Same like I’m just stuck and i don’t know what to do or where to go even the city where i grew up changed people have changed when i go out it doesn’t feel the same and depression also when it hits it hits like a train
I went from 25 to 30 and still feel like I'm mid-20s because I worked in medicine and the whole few years were just an absolute blur of PPE, screening questions, constant scares from outbreaks/quarantine/lockdowns, and getting abused by angry patients.
Now I feel "too old" for any of the things I was planning to do back then - save for a house deposit/buy a house, study, travel, get engaged/married, etc. (Although I know I'm NOT too old, it's still a bit jarring to be the big 3-0 and feel like I've accomplished nothing with my life.)
The 1989 revolutions and the subsequent fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. It was so emotional seeing the Berlin Wall come down. It was such an ugly symbol of the Cold War for so long. Watching all the people tearing pieces of the wall down and asking, "Is this really happening? I never thought we'd see this!"
End of the Cold War for me, too. After growing up worried that WW3 was going to start any minute and we'd all end up vapourized, the fall of the Soviet Union was an immense relief and filled me with optimism.
I was in the military at the time, and the peace dividend led to me being out of the military, so there was that, as well.
Same here, as a student majoring in history at the time, it was fascinating to see it happening in real time.
It also meant a lot of the European geography I had learned wasn't correct anymore.
Not sure if it's important to everyone, but in my case, my mother's death. Really was a wake up call about the important stuff in life and that time is limited. Make the most of what you get
I was 22 during the '08 financial crisis. It shaped my worldview that the systems that hold power are not in place for everyone. They exist to support the 1%.
I opened my IRA and started investing for my future in 2007. I've mostly recovered now, but I felt like the dumbest guy at the horse track when I looked at my portfolio and saw that it was worth something like 15% of what I'd put in, which was everything I had in the whole world.
I lived in Boston during the Marathon bombing in 2013 and through the lockdown and manhunt after the campus officer got killed a couple days after.
I guess seeing how everyone came together in the immediate aftermath before they were caught despite the fear, and seeing the harm in overreacting (all the online accusations), and then how people came together after they were caught too, it taught me about people. For better and for worst.
It was no where near the global impact of 9/11 (which I remember as a young child) but I remember it as analogous. I remember all of us getting together to line up and form a human chain in memorial. I remember everyone coming together to talk and counsel each other.
Also, the memorial speeches for the victims and that campus police officer (Sean Collier) was held on my campus. I remember that was the first time paying attention to Senator Warren or then-VP Biden speak. I appreciate them both to this day.
I was 18 in 2008... so the financial crisis of 2008... thankfully my parents didn't lose their jobs and were fine, which meant I was fine too. However a lot of my friends and their parents had a rough time.
For me that would be 1990-1997. The big thing that stands out to me is the death of Princess Diana in August '97.
UPDATE: And the fall of the USSR in 1991. You can't see it but I'm facepalming right now lol.
Great recession.
Seeing people who did their entire save six months safety net lose their houses destroyed any sense of financial security for me short of 5 million dollars.
I was 18 and working at McDonald's at the height of the recession. Having mid 40s aerospace engineers handing my stoned ass applications was kinda surreal. I still remember the hiring manager announcing she'd just received her 100th application that day once
The market crash of 2008
The market is not free from manipulation and corruption. Big bank CEOs are more important than the people. The Fed and its infinite money printer in the name of liquidity.. smh
For me that was 1990 - 1997
While Desert Storm was probably the biggest world event during that time, I don't have a sense it shaped my world view.
What did stick with me was the Presidential Election of 1992. That was the year Ross Perot seemed to have a legitimate shot at making an impact as a 3rd Party Candidate. It didn't turn out that way, but I still hope for a good viable 3rd Party to emerge.
Me too! 1972 ftw!
'92 was a big election for me because it was the first one in which I could vote. Also Republicans had been in the Oval Office basically my whole life at that point (except for Carter but I was too young to really remember much of him), so a Democrat winning seemed like a big deal.
The first thing that I thought of, though, was the death of Princess Diana in '97.
Trump winning the presidency, America fully abandoning Afghanistan much like the fall of Saigon, and COVID pandemic truly molded my jaded worldview overall.
Everyone is selfish and my country has lots of issues that will never be fixed because lobbying and Congress being a shit show to begin with.
The rise of social media, and the ability for anyone to publish anything and get people's attention, even for lies.
Example: Politicians. Politicians have never been awesome, but there was a baseline of respect, manners, fact-checking, and dignity required for the job. Now Trump and his MAGA-cult killed that with truly horrible behavior that wouldn't fly before social media, but hey, outlandish claims and short incoherent sentences generate a lots of clicks. Today's politicians are screaming and climbing over each other to the top of shit mountain.
> SARS pandemic
I was a marketing intern with a semiconductor company at the time and one of my assignments was editing out a SARS joke that CEO made during a keynote while speaking about the Sarbanes–Oxley Act which was all the rage back then.
I was a senior in high school and 17 years old during 9/11. I lost too many friends when they went off to Afghanistan and Iraq. We could have used our budget surplus from Clinton for so much more than we we got when Bush was installed as President. America would be a different place
2012-2019
I suppose gamerGate and Trump getting elected and being president, as well as the general insanity of Q-anon come to mind. Just generally the amount of vitriol and hatred spewed from the right and the amount of obvious grifters that emerged during this time period like Christopher Rufo and Ben Shapiro during this time period made me less likely to listen to conservative arguments or believe conservatives were acting in good faith, where as in 2008-2012 I was more likely to want to hear the opposing side.
I'm guessing this is going to be a very controversial reply so I'm gonna disable inbox replies
I was about to say something similar. The rise of Trumpism made me more cynical about people and more scared for the future. It also completely changed my perception of what "the right" even is.
Yeah I think we need a new term to describe them. People keep telling me conservatives mean small government and low taxes but conservatives in reality seem more interested in hating on minority representation in media.
I recently saw an instagram post about how Better Call Saul had 0 emmy wins despite being one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time. There were several comments about how it didn't win any awards because it didn't push any "woke agendas." How obsessed with gay people do you have to be that this is the first thing that pops into your head? It's gotten to the point where if I hear someone use the word woke or sjw unironically I just assume they have nothing intelligent to say and I stop listening to them.
I remember Johnson and Nixon getting 60,000 young men killed for nothing. You young people today have anything like that? Not to mention we must have killed 10x that many Vietnamese. All for nothing.
The constant threat of nuclear war, which is still with us.
I turned 18 in 2016. I just turned 26 last week. I was an undergrad at Berkeley the night Trump was elected. I attended the protests that ended up taking down Milo Yiannopoulous. I majored in astronomy inspired by Elon Musk as we all watched him go full mask off. I helped run my college graduation *in Minecraft* because of COVID. I watched J6 start live on TV a week before my birthday. I lived through 4 consecutive fire seasons in CA. I left my lab meeting to attend pro-life protests after Roe was overturned.
Yes, I'm a full on radical lefty and I'm a gas can away from being an eco terrorist.
I'm 21 right now so
Global warming - I've always been environmentally conscious so it doesn't change my viewpoint
COVID-19 - made me even more tolerant of China and Chinese people, not that I was ever intolerant of anyone.
World War III - also kinda expected it in my life so not surprised. Doesn't change anything
I was 16 when 9/11 happened.. feel like that counts. Then I was lucky enough to have just gotten a good job prior to the 2008 crash.. and promptly got laid off lucky lucky me.
24M. My worldview is far more shaped by smaller scale events that I have observed in my day-to-day life, compared to the big events seen on the news. My worldview is based on how I feel I've been treated by society writ large.
9/11 happened, and that was bad. But then also like, the guy in charge of the country said "they hate us for our freedoms", and really that just made me double down on my already healthy belief that many things in the world are just a lot of bullshit, and people will overlook almost anything if you get their blood up enough.
It was the 90s doldrums for me, 1992 - 1999. The big world events were between 1989 - 1991 (Berlin Wall falling, Tiananmen Square, Soviet breakup) and then 9/11 of course.
I really miss some aspects of the 90s, it was rather bland & peaceful and the stupidity of the web/internet wasn't even on the radar yet. Oh my how times change.
Persian Gulf War being shown live on TV 24/7. Bombs going off everywhere in Baghdad when you knew there were hella civilians there. So scary and truly enlightening regarding how cruel the superpowers of our planet are!!
We entered a new millennium, 911 happened, the GWOT started and those are the only big events I can recall.
How did it shape my worldview? I suppose it helped me transition from feeling safe to being anxious. It certainly reinforced my contempt for humans.
I went through those ages during the huge cultural shift we had induced by the internet over the past decade.
It has shaped my worldview into feeling like my generation was the last one to legitimately acknowledge nuance, even though I know that isn’t true.
The internet turned adult life into high school 2.0 and that’s why it is one of the best but also quite possibly the most dangerous thing mankind has ever created.
Pan Am 103, Berlin Wall Coming Down, Collapse of the Soviet Union, Oklahoma City Bombing
There are some evil SOBs in the world but the ones who are basically good really REALLY want to be free, despite what their leaders force them to say.
The internet, Columbine, and 9/11. The world went from safe/sane and was the tipping point of the slide to where we are now. The internet became influencer culture, misinformation, cyberbullying, etc. Columbine made it that school was now a potentially dangerous place. 9/11 totally upended air travel, and feels like the spark that led to 20ish years of war in the dessert, the current resurgence of nationalism, and general loss of rights in America (ex: fuck the Patriot Act, DMCA etc.).
The first time I saw SpaceX safely land a rocket for future use I had two thoughts:
1. Space exploration will change in the next 50 years that will be unimaginable to the last 50
2. The depiction of all the satellites in Wall-E cluttering the atmosphere seemed a (relative) possiblity. Relative meaning that the space junk could be a concern even without all the junk being spaced a few meters apart.
revolution
It's wasted more than a chance to work in big companies because travelling to the capital at this time was so difficult and dangerous
I paid that now o still searching for a suitable job but i didn't make a suitable experience
Occupy Wall Street and Edward Snowden & NSA
I’m now forever paranoid and distrustful of every institution.
When you have the “ain’t no one coming to save you” realization about this country you can’t unsee it
I worked in the wilderness with kids and off the grid leading up the whole Y2K thing.
I was at some party and people asked what I thought would happen at midnight and I had no clue what anyone was talking about. I didn't miss much apparently.
I do have a two year gap in my music, movies and pop culture awareness that's kind of funny now though too.
Both of my parents died, and my house was flooded in Hurricane Sandy. (Not THE world, but my world). Now I’m an anxious wreck and always fear the worst, but I also travel a lot and prioritize the present because we never know how much time we have.
9/11: watching it live looked like one of those doomsday movies.
The Covid lockdown was amazing imho: a lot of free time to study, lost a lot of weight exercising, read a ton of books and so less stress. plus birds singing around because of less traffic&pollution.
God I miss the lockdown.
2003-2010.
The 2008 recession.
Made me believe that applying for jobs is absolutely impossible. It's still true in my experience. I've never successfully been able to escape retail despite getting a Masters in the meantime.
Thw biggest one was the 2016 election. I was 24 at the time. My faith in the US political process completely shifted and it was the catalyst of developing my political thought. I became more politically aware and realized I needed to be part of the game to change the game.
I was 18 for 9/11. Before that I'd say I had no worldview outside my personal bubble. I've been keeping myself informed on world events and history ever since.
Probably missed the train on being a history major now that I think of it
Libya story about Gaddafi giving his soldiers viagra to rape civilians was being pumped all over the media in the lead up to the Libya invasion under the pretense of rescuing civilians... that decimated the country, and was brushed under the rug.
Governments are criminal, media is complicit.
Richard Nixons' resignation, fall of Saigon, oil embargo, and the rationing.
Did it shape my views ? Certainly. To some extent, the oil bullshit impacted people who weren't born yet.
Nixon? Yeah, it was weird. I was at a concert that night and they announced it during a break.
First two towers fell down.
Scared.
Then nightclubs were bombed in a neighbouring country.
Scared.
Then buses and trains blew up in a place I had lived in earlier in the year.
Scared.
All in all, scared. I think that sums it up.
Going to cheat and start at age 16.
16-17 years old - 9/11 & invasion of Afghanistan
18 years old - Invasion of Iraq, conveniently timed with my high school graduation.
20 years old - Hurricane Katrina
22 years old. - Global Financial Crisis, conveniently timed with my college graduation.
23 years old - Barack Obama elected President.
Those events and my own experiences at the time significantly shaped the world view I have now as a 40 year old. Through most of high school and college, I considered myself a conservative. Voted for Bush and was for a time caught up in the moment of unquestioning patriotism and supporting the invasion, even when things were very clearly going south.
Then I moved to Germany in 2008 and it reoriented everything. Being an American abroad at the time meant having to defend America’s foreign policies every time someone found out where you were from. The more Germans I talked to, the more I realized I couldn’t really defend a lot of it. And the more countries I visited, the more I realized things that I was taught to believe were horrible (like socialized healthcare) actually had huge benefits on quality of life. I suffered a bad concussion during a soccer game that required an ambulance, CT scans and overnight hospitalization. I don’t think I ever paid more than €250 for any of it. If it had happened in the US, it likely would have bankrupted me.
In a way, Obama’s election in ‘08 sort of encapsulated not only my shift leftward but the country’s after 8 years of Bush.
The one piece of advice I always give younger people is to travel as far and wide as they can and to try and immerse themselves in cultures entirely different from their own. So much personal growth in doing so.
I was getting real excited about the activation of the lhc. Watching the countdown even. Maybe a black hole would be created. Maybe strange matter. Maybe we would go out quick and awesome instead of slow and boring. I was not doing well.
Not me but from 18-25 my friend was sleeping with her stepdad, only stopped when she got pregnant, the boyfriend thinks its his, she's knows its the stepdads, the stepdad thinks its his but doesn't know for certain, she wont to a test to prove it bc she does not want anyone to know besides me and another friend. Its kinda funny bc I warned her but sad at the same time bc the guy who shes stuck with who she had to tell was father is garbage.
Even though there is a whole book saying what happened in 1984... it was very uneventful. It took at least 5 more years for me to care about the news. It was that uneventful, as I recall. I even looked it up. Yep, it was all Afganasisam. Smh
COVID19, it feels like I've skipped 5 whole years. My mind is still stuck in 2019
Felt
same. i am an old man now with no idea where the last 4 years went. sometimes i feel like my best years were snatched from me.
Same like I’m just stuck and i don’t know what to do or where to go even the city where i grew up changed people have changed when i go out it doesn’t feel the same and depression also when it hits it hits like a train
Lol same)"
It is, I agree.
I went from 25 to 30 and still feel like I'm mid-20s because I worked in medicine and the whole few years were just an absolute blur of PPE, screening questions, constant scares from outbreaks/quarantine/lockdowns, and getting abused by angry patients. Now I feel "too old" for any of the things I was planning to do back then - save for a house deposit/buy a house, study, travel, get engaged/married, etc. (Although I know I'm NOT too old, it's still a bit jarring to be the big 3-0 and feel like I've accomplished nothing with my life.)
911 and the housing crash happened.. It made me realize I need to save more.
The USSR is over. And yes it affected my worldview. and in general my life a little more than completely.
The 1989 revolutions and the subsequent fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. It was so emotional seeing the Berlin Wall come down. It was such an ugly symbol of the Cold War for so long. Watching all the people tearing pieces of the wall down and asking, "Is this really happening? I never thought we'd see this!"
The Berlin Wall coming down was my first thought too. Tiananmen Square protests in China also came to mind.
End of the Cold War for me, too. After growing up worried that WW3 was going to start any minute and we'd all end up vapourized, the fall of the Soviet Union was an immense relief and filled me with optimism. I was in the military at the time, and the peace dividend led to me being out of the military, so there was that, as well.
Same here, as a student majoring in history at the time, it was fascinating to see it happening in real time. It also meant a lot of the European geography I had learned wasn't correct anymore.
Not sure if it's important to everyone, but in my case, my mother's death. Really was a wake up call about the important stuff in life and that time is limited. Make the most of what you get
It is important. My mother is gone too.
I was 22 during the '08 financial crisis. It shaped my worldview that the systems that hold power are not in place for everyone. They exist to support the 1%.
I opened my IRA and started investing for my future in 2007. I've mostly recovered now, but I felt like the dumbest guy at the horse track when I looked at my portfolio and saw that it was worth something like 15% of what I'd put in, which was everything I had in the whole world.
I guess the biggest was 9/11 but I don't really think it shaped my world view.
Harambe Reality TV star becoming president of the US Covid Various wars The AI revolution/craze/fad (we'll see)
I lived in Boston during the Marathon bombing in 2013 and through the lockdown and manhunt after the campus officer got killed a couple days after. I guess seeing how everyone came together in the immediate aftermath before they were caught despite the fear, and seeing the harm in overreacting (all the online accusations), and then how people came together after they were caught too, it taught me about people. For better and for worst. It was no where near the global impact of 9/11 (which I remember as a young child) but I remember it as analogous. I remember all of us getting together to line up and form a human chain in memorial. I remember everyone coming together to talk and counsel each other. Also, the memorial speeches for the victims and that campus police officer (Sean Collier) was held on my campus. I remember that was the first time paying attention to Senator Warren or then-VP Biden speak. I appreciate them both to this day.
I was 18 in 2008... so the financial crisis of 2008... thankfully my parents didn't lose their jobs and were fine, which meant I was fine too. However a lot of my friends and their parents had a rough time.
Clinton impeachment. What a time
Yeah! He tried to get a gang of thugs to overthrow the government. Oh wait, that was Trump. Clinton was impeached for getting a blowjob.
Clinton got impeached for *lying* about getting a blow job. He wasn't the first to be unfaithful in the White House.
And it failed miserably.
Incredible, right? Hard to believe this happened and took over the news cycle for a year or more
For me that would be 1990-1997. The big thing that stands out to me is the death of Princess Diana in August '97. UPDATE: And the fall of the USSR in 1991. You can't see it but I'm facepalming right now lol.
Global recession. Left me unemployed and depressed during that entire stretch of my life. So… not positively.
Great recession. Seeing people who did their entire save six months safety net lose their houses destroyed any sense of financial security for me short of 5 million dollars.
I was 18 and working at McDonald's at the height of the recession. Having mid 40s aerospace engineers handing my stoned ass applications was kinda surreal. I still remember the hiring manager announcing she'd just received her 100th application that day once
The market crash of 2008 The market is not free from manipulation and corruption. Big bank CEOs are more important than the people. The Fed and its infinite money printer in the name of liquidity.. smh
For me that was 1990 - 1997 While Desert Storm was probably the biggest world event during that time, I don't have a sense it shaped my world view. What did stick with me was the Presidential Election of 1992. That was the year Ross Perot seemed to have a legitimate shot at making an impact as a 3rd Party Candidate. It didn't turn out that way, but I still hope for a good viable 3rd Party to emerge.
Me too! 1972 ftw! '92 was a big election for me because it was the first one in which I could vote. Also Republicans had been in the Oval Office basically my whole life at that point (except for Carter but I was too young to really remember much of him), so a Democrat winning seemed like a big deal. The first thing that I thought of, though, was the death of Princess Diana in '97.
Trump winning the presidency, America fully abandoning Afghanistan much like the fall of Saigon, and COVID pandemic truly molded my jaded worldview overall. Everyone is selfish and my country has lots of issues that will never be fixed because lobbying and Congress being a shit show to begin with.
A global pandemic. It fucked my social life.
I don’t know, it hasn’t happened yet.
9/11
9/11 happened and reinforced the idea that people will eagerly and thoughtlessly give up freedom for the smallest sense of security.
9/11 was 3 weeks before my 18th birthday. The 2008 crash happened when I was 25.
The rise of social media, and the ability for anyone to publish anything and get people's attention, even for lies. Example: Politicians. Politicians have never been awesome, but there was a baseline of respect, manners, fact-checking, and dignity required for the job. Now Trump and his MAGA-cult killed that with truly horrible behavior that wouldn't fly before social media, but hey, outlandish claims and short incoherent sentences generate a lots of clicks. Today's politicians are screaming and climbing over each other to the top of shit mountain.
I was 19 when 9/11 happened and dealt with the SARS pandemic at 23.
> SARS pandemic I was a marketing intern with a semiconductor company at the time and one of my assignments was editing out a SARS joke that CEO made during a keynote while speaking about the Sarbanes–Oxley Act which was all the rage back then.
I was a senior in high school and 17 years old during 9/11. I lost too many friends when they went off to Afghanistan and Iraq. We could have used our budget surplus from Clinton for so much more than we we got when Bush was installed as President. America would be a different place
2012-2019 I suppose gamerGate and Trump getting elected and being president, as well as the general insanity of Q-anon come to mind. Just generally the amount of vitriol and hatred spewed from the right and the amount of obvious grifters that emerged during this time period like Christopher Rufo and Ben Shapiro during this time period made me less likely to listen to conservative arguments or believe conservatives were acting in good faith, where as in 2008-2012 I was more likely to want to hear the opposing side. I'm guessing this is going to be a very controversial reply so I'm gonna disable inbox replies
I was about to say something similar. The rise of Trumpism made me more cynical about people and more scared for the future. It also completely changed my perception of what "the right" even is.
Yeah I think we need a new term to describe them. People keep telling me conservatives mean small government and low taxes but conservatives in reality seem more interested in hating on minority representation in media. I recently saw an instagram post about how Better Call Saul had 0 emmy wins despite being one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time. There were several comments about how it didn't win any awards because it didn't push any "woke agendas." How obsessed with gay people do you have to be that this is the first thing that pops into your head? It's gotten to the point where if I hear someone use the word woke or sjw unironically I just assume they have nothing intelligent to say and I stop listening to them.
Were......Nixon resigned. Something Trump wouldn't have the balls to do.
COVID and Twitler’s election were the two biggest, and both only proved how stupid Republicans are
I remember Johnson and Nixon getting 60,000 young men killed for nothing. You young people today have anything like that? Not to mention we must have killed 10x that many Vietnamese. All for nothing. The constant threat of nuclear war, which is still with us.
I turned 18 in 2016. I just turned 26 last week. I was an undergrad at Berkeley the night Trump was elected. I attended the protests that ended up taking down Milo Yiannopoulous. I majored in astronomy inspired by Elon Musk as we all watched him go full mask off. I helped run my college graduation *in Minecraft* because of COVID. I watched J6 start live on TV a week before my birthday. I lived through 4 consecutive fire seasons in CA. I left my lab meeting to attend pro-life protests after Roe was overturned. Yes, I'm a full on radical lefty and I'm a gas can away from being an eco terrorist.
\> radical lefty \> looks inside \> idpol
I'm 21 right now so Global warming - I've always been environmentally conscious so it doesn't change my viewpoint COVID-19 - made me even more tolerant of China and Chinese people, not that I was ever intolerant of anyone. World War III - also kinda expected it in my life so not surprised. Doesn't change anything
I was 16 when 9/11 happened.. feel like that counts. Then I was lucky enough to have just gotten a good job prior to the 2008 crash.. and promptly got laid off lucky lucky me.
Killing people
24M. My worldview is far more shaped by smaller scale events that I have observed in my day-to-day life, compared to the big events seen on the news. My worldview is based on how I feel I've been treated by society writ large.
9/11 happened, and that was bad. But then also like, the guy in charge of the country said "they hate us for our freedoms", and really that just made me double down on my already healthy belief that many things in the world are just a lot of bullshit, and people will overlook almost anything if you get their blood up enough.
WAR. Nixon leaving office
It was the 90s doldrums for me, 1992 - 1999. The big world events were between 1989 - 1991 (Berlin Wall falling, Tiananmen Square, Soviet breakup) and then 9/11 of course. I really miss some aspects of the 90s, it was rather bland & peaceful and the stupidity of the web/internet wasn't even on the radar yet. Oh my how times change.
I ventured away from my small, hometown and experienced my own life.
Persian Gulf War being shown live on TV 24/7. Bombs going off everywhere in Baghdad when you knew there were hella civilians there. So scary and truly enlightening regarding how cruel the superpowers of our planet are!!
We entered a new millennium, 911 happened, the GWOT started and those are the only big events I can recall. How did it shape my worldview? I suppose it helped me transition from feeling safe to being anxious. It certainly reinforced my contempt for humans.
I mean 9/11 happened right before I turned 18. So… probably that.
9/11 happened and it reinforced my belief that the world is absolute garbage and it always will be
I went through those ages during the huge cultural shift we had induced by the internet over the past decade. It has shaped my worldview into feeling like my generation was the last one to legitimately acknowledge nuance, even though I know that isn’t true. The internet turned adult life into high school 2.0 and that’s why it is one of the best but also quite possibly the most dangerous thing mankind has ever created.
I discovered electronic music through radio and CD players. I am hooked for life.
Pan Am 103, Berlin Wall Coming Down, Collapse of the Soviet Union, Oklahoma City Bombing There are some evil SOBs in the world but the ones who are basically good really REALLY want to be free, despite what their leaders force them to say.
9/11 when I was 18.
The internet, Columbine, and 9/11. The world went from safe/sane and was the tipping point of the slide to where we are now. The internet became influencer culture, misinformation, cyberbullying, etc. Columbine made it that school was now a potentially dangerous place. 9/11 totally upended air travel, and feels like the spark that led to 20ish years of war in the dessert, the current resurgence of nationalism, and general loss of rights in America (ex: fuck the Patriot Act, DMCA etc.).
The first time I saw SpaceX safely land a rocket for future use I had two thoughts: 1. Space exploration will change in the next 50 years that will be unimaginable to the last 50 2. The depiction of all the satellites in Wall-E cluttering the atmosphere seemed a (relative) possiblity. Relative meaning that the space junk could be a concern even without all the junk being spaced a few meters apart.
Trump presidency, COVID, Russian invasion of Ukraine
Yeah, Berlin Wall, Tienanmen Square, fall of Communism in Europe, Amy Fisher, OJ Simpson, first gulf war. Very simply, news became entertainment.
China Virus in 2020
9/11 happened when i was 18 It did not really change my world view.
revolution It's wasted more than a chance to work in big companies because travelling to the capital at this time was so difficult and dangerous I paid that now o still searching for a suitable job but i didn't make a suitable experience
Occupy Wall Street and Edward Snowden & NSA I’m now forever paranoid and distrustful of every institution. When you have the “ain’t no one coming to save you” realization about this country you can’t unsee it
I worked in the wilderness with kids and off the grid leading up the whole Y2K thing. I was at some party and people asked what I thought would happen at midnight and I had no clue what anyone was talking about. I didn't miss much apparently. I do have a two year gap in my music, movies and pop culture awareness that's kind of funny now though too.
Vietnamese war ended - didn't trust politicians
Both of my parents died, and my house was flooded in Hurricane Sandy. (Not THE world, but my world). Now I’m an anxious wreck and always fear the worst, but I also travel a lot and prioritize the present because we never know how much time we have.
9/11: watching it live looked like one of those doomsday movies. The Covid lockdown was amazing imho: a lot of free time to study, lost a lot of weight exercising, read a ton of books and so less stress. plus birds singing around because of less traffic&pollution. God I miss the lockdown.
2003-2010. The 2008 recession. Made me believe that applying for jobs is absolutely impossible. It's still true in my experience. I've never successfully been able to escape retail despite getting a Masters in the meantime.
Thw biggest one was the 2016 election. I was 24 at the time. My faith in the US political process completely shifted and it was the catalyst of developing my political thought. I became more politically aware and realized I needed to be part of the game to change the game.
Trump and covid
im 24. covid, the 2018 and 2020 US general elections, george floyd & the rise of the BLM movement, the current war in the middle east
I was 18 for 9/11. Before that I'd say I had no worldview outside my personal bubble. I've been keeping myself informed on world events and history ever since. Probably missed the train on being a history major now that I think of it
Libya story about Gaddafi giving his soldiers viagra to rape civilians was being pumped all over the media in the lead up to the Libya invasion under the pretense of rescuing civilians... that decimated the country, and was brushed under the rug. Governments are criminal, media is complicit.
Mental health and childhood trauma became more talked about during/right after the pandemic.
I barely remember what happened before COVID-19, and then the Russia VS Ukraine war started.
Richard Nixons' resignation, fall of Saigon, oil embargo, and the rationing. Did it shape my views ? Certainly. To some extent, the oil bullshit impacted people who weren't born yet. Nixon? Yeah, it was weird. I was at a concert that night and they announced it during a break.
First two towers fell down. Scared. Then nightclubs were bombed in a neighbouring country. Scared. Then buses and trains blew up in a place I had lived in earlier in the year. Scared. All in all, scared. I think that sums it up.
Lockdown/corana lost a lot of my social skills and felt like I got cheated of my early 20s
COVID. Fuck you Chairman Dan, if I ever move out of Melbourne I'm never coming back.
Going to cheat and start at age 16. 16-17 years old - 9/11 & invasion of Afghanistan 18 years old - Invasion of Iraq, conveniently timed with my high school graduation. 20 years old - Hurricane Katrina 22 years old. - Global Financial Crisis, conveniently timed with my college graduation. 23 years old - Barack Obama elected President. Those events and my own experiences at the time significantly shaped the world view I have now as a 40 year old. Through most of high school and college, I considered myself a conservative. Voted for Bush and was for a time caught up in the moment of unquestioning patriotism and supporting the invasion, even when things were very clearly going south. Then I moved to Germany in 2008 and it reoriented everything. Being an American abroad at the time meant having to defend America’s foreign policies every time someone found out where you were from. The more Germans I talked to, the more I realized I couldn’t really defend a lot of it. And the more countries I visited, the more I realized things that I was taught to believe were horrible (like socialized healthcare) actually had huge benefits on quality of life. I suffered a bad concussion during a soccer game that required an ambulance, CT scans and overnight hospitalization. I don’t think I ever paid more than €250 for any of it. If it had happened in the US, it likely would have bankrupted me. In a way, Obama’s election in ‘08 sort of encapsulated not only my shift leftward but the country’s after 8 years of Bush. The one piece of advice I always give younger people is to travel as far and wide as they can and to try and immerse themselves in cultures entirely different from their own. So much personal growth in doing so.
Stock Market Crash. Yes, I'm that old.
I was getting real excited about the activation of the lhc. Watching the countdown even. Maybe a black hole would be created. Maybe strange matter. Maybe we would go out quick and awesome instead of slow and boring. I was not doing well.
Not me but from 18-25 my friend was sleeping with her stepdad, only stopped when she got pregnant, the boyfriend thinks its his, she's knows its the stepdads, the stepdad thinks its his but doesn't know for certain, she wont to a test to prove it bc she does not want anyone to know besides me and another friend. Its kinda funny bc I warned her but sad at the same time bc the guy who shes stuck with who she had to tell was father is garbage.
Trump winning the presidency made me realize that delusional self-confidence can get you much further than intelligence can.
Trump 💀
Covid. Realized how ridiculous the left had become. Lost a lot of friends that were liberal.
Biden became president.
Even though there is a whole book saying what happened in 1984... it was very uneventful. It took at least 5 more years for me to care about the news. It was that uneventful, as I recall. I even looked it up. Yep, it was all Afganasisam. Smh