Sit your place in heaven at once.

[blackiestark]

When does a decade begin?

No, this is not the old millennium argument. What I want to know is when the decade starts culturally -- when, in the future, we look back and agree on what event really made the new decade start to feel new. We can agree, for example, that the Thirties as we understand them began with the Great Depression, kicked off by

Comments

[wordweaverlynn]

This is one of those topics I've thought a lot about.

My own personal calendar is divided in different ways, but I bet that's true for everyone.

[blackiestark]

Oh, no doubt. Although I'm a little shocked, looking this list over, at how much my life actually coincides with these supposedly arbitrary events that don't personally affect me.

[ghymoreid]

I think it was a P.J. O'Rourke essay I read once that said that what most people think of as "the Sixties", at least in terms of hippie counterculture (and music) ran roughly from 67 til 74 or so - the height of the Vietnam War activism in America. That made sense to me, especially from the musical perspective - the actual sixties themselves also being responsible for The 1910 Bubblegum Company ffs. ;) (I notice my answers swing between musical and political milestones. I blame my upbringing.)

[blackiestark]

Good old PJ. I think that was from his Rolling Stones piece "LSD: Let the Sixties Die."

[ghymoreid]

I think it's from an older one than that, but all my P.J. collections are still boxed up from moving, so I can't swear to it. Meh. I still thank the friend who introduced me to him in high school by sending me a copy of How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing Want Squeezed And Not Spill Your Drink.

[blackiestark]

Conservative or not, he's awesome. Modern-day Mark Twain, at his best.

"Democrats say, 'There's something wrong with America, and we can fix it.' Republicans say, 'There's nothing wrong with America, and we can fix THAT.'"

[cocoajava]

Interesting poll. I tried to choose the answers by thinking 'what started us on a path that carried through the decade' and thus the end result is the feel of the decade we all recognize.

[blackiestark]

I think that's the best way to judge these things... whatever gets the ball rolling. Except it's something that's often really tragic. Which must say something.

[panda_dancer]

Tiananmen Square and the Patriot Act approval stand as brackets of a certain time period for me, but as another has already said - we each make personal notations too.

[blackiestark]

You know, I considered both as options, but I rejected them -- Tiananmen Square didn't effect the full-bore civil rights change that it might have, and the Patriot Act, to me, could be seen as an outgrowth of either Iraq or Bush's presidency, which I'd already covered.

[pieces2puzzle]

I think it'll be interesting to see how each of your friends answered versus what you know of them via LJ. I'm guessing our answers may reveal (because they were shaped by) what each individual is interested in today's time (i.e. music, domestic politics, international politics, sports, science, entertainment, etc). Fun stuff. :)

[blackiestark]

Yeah! I tried to think culturally above all. The Onion's "Our Dumb Century" helps. ;)