The "You" in 2006 time-travels to right now... your reaction?

[Blue3]

"You" in 2006 get to time-travel to the present day, and have enough time to catch up, watch the news, learn what's going on in the country and world, learn about everything that has happened since 2006.

What's your reaction? Biggest surprises? Joys? Sadness? Disappointments?
(try to keep it somewhat focused more on political/national/global development than purely personal ones)





*It's only 10 years, but then I was a junior in high school. Now it's been almost 4 years since I graduated with my Master's degree. It seems like a lifetime ago.

*Obama would be such a pleasant, uplifting surprise. Other good surprises: gay marriage being legal nationwide (and many countries worldwide), healthcare reform passed, lots more clean energy and fuel efficiency, protect Internet neutrality, at least some new infrastructure, at least some student loan reform, that the deficit was reduced in a responsible way, automobile industry rebound and taking on financial reform, things are getting better with Iran instead of a near-certain-feeling war, things getting better with Cuba, ending torture and putting more people in indefinite detention without due process, Osama bin Laden has been found(!) and dealt with. Relieved that Chavez turned out to be harmless, that neither North Korea or China have done anything stupid, there's not been another 9/11 or another space shuttle disaster or another Katrina, etc. Also that violence in Mexico has gone done. Pope Francis would be another happy surprise. Happily surprised about gas prices coming down, and there not being "peak oil" after all. Technological improvements will seem amazing, like being able to do a video chat, or have a "smart phone" that's basically a computer!

*But I'd be surprised and terrified that the GOP has gotten worse, not better (I'd have trouble believing what will happen with Sarah Palin in 2008, or Trump now, or the Tea Party and all the obstruction and shutdown/default threats). Also surprised that the coming Financial Crash will be so huge, and that Russia becomes so aggressive (though I kind of saw it coming back then, it would kind of be confirming some of my worst fears). Disappointed about the result of the Arab Spring, Syria, Iraq (but relieved we no longer have troops stuck in that mess). Sad how hopeless Israeli-Palestinian peace seems and why.




Some reminders about early 2006:
-Bush is President. He is trying to pass Immigration Reform, after failing to privatize Social Security, and there's lot of scandals
-Republicans control Congress, Dennis Hastert is Speaker of the House
-Insurgents in Iraq just escalated the conflict there to a civil war by blowing up the Gold Dome, the surge is soon going to become an idea to deal with it
-Saddam Hussein's trial is about to come to an end
-Everyone is scared of Ahmadinejad and how he's going to end the world or something
-Israel has not yet attacked Lebanon to punish Hezbollah, but is about to
-North Korea is about to get the nuclear bomb and test it, but hasn't yet
-Chavez starts going very anti-American
-Kofi Annan is the head of the UN, about to leave
-US population about to reach 300 million
-People have become very cynical if Osama bin Laden will ever be caught... but Zarqawi in Iraq is about to die
-liquid bans on airplanes start
-E Coli scare
-Ken Lay's trial concludes, then he dies
-Hurricane Katrina is fresh in memory
-So is the Space Shuttle disaster
-Oil Prices are very high
-Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and Blackwater USA are in the news a lot
-Pirates in Somalia are a new threat
-There's going to be a big push to intervene in Darfur soon
-There's no economic crash yet
-Obama, Hillary, Edwards, McCain, Romney, Paul, Huckabee etc. have not yet said they are running for President in 2008, and most of them are largely unknown or vaguely known
-Dick Cheney shoots a guy in the face soon
-Blagojevich is governor of Illinois
-Gay marriage is a fringe leftist idea
-YouTube is only 1 year old, Facebook is really unknown, MySpace is in, Twitter is about to be invented, no iPhone, no Tablets, no Skype, no smart-phones, iPods and MP3 players are new, flip phones are new
-Steve Irwin (Crocodile Hunter) is about to die
-Anna Nicole Smith about to die and take over the news for like 2 months
-Gerald Ford is about to die


2006 year in review (some language, and some parts hilarious in retrospect)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLQ928VhyxM

[i4indyguy]

Wow, good question.
I don't know the exact timing, its all kinda blurry, but between voting for GWB in 2004 and 2008, I lost my religion (slowly), switched from science to studying economics (coincided with collapse), and gave up hope on the Iraq war leading to a stable democratic government  (Does anyone remember the South Park episode:  "Horray everybody, DEMOCRACY just KICKED IN!!!!") yeah..... NOT.

IF I had advanced notice of the personal changes I would go through, and knew there was infact a housing bubble that would result in a banking collapse, well then I think I am now very much like the person who I could envision coming out of those experiences.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

I was not politically aware at all in 2006. Heck, I'm not even sure I knew there were elections occurring that year at the time. My 2006 self would probably just not care.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm engaged ?!?

Nice to see the old Atlas has been kept around as a historical artifact without updating the interface to the latest fad. Wait? It's still active? Congratulations Phil!

I see a bunch of trolls are claiming Donald Trump is running for President on the 2016 board. Maybe he's doing it as a stunt for WWE with Hulk Hogan as his running mate against a McMahon / Triple H ticket.

Still can't believe I'm engaged. Nice to know the future will turn out so well. Well, mostly alright. I see I caved and got a cell phone.

[riceowl]

You has fallen in glory since winning Person of the Year 2006 and has stumbled into a deep, suicidal depression.

[dead0man]

2006me:what's up?
nowme:Black President, middle name is Hussein and his first name is oddly close to Osama...and Osama is dead by the way.
06:Nice!, hows our teams doing?
me:good, great really.
06:Sweet, still rockin' the beard I see
me:yep, got a sweet beater Miata after the 3 blew up.
06:awesome, can I drive?
me:no, you're not real
06:oh...
1996me:what's up guys?...whoa, beards!  nice!
06 and me:shut up skinny!
1986me:<voice cracking> ummm, hi guys...what do boobies feel like?
rest of us:how would we know, we're gay!  it's fabulous!
86:w w w what?
rest:just kidding ya goof ball and get a hair cut

[afleitch]

'You lift? Niiiiiice.'

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I'd bitch-slap the moderate-hero, whiny, stoner, emo prick. 

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I'm no longer fat, I wear nice clothes, I'm basically openly gay, I live in Vancouver away from my family with a half-time live-in boyfriend, I'm a grad student, my parents are going through a nasty divorce because my dad cheated on my unemployed mom, and they're about to trade in a family home that's personally very meaningful and worth quite a bit of money for two one-bedroom apartments, leaving my sister and I without any decent prospect of an inheritance, which is shallow but still sh-tty. Basically, my life now would be close to unfathomable for 2006 me. The only constant is my extremely poor work ethic.

As for politics, I was not very politically inclined then. 2016 me would have presented things in a slightly warped way that I think would have swayed 2006 me over to most of my opinions. He would probably have a decently positive impression of Obama though, because the guy really has grown into his role since 2009. I feel like you'd have to see Obama looking like he was too green for the job in the early days to actually believe it. That being said, 2006 me would be terrified of ISIS and all that's been going on in Europe and he'd be really surprised that terrorism isn't dominating the national conversation. 2006 me probably would believe that ISIS wouldn't be an issue (or at least as terrifying) under Bush, and there'd be a sense that the world is kind of falling apart.

There is a possibility I would have completely bought into everything Trump has been saying and that I'd find it completely entertaining. That scares me.

Also 2006 me would be shattered because I'd shame the sh**t out of him for being such a gross slob. I'd also ask him to do some things differently, like make more of an effort to enjoy undergrad and maybe to starve myself for a bit a few years earlier than I did in reality so I'd be confident enough to actually have sex in undergrad. I would really lay into him, because it's a formative ten years, and although I've changed in so many ways, some really bad tendencies have carried over that would have been good to address.

[Gunnar Larsson]

As far as US politics come I would be very pleasantly surprised. The reelection of Bush was a low point as far as I am concerned, I remember a feeling of the future looking really, really dark the day after the election.

I have some memory of Obama being talked about enough by 2006 for interested people in Europe to know about him. However, him actually getting elected would have surprised me, considering his name & skin colour. That Clinton would run for president would run for president again would probably not be that big a surprise. That she would be seriously challenged by an actual socialist would be.. The only negative surprise concerning the US would probably be that Guantanamo is still in operation.

With regards to European politics on the other hand..

[Illiniwek]

I'm engaged ?!?

Same. "I'm getting married?!?!?!"

Also:

2006 Me: "So you've had 2 terms of a cool, Black, decently liberal? Wow those 10 years must have been great!"

2016 Me: "You'd be surprised how people can keep you from enjoying a good thing. Can you say 'obstruction?'"

2006 Me: "Yeah, I guess the Republicans are pretty bad..."

2016 Me: "Trust me you have NO idea..."

[windjammer]

The 2006 version of myself would told me: GO, GO and GO!

And I would told the 2006 version of myselff: GO, GO and GO!

[Crumpets]

For context: Ten years ago I was 12 years old in sixth grade and I was a big fan of the Apprentice.

[2006 me steps out of DeLorean]
2006 me: Hey! Wow, your hair is super short!
Current me: Yeah, it's not pleasant to go backpacking with hippie hair.
2006 me: You go backpacking? That's so cool!
Current me: Mhm. Plus, in the next ten years, you get to travel all over the world, so that's pretty awesome.
2006 me: Wow! I can't wait. So, you should be just about to graduate college, right?
Current me: Yep. UW.
2006 me: Ugh! Barf! UW, really?
Current me: Well, it was either that or St. Andrews in Scotland.
2006 me: YOU COULD HAVE LIVED IN SCOTLAND AND YOU STAYED HERE? I HATE YOU! Oh, and that reminds me, you know how Harry Potter ends! Is it awesome?
Current me: It's pretty great, yeah. Plus, they're still doing some stuff with the series, like they're making a movie of Fantastic Beasts and a play about Harry's son.
2006 me: Ooh. That's cool. How has the world changed? Are there any new inventions?
Current me: Well, you know that phone that Apple's making? They've made a bigger, worse one that everyone thinks is great. Also, they have these electric skateboard things that everyone seems to like. Electric cars have gotten way better. Also, MySpace has been replaced by a different site called Facebook which is much less creepy. Oh, and there's a thing called Netflix now, where you can watch pretty much all of your TV shows whenever you want without having to buy the DVDs.
2006 me: So, pretty much the same?
Current me: Yeah, but I think we're supposed to be talking about politics, which have gotten really interesting.
2006 me: More interesting than Dick Cheney shooting a guy in the face?
Current me: Well the election this year is probably going to be between Hillary Clinton and - get this - Donald Trump.
2006 me: OH MY GOD DONALD TRUMP?! That's awesome! Who are you going to vote for?
Current me: Well, Trump's running on this freaky platform that involves punishing women for abortions, deporting all undocumented immigrants and their families, and banning all Muslims from entering the country.
2006 me: What? Donald would never do that!
Current me: I think he's kind of playing a character to get votes.
2006 me: Yeah, probably. So what else has happened?
Current me: Well, gay marriage is legal nation-wide and we have a black president.
2006 me: Wow, really? So, is everybody just like hunky-dory with everyone else and there's like no social conflict?
Current me: No. Gay rights just became way more mainstream around 2012-2013, and the Supreme Court made it nation-wide last year. Obama (that's our president) ran in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, who everyone thought would win, but managed to pull out an upset. Then the economy collapsed in the fall, and he won pretty easily on economic and Iraq War resentment. He made Hillary his Secretary of State in the end.
2006 me: So, is he a pretty good president, then?
Current me: He's gotten better. He started off with complete control of the legislature, but only managed to pass a healthcare law. Since then, Congress has gone back to the Republicans, but he's actually managed to get through some small but decent reforms in the past few years.
2006 me: So he won re-election in 2012. How did that go.
Current me: Not a super interesting election. There was a funny bit when the Republican, who was this super rich guy, got caught on film saying that half of America has no sense of personal responsibility and think they're victims because they're poor.
2006 me: Ha!
Current me: Oh, and Bush's brother also ran for President and did terribly in the primary.
2006 me: Not surprising. Isn't he super conservative? I can't imagine the Republicans voting for someone that right-wing.
Current me: No, he actually lost because he was seen as too moderate and weak.
2006 me: Wow. So, how did the wars go?
Current me: Well, Obama ended the war in Iraq, but then Syria had a civil war and this group called ISIL formed as a merger between Al-Qaeda and a couple other groups and have taken over a bunch of Iraq. Fortunately it looks like they're kind of on the retreat right now. We did manage to get Bin Laden, but he was in Pakistan all along, and actually in a city right down the street from a military academy and not in a cave in the mountains.
2006 me: Haha. Really? Anything else interesting going on the world?
Current me: Well, Putin discovered his inner Napoleon and has invaded two countries in the last eight years.
2006 me: Dang.
Current me: But on a good note, we're normalizing relations with Cuba, and you actually got to go there.
2006 me: Oh man, that's awesome. And North Korea and Iran?
Current me: North Korea gets the bomb, but hasn't really done anything with it. Kim Jong-Il dies and is replaced with his weird son. Iran has a bunch of protests in 2009, but they don't really amount to anything. They get a new president in 2013, who's a lot better than Ahmadinejad and we just negotiated a deal with them on their nuclear program, so that good. Also, one thing you probably don't see coming is that there's a huge wave of democratic protests in the Arab World in 2011. 
2006 me: Oh, so it's like 1989 all over again? That's great!
Current me: Not quite. In Tunisia, it's been pretty smooth, but Egypt has had like two or three revolutions and is under a military dictatorship now, the President of Syria gassed his own citizens, Yemen's an absolute catastrophe, but Libya managed to overthrow Gaddafi in a civil war (with some help from NATO) but they're still pretty much at war amongst themselves.
2006 me: Yikes, well, at least it sounds a bit better than it is now.
Current me:  There's also a problem from all of the refugees from these conflicts coming into Europe. The far-right groups have been really playing on people's fears of terrorism and have been doing scarily well.
2006 me: That's not good. How far right are they?
Current me: Meh. They're not Hitler-Mussolini levels of bad, but they're way to the right of Cheney and Bush.
2006 me: I don't even know what that would be. So, the world's just about as bad off as it is now.
Current me: Yeah. But I'm pretty optimistic. It's not like we're going to war with China, and Russia's just kind of being petulant right now. Terrorism still exists, but it doesn't have the constant fear-inducing nature that it did in the 2000s.
2006 me: Okay. Well, at least we haven't gone to nuclear war, and that's all you can really ask for, right?
Current me: Yeah. Well, I guess that's about it. Oh, and before you go, one last thing!
2006 me: Yeah?
Current me: Middle school can be terrible. Be nice to your friends, since they're pretty much all the same friends you have now.
2006 me: Sounds good! Bye! [Flies off in DeLorean]
Current me: Why didn't they have time-traveling, flying DeLoreans when I was in middle school?

[Mr. Reactionary]

"Wait ... so we hate the Republicans now too?"

[Figueira]

I don't really remember having real opinions about Clinton, Sanders, or Trump at that point, and I had never heard of Kasich or (obviously) Cruz.

I'd probably be happy that Obama won, though. I remember hearing about him on the radio once and liking him for some reason.

[Bunwahaha [still dunno why, but well, so be it]]

I'm not engaged? Yay!!

Nice to see the old Atlas has been kept around as a historical artifact without updating the interface to the latest fad.

I see a bunch of trolls are claiming Donald Trump is running for President on the 2016 board. Not surprising, this board is inherently insane (but what the f**k am I speaking about, I hadn't even landed into that 'odd thing' in 2006), but for Trump, I thought Bush would have been the silliest America would have offered to the world, f**k, they still here to break all records!.


Still can't believe I could ever engage myself then everything is fine. Surprising to know the future will turn out so...f**k, I lack words. Well, not so surprising though. I see I caved and got a cell phone smartphone...wait, what the..........................??

...ah, and Tunisia?? Tunisia!!

...ah, and...oho.

...ah, and, what the f...? Putin, Erdogan, still here...?

...ah, and, what the f... happened to my theory that the US could turn into a totally insane/irrational/charismatic/religious power. Well that one is still on the way.

Hmm, France, f**k I'm not so surprised but naaaaaaaaaaaaaah, bordel, mais vous êtes c**s! arrêtez, bande de d!!!!!s! on passe pour quoi là avec ces conneries, p*!*!n mais non, bordel, on a l'air presque aussi c** que les Américains, mais non!

Nah come on, in France, far-right can't have a bigger impact than far-left, come on...

What the f**k happened on TV/media too, we were supposed to be far more enlightened than Anglos about that too, what the f**king heck happened it seems all crumbled at once.

And I feel like being a 2006 version of myself everyday...

And what the f**k, a normal job??

[Phony Moderate]

This is gonna be pretty Low Energy and in 2006 I was only politically aware to a mild extent, but:

-Would probably find some encyclopedia to find out what's happened over the past decade...oh wait, there's this simple to use website that I've never heard of before - Wikipedia
-Why are there so few DVD stores around nowadays?
-Suddenly everyone likes teh gays
-Ordering takeaway meals online is a big thing now, that's nice
-A black guy in the White House?
-Oh, Bill Clinton's wife is running for president?
-And the American equivalent of Alan Sugar is probably going to be her opponent?
-Another Bush ran, wtf?
-Michael Jackson is dead?!1!
-Whatever happened to al-Qaeda?
-The Simpsons is still going wtf? Ffs it's coming up to the 30th anniversary!
-David Cameron has been prime minister for a few years...not exactly surprising. But how the hell did Gordon Brown lose after only three years as PM? He was the no. 2 guy to Blair that everyone respected

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I'm happy Murkowski was unseated by a fresh and reasonable Republican.

I'm sure Hillary won't be the next President. I bet my money on Gore.

The whole Obama candidacy in 2008 talk is a bunch of nonsense. He won't even try.

It's going to be cool that Tennessee will have likely a Black Senator.

Go Mike Gravel! (Yes, I know he doesn't stand a chance, but I'm all for him anyway).

Who the f**k is John Boehner?

Hey, this youtube thing is not bad.

[Virginiá]

*2006 me falls out of my time traveling backyard oak tree*

Me: What the #*@(?
2006 me: Oh hi Ginny! I didn't think this would work! I'm here! Wow, this is a nice garden.
Me: Thanks. What do you want?
2006 me: This is important. I don't have much time - Did that Obama guy actually run for president?
Me: Oh yes, and he won too, and in a whiny fit, the GOP brought the govt to a halt for the next 6 years!
2006 me: Wow, that's terrible!
Me: Hey, can you hand me that shovel and quick lime over there?
2006 me: Sure, here you go. What's it fo...

*thump*
*crack*

me: Sorry ginny, can't have another me running around out here getting into trouble. I have a good thing going here!

*steals past me's shoes*
*begins digging shallow grave in garden bed*

..... 4 months later .....

me: This tomato is delicious! I never thought time traveling humans would make such great fertilizer!

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

TRUMP is running for President what?!?!

I am an ADULT?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Oh God, I wouldn't know where to start.

Well, 13-year-old me would probably be unable/unwilling to say a word and barely even make eye contact, so it wouldn't be an easy conversation...

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

Oh God, I wouldn't know where to start.

Well, 13-year-old me would probably be unable/unwilling to say a word and barely even make eye contact, so it wouldn't be an easy conversation...

Oh I know that feeling all too well, I used to have really bad social anxiety in my early teen years, it was terrible.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Oh God, I wouldn't know where to start.

Well, 13-year-old me would probably be unable/unwilling to say a word and barely even make eye contact, so it wouldn't be an easy conversation...

Oh I know that feeling all too well, I used to have really bad social anxiety in my early teen years, it was terrible.

On the plus side, 2006 me would never believe me if I told him how his life would change over the next 10 years. That'd help him get through the one year or so of Middle School hell left.

[/]

lel have fun in kindergarten

[RightBehind]

2006 me would be thrilled Obama became president, that gay marriage was legal and Iraq really died down.

I wasn't as politically engaged in 2006 as I am now. So I can't say much on it.