How will it be remembered?

I think the music of this decade was better than the 1990s. It's ironic that so many people agonize over popular music's death, when it's never sounded as good since the 1980s.

Although the world wide web was constructed in the 1990s, it obviously blew-up in the 2000s. It changed everything - absolutely everything. For better or worse?

Skepticism. I think that skepticism of authority has been a major theme of this decade. However, I also think that inaction (or reaction instead of pre-emptive action) has also been a major theme.

People have more gadgets and gizmos than ever before and yet they're pleading poverty in a way that hasn't been witnessed since the mid-1970s. Why?

Religion. It's permeated this decade more than any other I can remember.

Fashion. There's been a marked shift from the 1990s. Skinny fit jeans and shirts for men, as if it were 1973 all over again. Poker straight hair and minimal make-up for women. Very austere. Greys, whites, silvers, teal blue, turquoise, lime green...

Television. Reality TV making up 50% of the schedules on some days - some good, some diabolical. MTV went down the shitter completely. BET continues to astound in its awfulness. So many edgy or fantastical prime-time dramas though; Six Feet Under; Lost; True Blood; Dexter... Doctor Who scaling the heights of popularity again on the BBC... In the 1990s, Twin Peaks was an anomaly but in the Noughties, fantasy, horror and sci-fi were the norm. The return of the weekly limited-run soap (like Dynasty or Dallas) in the guise of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.

Call it weariness, passivity or just being blase; but I think the 2000s will be seen as the i-care-but-i-can't-help decade. We're more educated than ever before. Is there just too much information? Are our heads overloaded like a 200GB drive?

The European/American divide. There's always been an unwritten East-West divide; but I do think that Europe and the U.S. drifted apart almost irrevocably this decade.

Mini Culture. Through the internet, reality TV and mobile telecommunications. Text a joke to a friend and within ten minutes, the whole world could be laughing along - if it's funny. Reality show contestants become minor celebrities for 18 months or so... Heiresses become pop stars... Blogs break (and make) the headlines before traditional news sources...

The death of mystique. Everybody's open for business, 18 hours a day. We know the minutiae of most individuals' waking life, through 24 hour news and internet applications like Twitter and Facebook. Those whom go out on a limb to confound our expectations are the most celebrated, like Lady GaGa.

How was it for you?

its not over yet.

butterfli25 said:

It basically is. Start reflectin' !

Cinnie said:

we've got what 20 days left?

America's knee jerk reaction to 911.

Other than 9/11 and Obama getting elected, there is nothing memorable about it to me.

This decade was shit. It started out so promisingly, but it all began to go downhill when the dot-com bubble crashed in April, 2000, and it really went down the crapper after George W. Bush stole the Presidential election from Al Gore. Then 9/11 happened, and it seemed to certain people that the whole world was out to get us, which they weren't. But after starting two wars and torturing a bunch of innocent people, I'm shocked that more terrorists didn't attack us.



The web changed everything, and even the web itself is radically different now then when the decade started. At that time, people were still trying to figure out Napster and Gnutella, and social networking was limited to IM and IRC chat. Then came Kazaa and AIMster and Friendster, and then the three 800 lb. gorillas of social networking, MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube.

Skepticism has been such a major theme of this decade because so many of our so-called leaders and points of authority were lying to us, stealing, or cheating. Presdient Bush and Dick Cheney lied us into a disastrous war in Iraq, Bernie Madoff and the Wall Street titans stole our life savings and made it disappear, and it was revealed that the awesome athletic feats of baseball that thrilled us in the late 1990's was fueled by performance enhancing drugs.

As for religion, it permeated this decade so much because our leaders let the most crazy religious nuts take over public policy. What's even worse was how cynically it was used against people, especially after 9/11. We had politicians and other religious leaders openly supporting the war in Iraq and staying silent over the brutal torture of innocent people in Iraq, yet they nearly had a massive heart attack over seeing Janet Jackson's exposed tit. And these same people campaigned ferociously against gay marriage and for traditional family values, yet most of these same crusaders were having affairs on the side, making homemade porn, or looking for some hot action in public bathroom stalls.

The other unfortunate development of this decade was the rise of ignorance and stupidity. Most of this came as a result of the culture wars, but it reached its apex with the Holocaust and climate change deniers, and the whole anti-Obama crusaders (Birthers, Deathers, Tea Party protesters), and it is still being fueled by racist, sexist, and homophobic assholes like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.



Reality TV changed television as we know it, and not necessarily for the better. It's killing off the TV sitcom and soap operas. Who needs to watch All My Children or Days of Our Lives when you have opportunistic people on The Hills or The Real Housewives airing their drama for all to see?

But I believe this decade is going to be known as the Golden Age of TV drama. There were so many outstanding dramas that will be remembered for years to come. (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Dexter, 24, Lost, OZ, The Shield, The Closer, Mad Men, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, Burn Notice, Battlestar Galactica, House, Grey's Anatomy, and even the assorted Law & Order, CSI, and NCIS series.)

Vendetta1 said:

I had all my babies in the noughties
it sure made this decade a blur like no other

Asian tsunami.

(i'm talking about Imago, of course)

Cinnie said:

728huey said:

oddly enough that's exactly how I was about to describe my personal life as it occurred in this decade. I thought I had the world ahead of me and it would be so good, and it all went to hell in a handbasket

I truly truly hope the next decade will be better *crosses fingers* *prays* *throws penny in a pond*

I met a girl at the beginning of the noughties, and though it seems crazy that time has moved so fast, when next year rolls around we'll have known each other an entire decade.

728huey said:

I think these people always existed, but may have felt that their views were validated by the existence of like-minded individuals on the net.

The impartiality of Fox News is a worry too.

GirlBrother said:

Now I have to harass you into participating in my Music of the 2000s Poll I'm running here on the org!

Moonbeam said:

Yeah, I saw that already. I started making a list, but got stuck. I'll have another bash tonight.

GirlBrother said: