History

[cnamon]

Which moment in modern history changed the way you think?

[Alice]

I don't think there is one.  Anything that's changed the way I think is something that's happened in my personal life.

[Dry then Catch]

would this question be restricted to the last 25-26 years then?  How can it be anything but 9-11? 

[OBB]

I would say it was the day I realized that I could produce B.O. if I didn't shower.

That changed everything.

[ignom]

The movie Spaceballs.

[Dry then Catch]

I would say it was the day I realized that I could produce B.O. if I didn't shower.

That changed everything.

tl semicolon dr

do you have stairs in your house

manbabies

[VikingJuice]

Which moment in modern history changed the way you think?

1)Emotional melt down in college that led a change of major and total change in career path

2)Grandmother passing in '95

3)Loss of a very important relationship in '02 and learning to thrive and survive in spite of it

[ignom]

That's from A Very Long Engagement.

[ReBurn]

The day I got married.  I haven't had to think since.

(just kidding.  I think all the time.)

[dazie]

12/21/98

[dc]

The way *I* think?  April 1, 1995.

[dazie]

The way *I* think?  April 1, 1995.

[Gamplayerx]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

[dc]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

Well, my day is the day I quit drinking for good....  I have no idea what the smiley means.

[Gamplayerx]

It appears to be the "rock on with your bad self" smiley.

To which sentiment I'll add my own. Rock on with your bad self, dc.

[dazie]

It appears to be the "rock on with your bad self" smiley.

To which sentiment I'll add miy own. Rock on with your bad self, dc.

exactly.

[nishi]

is this world history or our own personal history?

i would say that a lot of modern history has changed the way i think - and 9/11 changed the way i think in ways that are very different than the ways it changed the way other people think, i'm fairly sure. to me, 9/11 was not only a national tragedy - it was the public death of real journalism.

and catch - a couple of us are old enough to remember watergate. while not 9/11.... watching a president resign in infamy - and not over something like a blowjob -  is not a pretty thing. that was the end of trust in government, however illusory that trust might have been. i was a young kid and even i knew how fucked up that was.

people walking on the moon. for that, i was very little, but it was still an amazing thing. i still burst into tears when i see that footage. from that i learned about the fragility of man and the strength of purpose.

seeing footage of the sex pistols for the first time. watching our world reinvent itself.

students in tiannemen square - some governments will kill you and not care who's watching.

the reign of terror in pine ridge - *ou*r government will kill you, and not care who's watching.

fall of the berlin wall - not unlike men walking on the moon.

nuclear bomb drills under our desks in school - the world is not safe.

the rise and fall of the ecology movement, the word feminist becoming a filthier word than cunt in our society, the US response to AIDs resulting in eviscerating the progress made in gay rights after stonewall - people resent and fear change and will people for trying to bring change.

the death of john lennon - we are all vulnerable. often more vulnerable than we know.

the death of curt cobain - we are all vulnerable. often more vulnerable than anyone else knows.

piss christ, the photographs of robert mapplethorpe, flag burning amendments and the last temptation of christ - people need to get over themselves and their icons.

there are lots of things that have changed me. maybe shaped me is more correct. but i also think that it wasn't until i got older that i realized how much they had shaped me.

i would say that the biggest way modern world history has changed me is that it has forced me, over and over again, to look at a complicated and often ugly world and not become either bitter or hopeless. i personally find bitter and hopeless on par with sugary sweet and willfully naive. i think they're limiting and you miss out on too much.

[Gamplayerx]

Awesome post, nishi.

[ignom]

Geeze, Kurt Cobain is spelled with a K. I guess in a way though, he was brief and to the point.

[Gamplayerx]

Geeze, Kurt Cobain is spelled with a K. I guess in a way though, he was brief and to the point.

I wish he was brief and to the point. 

[Dry then Catch]

and catch - a couple of us are old enough to remember watergate. while not 9/11.... watching a president resign in infamy - and not over something like a blowjob -  is not a pretty thing. that was the end of trust in government, however illusory that trust might have been. i was a young kid and even i knew how fucked up that was.


i would say that the biggest way modern world history has changed me is that it has forced me, over and over again, to look at a complicated and often ugly world and not become either bitter or hopeless. i personally find bitter and hopeless on par with sugary sweet and willfully naive. i think they're limiting and you miss out on too much.

as i stated earlier I can only speak for what I've seen.  All that other stuff Watergate, the moon landing was already assumed and digested.   I think I would have shat myself if I saw someone land on the moon on TV.
This poses and interesting situation of experience..I posit that people born 77 and above are incredibly desensitized to information and news.  Yes events are digested on a cognizant level and processsed, but it doesn't hit us as much asit would people in the past.  Our lives have become that insualr and information overloaded, that it affects our total worldview. 

[Jessie]

and catch - a couple of us are old enough to remember watergate. while not 9/11.... watching a president resign in infamy - and not over something like a blowjob -  is not a pretty thing. that was the end of trust in government, however illusory that trust might have been. i was a young kid and even i knew how fucked up that was.


i would say that the biggest way modern world history has changed me is that it has forced me, over and over again, to look at a complicated and often ugly world and not become either bitter or hopeless. i personally find bitter and hopeless on par with sugary sweet and willfully naive. i think they're limiting and you miss out on too much.

as i stated earlier I can only speak for what I've seen.  All that other stuff Watergate, the moon landing was already assumed and digested.   I think I would have shat myself if I saw someone land on the moon on TV.
This poses and interesting situation of experience..I posit that people born 77 and above are incredibly desensitized to information and news.  Yes events are digested on a cognizant level and processsed, but it doesn't hit us as much asit would people in the past.  Our lives have become that insualr and information overloaded, that it affects our total worldview. 

I think that's true, but I agree with nishi that it's gotten incredibly worse since 9/11.

Timothy's generation has never known a world without 24 hour news and the internet, though.  Isn't that odd?

[meredith]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

Well, my day is the day I quit drinking for good....  I have no idea what the smiley means.

Thanks for doing that for me on my birthday, sweetie.

[dazie]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

Well, my day is the day I quit drinking for good....  I have no idea what the smiley means.

Thanks for doing that for me on my birthday, sweetie.

You're an April Fool?

[meredith]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

Well, my day is the day I quit drinking for good....  I have no idea what the smiley means.

Thanks for doing that for me on my birthday, sweetie.

You're an April Fool?

Didn't you get the memo?

1984-04-01

[dazie]

What happened 12/21/98 and 04/01/95?

Well, my day is the day I quit drinking for good....  I have no idea what the smiley means.

Thanks for doing that for me on my birthday, sweetie.

You're an April Fool?

Didn't you get the memo?

1984-04-01

I never got that memo.  Did I screw up my TPS reports too?

[Infobahn]

June 29, 2002.

The day that my Son was delivered by emergency C Section.  I was told that my Wife and Child might not survive the surgery.

Thankfully, they both did.  Everything else is bullshit.

[Infobahn]

To follow-up, I mean every other problem in my life is bullshit.

[nishi]

and catch - a couple of us are old enough to remember watergate. while not 9/11.... watching a president resign in infamy - and not over something like a blowjob -  is not a pretty thing. that was the end of trust in government, however illusory that trust might have been. i was a young kid and even i knew how fucked up that was.


i would say that the biggest way modern world history has changed me is that it has forced me, over and over again, to look at a complicated and often ugly world and not become either bitter or hopeless. i personally find bitter and hopeless on par with sugary sweet and willfully naive. i think they're limiting and you miss out on too much.

as i stated earlier I can only speak for what I've seen.  All that other stuff Watergate, the moon landing was already assumed and digested.   I think I would have shat myself if I saw someone land on the moon on TV.
This poses and interesting situation of experience..I posit that people born 77 and above are incredibly desensitized to information and news.  Yes events are digested on a cognizant level and processsed, but it doesn't hit us as much asit would people in the past.  Our lives have become that insualr and information overloaded, that it affects our total worldview. 

i think you guys are totally information overloaded. it's insane. i don't know how you make sense out of anything. there's no way to prioritize what's really important information, because news sources aren't really about giving you news - they're about trying to get your attention. there has always been an element of that, of course - newspapers don't publish themselves and televised news is even more expensive. they have to be money making entities. of course, i'm one of those annoying people that believe that you can run a successful business without losing all integrity - which is why i am so picky about where and how i get my news.

i can't stand to watch most television news now because of the style of broadcasting that is being taught. it's ALL about TELLing you that you should BE LISTENING to something EVEN IF it's not very IMPORTANT. everything is a fucking soundbyte and it makes me want to shoot my television.

[alexanderthesoso]

for me, 9/11 changed nothing.  the 2000 theft of florida made me politically active, changed my life a bit

[meredith]

i think you guys are totally information overloaded. it's insane. i don't know how you make sense out of anything. there's no way to prioritize what's really important information, because news sources aren't really about giving you news - they're about trying to get your attention. there has always been an element of that, of course - newspapers don't publish themselves and televised news is even more expensive. they have to be money making entities. of course, i'm one of those annoying people that believe that you can run a successful business without losing all integrity - which is why i am so picky about where and how i get my news.

i can't stand to watch most television news now because of the style of broadcasting that is being taught. it's ALL about TELLing you that you should BE LISTENING to something EVEN IF it's not very IMPORTANT. everything is a fucking soundbyte and it makes me want to shoot my television.

some of us process even more information than the average joe.  i use various meta-news sources (link passing) to separate the cream for me.  i assume missing something important to be an inevitability.  on top of "regular" news, i try to keep on top of science, technology, and information security news.  I also rely on programs that scan logs on various systems and report to me daily.

i'm almost completely advertising-blind, too.

[cnamon]

I thought about your post this weekend, Nishi.

We do live in a very different world.  Breaking news used to be a big story...the start of the first Gulf War, the death of a world leader, things that would matter to almost anyone.

Now, breaking news is just something that the networks use just to be the first one to report a story.  I miss the days where if a story was developing, I would have more than a one sentence blurb with details coming soon.  I also hate that trials of people that I barely care about get top billing in news programs.  Why devote a whole newscast on some girl missing?  There are lots of people that go missing everyday.  Why not post their name and picture?  Unless there was something that can be done here, don't spend that much time on it.

[Jessie]

I thought about your post this weekend, Nishi.

We do live in a very different world.  Breaking news used to be a big story...the start of the first Gulf War, the death of a world leader, things that would matter to almost anyone.

Now, breaking news is just something that the networks use just to be the first one to report a story.  I miss the days where if a story was developing, I would have more than a one sentence blurb with details coming soon.  I also hate that trials of people that I barely care about get top billing in news programs.  Why devote a whole newscast on some girl missing?  There are lots of people that go missing everyday.  Why not post their name and picture?  Unless there was something that can be done here, don't spend that much time on it.

I couldn't agree more.

I'm trying to think of stories the kept me glued to the TV, that got extensive coverage, back before EVERY story got that kind of coverage.

The first Gulf War was certainly one.  I remember it being early evening, and seeing those pictures, thinking that our world would never be the same.  I remember, even being only 12, really contemplating how this would change our world.  The funny thing is that in my day to day life, back then, it really didn't.  Well, not immediately anyway.  I imagined that war to be like WWII or Vietnam.  I was young and it scared me. 

The only human interest story that I remember getting huge coverage was Baby Jessica. 

Of course there was the Challenger disaster.

Now every story gets that kind of coverage.  I feel really bad for Natalie Holloway's parents, but really, there are much more tragic stories out there, and they don't even get local news coverage. 

I'm so sick of the media playing out like an hour long police drama. 

Do you think that news will ever get its integrity back?

[Jessie]

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/7/3/491/18474

[ignom]

Do you think that news will ever get its integrity back?

Not television news.

[cnamon]

I also hate that there are newscasters imbedded with the troops in Iraq.

War for entertainment?  It is sick and dangerous.  And it does not reflect war.  Television media has no place there...I think military papers should be it...what the hell does some reporter from CNN know about war?  Then you have asshats like Geraldo, but I don't even want to give him the time of day.

I also hate all the graphics and useless facts.  I hate that every disaster has a graphic.  And some music to set the OMG DISASTER LETS LISTEN TO THE NEWSMAN mood. 

I like programs that don't take themselves too seriously.  Jon Stewart and Keith Olberman are two that can report the news, but they also know when to stop. 

[Jessie]

I hate tickers.

If it's that important, TALK ABOUT IT.  If it isn't, STFU.

I wonder if we could start a petition to ban 24 hour news.

[DownSouth]

I hate tickers.

If it's that important, TALK ABOUT IT.  If it isn't, STFU.

I wonder if we could start a petition to ban 24 hour news.

My local news has a ticker now.  WTF?  It's the same three stories going by.

[ignom]

I like tickers, but then I generally read the headlines but DRTFA.

[cnamon]

I don't mind tickers...I don't like Fox News' tickers...they will give the whole story.  The ticker is supposed to be a blurb with the most important info.

[Gamplayerx]

I can't see the tickers on non-HD channels like CNN.

[cnamon]

Another thing that bothers me...

The news media always has to have some sort of connection to every story.

They find a hurricane victims third cousin's baby daddy that lives in the area and they interview them.  Why?  We see what the hell is going on in the news.  I don't need to know how a person that has little to do with my area and who won't be coming here is doing. 

Another thing:  I hate that every little tragedy turns into "Could it happen in our area???".  And don't do a whole 5 minute piece on how many germs are on my desk.

I really wish we could go back to the old times when the local news showed local news first, then national events.

[Beefy]

04/12/96

[cnamon]

04/12/96

That was 5 days before my 14th birthday.

[dazie]

04/12/96

That was 5 days before my 14th birthday.

That was 4 months and 2 days before my 28th birthday.

[Jessie]

Exactly two months after my nineteenth birthday and three months and two weeks before Timothy was born.

[nishi]

there was a huge front page story in our local paper here yesterday, titled "DISASTER", talking about the 1937 flood and could we save everyone if it happened TODAY!!! what is our plan?!!?

fucking FUCK. i want to drive to the reporter's home and punch him in the nose.

instead, i will write him a note:

dear idiot:

we live in a river valley. if you pay attention, you will notice that we have some form of significant flooding every year. sometimes twice a year. because we live in a valley. with a river. in addition, we have major flooding every ten to twenty years. you'll remember a big flood in 1996, where people living along the rivefront had to evacuate.

in your article, you're interviewing people and wondering how to move the citizens of louisville out of the way of the kind of flood we had in 1937.

dude. in 1937, when we didn't have a FLOOD WALL, there was no television, and no one even had CARS for the most part, do you know how many people died? 90.

do you know why so few people died?? hm??

BECAUSE RIVER FLOODS ARE NOT SUDDEN, YOU DIPSHIT. they are not DISASTERS, because YOU KNOW A WEEK IN ADVANCE THAT THERE IS GOING TO BE A FLOOD.

i can only pray that your lack of knowledge in this area will someday mean that you are standing in the same spot for a WEEK before the flood hits you and drags your useless ass downstream.


p.s. that kind of flood only happens every 500 years in this area. while that is not exact, it probably does mean that there are other potential disasters THAT DO NOT TAKE A WEEK TO ARRIVE that we could discuss our preparedness for.

p.p.s.  you are the kind of person for whom the announcement is made, when we have our regular flooding, to not plug in a sump pump while you are STANDING IN A FLOODED BASEMENT.



this is why i hate our current approach to news. it is sensationalist and so unbelieveably stupid. we could actually prepare for the kind of disaster that might actually hit louisville. or, we could focus on the children and teenagers that go missing in our own community every single week. for instance.

muh.

[nishi]

note: it is possibly more likely that louisville would be hit by a rain of frogs in the next ten years than a major flood. in either case, we will obviously have pissed off somebody's god so completely that any preparedness plan would be useless.

however, i would be interested in being on the planning committee for 'rain of frogs'.

[meredith]

note: it is possibly more likely that louisville would be hit by a rain of frogs in the next ten years than a major flood. in either case, we will obviously have pissed off somebody's god so completely that any preparedness plan would be useless.

however, i would be interested in being on the planning committee for 'rain of frogs'.

I'll know exactly which lovely Louisvillian (Louisvillain?) to blame for the rain of frogs.

[Jessie]

note: it is possibly more likely that louisville would be hit by a rain of frogs in the next ten years than a major flood. in either case, we will obviously have pissed off somebody's god so completely that any preparedness plan would be useless.

however, i would be interested in being on the planning committee for 'rain of frogs'.

I'll know exactly which lovely Louisvillian (Louisvillain?) to blame for the rain of frogs.

It wasn't me.

[meredith]

note: it is possibly more likely that louisville would be hit by a rain of frogs in the next ten years than a major flood. in either case, we will obviously have pissed off somebody's god so completely that any preparedness plan would be useless.

however, i would be interested in being on the planning committee for 'rain of frogs'.

I'll know exactly which lovely Louisvillian (Louisvillain?) to blame for the rain of frogs.

It wasn't me.

I thought you are Elizabethian or something.

[Jessie]

note: it is possibly more likely that louisville would be hit by a rain of frogs in the next ten years than a major flood. in either case, we will obviously have pissed off somebody's god so completely that any preparedness plan would be useless.

however, i would be interested in being on the planning committee for 'rain of frogs'.

I'll know exactly which lovely Louisvillian (Louisvillain?) to blame for the rain of frogs.

It wasn't me.

I thought you are Elizabethian or something.

I'm a native Louisvillian.  My species isn't indigenous to Etown.  You can learn about my habitat in less than two weeks on the big screen, though.

[Alice]

I'm going to Louie-ville.

It's Loo-vul.

Oh.  Loo-ville.

Vuuul.

[Jessie]

I always tell people to say vul instead of ville and say the whole thing like you have a mouth full of crackers.

[cnamon]

loovul.

That is how I was taught.

[Jessie]

loo-uh-vul

[Beefy]

Are uhnunciashun and arctikulashun dead in Kentuckah?

[meredith]

Are uhnunciashun and arctikulashun dead in Kentuckah?

Buried right next to race equality. 

[Beefy]

Are uhnunciashun and arctikulashun dead in Kentuckah?

Buried right next to race equality. 

I thought racial equality was burning on a cross.  Go figure.

/I have never been to Kentucky and so I am just playing along, not actually making a overgeneralization about something I am not even close to having an informed opinion on

[meredith]

I have never been to Kentucky and so I am just playing along, not actually making a overgeneralization about something I am not even close to having an informed opinion on.

Oh come on!  Everyone else on the internets does it!

[ReBurn]

I have never been to Kentucky and so I am just playing along, not actually making a overgeneralization about something I am not even close to having an informed opinion on.

Oh come on!  Everyone else on the internets does it!

I believe that should be teh internets...