My review of the decade, top ten events

[patrick1]

Disaster, disaster, disaster.  Things like the invention of Facebook and YouTube, the wardrobe malfunction, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, and other less self-pitying events are far more significant in the long run than all these disasters.  Eight of your ten were disasters, that's ridiculous.  9/11 covers the significance of the development of a culture of fear in this country adequately.

Disasters drive legislation. Dead bodies in the newspaper, TV or internet have always driven discourse on many major issues of the day.  Just in this last decade 9/11 completely reorganized the Federal government and Katrina completely altered FEMA and our threat posture in relation to natural disasters. It has always been this way as well- globally Black death re-ordered society, and in America, the Chicago Fire, SF Earthquake, Spanish Flu etc. all had lasting cultural and legislative relevance.   It is rather depressing and there are certainly other relevant issues but you cannot discount them.

[Хahar 🤔]

Just a suggestion for what I think was a dreadfully underreported event: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

Yes.

[fezzyfestoon]

Disaster, disaster, disaster.  Things like the invention of Facebook and YouTube, the wardrobe malfunction, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, and other less self-pitying events are far more significant in the long run than all these disasters.  Eight of your ten were disasters, that's ridiculous.  9/11 covers the significance of the development of a culture of fear in this country adequately.

Disasters drive legislation. Dead bodies in the newspaper, TV or internet have always driven discourse on many major issues of the day.  Just in this last decade 9/11 completely reorganized the Federal government and Katrina completely altered FEMA and our threat posture in relation to natural disasters. It has always been this way as well- globally Black death re-ordered society, and in America, the Chicago Fire, SF Earthquake, Spanish Flu etc. all had lasting cultural and legislative relevance.   It is rather depressing and there are certainly other relevant issues but you cannot discount them.

Just because we're all obsessed with politics doesn't mean it actually affects our lives.  Laws aren't always significant, not that we made laws with regards to Katrina or the tsunami anyway.  Disasters are momentarily impactful, but real cultural changes have been caused by the things I listed.  Changing a law for disaster preparedness isn't exactly a life-changing event.

[Insula Dei]

Random things of much importance

a) rise of anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe
b) end of right-wing neoliberal era in South America (Brazil with Lula in 2002, Argentina with Kirchner, Bolivia with Morales, Ecuador with Correa, Uruguay with Vasquez, Paraguay with Lugo, Nicaragua with Ortega, Chavez consolidating power)

This, really. Mainly A. I'd say that the 2000s will be remembered as the era that saw the rebirth of rightwing xenophobic nationalism in Europe. Just look: Wilders, Sazarin, Fortuyn, the BNP, Le Pen, the Flemish political climate, Jobbik,....

[patrick1]

Disaster, disaster, disaster.  Things like the invention of Facebook and YouTube, the wardrobe malfunction, the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts, and other less self-pitying events are far more significant in the long run than all these disasters.  Eight of your ten were disasters, that's ridiculous.  9/11 covers the significance of the development of a culture of fear in this country adequately.

Disasters drive legislation. Dead bodies in the newspaper, TV or internet have always driven discourse on many major issues of the day.  Just in this last decade 9/11 completely reorganized the Federal government and Katrina completely altered FEMA and our threat posture in relation to natural disasters. It has always been this way as well- globally Black death re-ordered society, and in America, the Chicago Fire, SF Earthquake, Spanish Flu etc. all had lasting cultural and legislative relevance.   It is rather depressing and there are certainly other relevant issues but you cannot discount them.

Just because we're all obsessed with politics doesn't mean it actually affects our lives.  Laws aren't always significant, not that we made laws with regards to Katrina or the tsunami anyway.  Disasters are momentarily impactful, but real cultural changes have been caused by the things I listed.  Changing a law for disaster preparedness isn't exactly a life-changing event.

The Patriot act and associated laws have a large impact on how the government interacts with the people.  Laws that decide where, when, how you may build your house and whether or not you can get your insurance has a huge impact on homeowners.  I leave it at that before I start quoting code and public laws.  Even jokingly, I don't see how you could argue that Janet Jackson was more important than an event like Katrina that cost well over 125 billion in the short term alone and will take decades for the region to recover their previous economic health- not even mentioning the thousands of deaths. It also remains to be seen what the lasting impact of Facebook and Youtube will ultimately be. There have been many passing fads throughout history that are either forgotten, subsumed or replaced.
Ultimately, lists are useless to analyze a decade and really only conversation/argument starters.

[AndrewTX]

2005 was the most important year of the decade. Mainly because I made whoopie with a well known tv/movie star. Oohhh, who can it beeeee.

And yes, I'm serious. I nailed her vag.

[Eraserhead]

2005 was the most important year of the decade. Mainly because I made whoopie with a well known tv/movie star. Oohhh, who can it beeeee.

And yes, I'm serious. I nailed her vag.

Alright, Mr. Bigshot. Drop the name.

[WalterMitty]

long live the summer of 2001...

[AndrewTX]

2005 was the most important year of the decade. Mainly because I made whoopie with a well known tv/movie star. Oohhh, who can it beeeee.

And yes, I'm serious. I nailed her vag.

Alright, Mr. Bigshot. Drop the name.

I slightly lied. I nailed Katie Heigls sister. But still, its close enough.

[Smash255]

I should note I saw another recent list from a news organization which also listed 9/11 at number one and the 2000 election at number two.

Fox??

[Meeker]

If this list is meant to be top ten events in terms of impact on this decade then I could maybe see the justification for the 2000 election being where it is (Bush pretty much defined this decade, or at least the first half of it).

If it's meant to be in terms of overall significance then the 2008 election was far more important. No one is going to remember the events of the 2000 election in one hundred years unless they were really paying attention in high school history classes (how many people today have even heard of the 1876 election controversy?)

Also, the creation of Facebook/YouTube/social media should've been on this list either way.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If you're going to insist social networking belongs on it, then it should go to the creation of Friendster, not Facebook. Social networking was already huge before Facebook existed. As for YouTube it was already very easy to watch videos on the internet long before it.

[Meeker]

If you're going to insist social networking belongs on it, then it should go to the creation of Friendster, not Facebook. Social networking was already huge before Facebook existed. As for YouTube it was already very easy to watch videos on the internet long before it.

I don't really care who started it; Facebook and YouTube were the ones who popularized it to the point it's at now and made it mainstream. They're indisputably the most notable sites for social networking and video sharing.

[fezzyfestoon]

If you're going to insist social networking belongs on it, then it should go to the creation of Friendster, not Facebook. Social networking was already huge before Facebook existed. As for YouTube it was already very easy to watch videos on the internet long before it.

I don't really care who started it; Facebook and YouTube were the ones who popularized it to the point it's at now and made it mainstream. They're indisputably the most notable sites for social networking and video sharing.

Exactly.  There's no denying that Facebook and YouTube are now the identity of social networking and internet video.

[King]

I should note I saw another recent list from a news organization which also listed 9/11 at number one and the 2000 election at number two.

Fox??

The only news organization there is.