldiers and maintain moral such as Sparta so Daleks developing poetry actually makes sense

[tikitong]

I can just imagine a big dalek telling stories to little daleks around a campfire telling spooky stories about the doctor.

[lewischerry]

My headcanon for dalek language is that they developed a universal translator specifically so they could instil as much fear in their enemies as possible. They want their foes to understand the death and destruction that awaits them when a horde of mini tanks comes screaming “exterminate and annihilate” in their native tongue.

[FactionParadox]

Absolutely here for Dalek Sec's sass and attitude

[PerovNigma]

I remember reading the Daleks page on the Doctor Who wiki, and it mentioned under "culture" the tendency to repeat commands three times e.g. "EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN! EXPLAAAAIN!"

[BPBludgeon]

My favourite example of Dalek "poetry" is the Strategist's callout to the army in the DALEKS! miniseries.

Destroy without Pity
Attack without Fear
Live without Conscience
Eliminate without Worry
Kill, Kill, Kill

[ЮлияПопова-чюх]

Okay, am I the only one who finds it kinda cute when Daleks start to chant together? Like, aww look at these overexcited murderous pepperpots go
They're like children shouting "McDonald's! McDonald's!" when you said you're gonna take them there

[crimsong]

2:35 This poetry actually reminds me of something. In the 8th Doctor audio "The Time of the Daleks", the Daleks kidnap Shakespeare, (long story) and so throughout the story, they recite several of his poems. It's just as weird as it sounds. According to the cover they are the silver ones, so it is early enough that it could have influenced them...

My favorite Dalek poem is undoubtedly, "My vision is impaired, I cannot see! My vision is impaired! Emergency!"

[Paulscribbles]

In the TV21 comic strip, ‘Shadow of Humanity’, a rogue Dalek — and later a whole faction of Daleks — refuses to obey orders to destroy flowering vegetation in the course of building a new road, decorating their personal “rest quarters” with flowers and adopting the slogan “Protect beauty: flowers are beautiful”.
And in David Whitaker’s novelisation of the first Dalek story, Ian Chesterton describes structures in the Dalek city that appear to have no practical function and that he conjectures may be examples of abstract sculpture.

[Just-Plain-Potential]

I once heard that the letter J was forbidden in Dalekese. Also, i Just want to point out that the Dalek Prime Minister's chamber (the small one with the four armed scaffold on it) lookes a LOT like Australia's Parliament House, in which we have our Prime Minister. Moffat...you uhhh, want to explain that one? XD

[DWViking]

I love thinking about different species in the show through this lens. Different smaller aspects of the show that really start to build up into its own extensive lore ramifications. Really liked this video!

[duncankilburn]

This is one of the reasons why Resurrection is one of my favourite stories.

[mcdaysalive]

With regards to Dalek myths, there are many Daleks from both past and future who are reintegrated to the path web at points unconnected to their origin time. I'm not surprised that stories of altered timelines defeats at the hand of the Doctor, and potential futures and pasts get mixed in as myth and unreliable fact into the network.

[generalbutterscotch]

I've always just assumed that any "culture" the Daleks might appear to have is just their Kaled ancestry occasionally shining through, almost like a subconscious glitch in their programming.

[ShinyaMerveilles]

FWIW, a few stories have given good indications of a mentality viable for society. Besides the prime ministers view on dalek beauty there was also a dalek facilitator (think psychologist) during the time war, who gave a degree of insight into how daleks think in a way humanoids can understand. To quote

“ daleks do not love like humans. Our love is logic. What is true will always prevail…… when you feel doubt, look for the fact. That is the route to certainty”

[tommyfox]

Like I said in your Dalek Art video, I think this form of characterization works best for The Daleks, it's definitely something familiar that humans can see but obscured to the point where it's somewhere in the uncanny vally.
And about unmentioned examples of Dalek culture, I know this example is not that well known but the humanized Dalek's entire society comes to mine; they're very much a non-violent civilization (too the point where the vast majority of them didn't have their gunsticks), they meditate, their architecture is very soft and safe looking, they all have individual names, and more.
Edit: I just realized something while watching a complation video of The Time War Dalek Emperor, the simple fact that he calls himself a god and can imbue religious zelottry in his soldiers shows that Daleks have some kind of understanding of religion and higher powers above themselves.

[TheWanderer]

Core fundamentals:

1. Survival
2. Purity
3. Tech Dominance
4. Numbers
5. Leadership
6. DALEKS ARE SUPREME! EXTERMINATE!

[cnvict_pleb]

I like to speculate that the Daleks Culture of a their obsession with purity. It’s their religion, culture and priority. And their desire to rule the universe

[redjirachi]

You should do a video on the parallels between the Daleks and Cybermen. It's an aspect I wish the show addressed

[alligatorman-kw]

2:49 this "exterminate" is the one used in most gmod dalek npcs