The 2010s — an overview

[Dom Cruise]

It was a good decade if you weren't mobilized to fight in Iraq or didn't care about politics that much. In the 10s we sent our troops to Libya and Syria, the social media became inescapable from people's lives, in the first half of the decade Americans have had lower incomes in comparison with the previous decade, yet the house prices went hysterically higher despite the relatively low inflation, 14% to 15% of the American population was poor back in 2010-2014, school shootings became more common than ever before. If the 2000s were chaotic on their own, the 2010s were a complete catastrophy on all fronts.

Indeed, the 2000s had it's problems but a lot of it was at the end of day mostly happening "in the background", for most average Americans it was business as usual.

Of course the problems were worrying and a sign that a bad moon was rising, people correctly predicted that in the future the problems of the 21st century would get worse and wouldn't be so easily tuned out.

It can't be understated in my opinion how catastrophic a decade the 2010s were for the human race.

I don't remember the first half of the 80's as being all that different from the late 70's though. Times were still tough, although improving, until about 84. Pop culture wise, yeah, there was a bit of a shift, but the 80's didn't just happen in 81 when Regan was inaugurated.

Hell, I remember there was talk going into the 84 election that Reagan was beatable in 84 because the economy hadn't turned yet and unemployment was still high. Then the Democrats decided to run Mondale and tripped on their own dicks in a huge fashion.

I'd say the 80's as we think about the today didn't manifest until 85 or 86 actually.

You're not entirely wrong, there was plenty of holdover from the 70s in the early 80s, but at the same time, what about Raiders of The Lost Ark? What about E.T.? What about Michael Jackson's Thriller? What about MTV? There was lots of pop culture in 81, 82 and 83 that we think of as distinctly 80s.

The early 80s was a unique period of time though that I've always been particularly fascinated with because it was a mixture of 80s glam and 70s grit, by 1985 and 1986 things did become a lot more cleaned up.

 

[Bass]

You're not entirely wrong, there was plenty of holdover from the 70s in the early 80s, but at the same time, what about Raiders of The Lost Ark? What about E.T.? What about Michael Jackson's Thriller? What about MTV? There was lots of pop culture in 81, 82 and 83 that we think of as distinctly 80s.

The early 80s was a unique period of time though that I've always been particularly fascinated with because it was a mixture of 80s glam and 70s grit, by 1985 and 1986 things did become a lot more cleaned up.

I didn't completely disagree, pop culture wise there was a shift, especially with the mtv type stuff. That definitely did change a lot of things, but the day to day culture/lifestyle end of it changed slowly, just like how the 80's didn't truely die until a few years into the 90's.

I guess I'm saying it was more of a gradual slide into the 80s rather than a sudden shift

 

[Syaoran Li]

I didn't completely disagree, pop culture wise there was a shift, especially with the mtv type stuff. That definitely did change a lot of things, but the day to day culture/lifestyle end of it changed slowly, just like how the 80's didn't truely die until a few years into the 90's.

I guess I'm saying it was more of a gradual slide into the 80s rather than a sudden shift

True, and you kinda had a similar thing with the transition from the 90's to the 2000's but it was a little less gradual since you had 9/11 as the big event that kicked off the changeover but I'll agree with @Dom Cruise in that the unified spirit of the 90's wasn't fully snuffed out until 2003 with the invasion of Iraq.

The 2004 election also widened the Red State/Blue State divide that helped feed into the "Culture Wars" of the 2010's as well.

With the 2010's, it feels like the change was more sudden because 2008-2013 was almost like a mini-cultural decade on its own where stuff like Occupy Wall Street, the rise of Anita Sarkeesian, Trayvon, and the reelection of Obama felt more like the capstone for the form "Current Year" would take

I think part of why 2007 gets this memetic reputation as "The Year the Internet Went To Shit" is due to a lot of reasons. Not just the obvious ones like the first iPhones and the rise of social media, but because there was this weird aura of change and transition that just permeated the culture.

2007 was one of those "foot in both doors" times where it was where the old "Turn of the Millennium" paradigm of the late 90's and 2000's clashed with the the post-Recession zeitgeist that would eventually become "Current Year"

The WGA Strike, the rise of social media platforms, the rise of Obama, and the Great Recession were all events in 2007-2008 that helped shape the malaise of Current Year, both culturally and politically.

 

[Linako 2.0]

And similarly social justice will never go away fully, but what we can hope is that it loses some of its relevance and go back to being a pretty fringe thing again.

I have this gut feeling that they're going to try and make the want for limiting immigration to become an ultra taboo like Segregation was 60 years ago.
Sure this sounds fringe, but considering how hard the overton window was launched into orbit, peple getting cancelled for arbitrary faux pas and the bag of worms finally opening more, it's very possible that saying you want regulated immigration (or lets be honest, not letting in more H1b1 visas replacing our work force) will make you super satan nazi.

 

[ConfederateIrishman]

I have this gut feeling that they're going to try and make the want for limiting immigration to become an ultra taboo like Segregation was 60 years ago.
Sure this sounds fringe, but considering how hard the overton window was launched into orbit, peple getting cancelled for arbitrary faux pas and the bag of worms finally opening more, it's very possible that saying you want regulated immigration (or lets be honest, not letting in more H1b1 visas replacing our work force) will make you super satan nazi.

Inside big corporate culture it is already like that and they are mobilizing to use their influence to make sure that is the case society-wide.

Now since Conservatives have spent the last several decades deregulating them and then subsidizing them while the Corporations have hollowed out the left there is likely nothing in America that will oppose this long term.

 

[Pointless Pedant]

I have this gut feeling that they're going to try and make the want for limiting immigration to become an ultra taboo like Segregation was 60 years ago.
Sure this sounds fringe, but considering how hard the overton window was launched into orbit, peple getting cancelled for arbitrary faux pas and the bag of worms finally opening more, it's very possible that saying you want regulated immigration (or lets be honest, not letting in more H1b1 visas replacing our work force) will make you super satan nazi.

60 years ago segregation was still legally in force across several states. It wasn't until the 1970s when it really became taboo and George Wallace renounced it.

Mass immigration started with the 1965 act and was widely accepted by both parties until Trump. Reagan declared an amnesty for illegal immigrants when he was in office.