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Post by Kapitan on Sept 12, 2019 12:24:56 GMT
With yesterday being 9/11 obviously I heard and saw a lot of coverage, including the inevitable comparisons to the moon landing and JFK assassination as “where were you” moments.
I was thinking, do any other events in my lifetime reach a similar place in the national consciousness? Should they (in terms of importance of effects etc)?
The things that occurred to me were the fall of the Berlin Wall and the election of Trump. Maybe also the election of Obama or the explosion of the Challenger?
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Post by B.E. on Sept 12, 2019 13:17:10 GMT
The last time I was glued to a TV awaiting the news to unfold was the killing of Osama bin Laden. I distinctly remember waiting up for hours for President Obama's televised address.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 12, 2019 13:34:25 GMT
That was a historic moment in another way, too: it was the night of the Press Club dinner during which Pres Obama’s comedic takedown of a certain reality show host who had been the loudest backer of the birthed movement. The jokes and subsequent media response, especially once the Bin Laden killing became public, seemed to put that reality show host in his place once and for all.
By some accounts, that night was the key motivator to that man’s decision to run in 2016. And now we have President Trump.
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Post by kds on Sept 12, 2019 13:37:40 GMT
I suppose the O.J. Simpson white Bronco chase is up there for me. I was fresh off graduating from the 8th grade, and my family and I were glued to the live coverage, seeing what would happen when / if O.J. got off of the car.
Also, the verdict in October 1995. I was a sophomore in HS, and my Algebra II teacher put the TV in the classroom on, and we sat there and watched as a murder was declared non guilty.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 12, 2019 13:41:51 GMT
I remember the OJ chase well: I was working a factory job for the summer before heading off to my freshman year of college and it was on in the break room. That WAS crazy.
The verdict, I don’t recall causing quite as big a stir, but that might be because in the overwhelmingly white rural area I grew up in, that whole context just seemed abstract to me.
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Post by kds on Sept 12, 2019 13:47:47 GMT
I wasn't overly shocked by the verdict especially with Cochran working his magic on the jury. I also think the outcome was heavily swayed by the not to distant at the time memory of the Rodney King riots.
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Post by B.E. on Sept 12, 2019 14:45:09 GMT
Not to derail the thread, but most of these "where were you" moments of the past 3-4 generations are also major TV moments. However, we're now in a new age. I'm not sure the distinction is particularly meaningful, but I doubt most people even bother turning on the TV when a major story/event is breaking. The content is available on any number of devices now. I was being deliberate when I said the killing of Osama bin Laden was the last time I was glued to a TV for a "where were you" moment. I experienced the 2016 Presidential election via the internet. I may have mentioned this before, but I was actually out of the country on election night and didn't have a TV where I was staying. As an American, it was such a surreal experience to be someplace else during such a monumental event. Anyway, any thoughts on TV? Is it safe to say that when you think back on the next "where were you" moment, you will recall being glued to your phone?
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Post by kds on Sept 12, 2019 14:58:27 GMT
I think it all depends on the when / where of whether you'll experience something on a TV or smart phone.
As the results were rolling in during the 2016 Election, most people were likely home from work, and watching it on television. I know I stayed up until probably 1am EST, and I think Donald Trump was declared the winner sometime between 2am and 3am EST. I'm pretty sure the first thing I did when I woke up was turn on the television in the bedroom, which was still on the channel I was watching.
I do think if a 9/11 type of event occurred today, most people would be glued to their phones rather than running to be in front of a TV.
I think a lot of major sporting events will still be experienced via a TV, particularly postseason type events, where people make a point to make sure they're in front of a TV.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 12, 2019 15:25:08 GMT
It’s a great question and point. I’d broaden or frame it as, the available media impact the way people will experience the events … and the available media change dramatically over time. The JFK assassination probably could be considered the first major event that was experienced in common because of television: with few channels and the almost inherently social aspects of TV at that time (as a centerpiece of furniture in common rooms around which people had to gather), people could point in common to that shared experience. Those experiences changed somewhat as there were more channels and more common and mobile televisions. By 9/11, it was still a television-dominated experience that was largely shared. Election Night 2016 was a big experience in that it meant a lot to the country, but I wonder how shared it was. The specific experience was probably quite a bit different to different people depending on which network or platform they were using. I expect that as we go forward, if we continue to dissolve our shared social hubs and spaces and move toward more and more customized and personalized experiences, we will have fewer moments in common (either in how they are experienced or even the moments themselves).
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Sept 14, 2019 13:32:46 GMT
This thread really made me reminisce. While I vaguely remember some/many of the 1960's "where were you" moments, I was too young to be emotionally invested. It wasn't until the early/mid-1970's that I started to understand the significance. Just for the heck of it, here's a few of them:
President Kennedy assassination: I was taking a nap. Don't remember it other than that sad funeral procession, with the family walking behind the casket.
Lee Harvey Oswald shot by Jack Ruby: All I remember is my Dad, who was watching it on TV, yelling, "He was shot! He was shot!"
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy assassinations: I remember watching the news coverage on TV at night but was still a year or two away from understanding the significance.
1969 Moon Landing: We had a family cookout/picnic at our house and later in the evening everybody congregated around the TV to watch the landing. I was old enough to know it was historical but too young to be emotionally involved.
Nixon Watergate/Impeachment - It was incorporated into our Sociology class in school, but I didn't follow it much otherwise.
Operation Desert Storm (1991) - I was shopping at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA and saw a group of people gathered around some TVs in a department store and spent about an hour there watching the coverage.
O.J. Simpson Bronco chase - I was watching an NBA basketball game when the telecast was interrupted by a special report. I then switched over to Larry King Live for the rest of the coverage. I was obsessed with the trial. Every night I would watch Larry King Live and Geraldo Rivera's show after that to find out what happened in court that day. On the day of the verdict, a bunch of us at work watched the telecast on a small TV in my boss's office. We were very surprised but not shocked.
September 11, 2001 - I was working in a emotional support classroom with high school students who were suspended or expelled from school. Shortly after 9:00 AM, one of the teachers' aides came running into the school and told everybody what was happening. A TV was turned on, and we had a short assembly to explain to the students what was happening. There was no "hunkering down" or early dismissal, but needless to say there was continuous watching of TV for the next day or so.
2016 Trump election: I turned on the TV very early after work but thought that it was basically a formality. But a funny thing happened; Hillary couldn't "put him away". As the evening progressed, Trump not only kept hanging around, but was threatening to take the lead. Now I was glued to the TV and the rest is history.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 14, 2019 14:11:17 GMT
Operation Desert Storm (1991) - I was shopping at the Park City Mall in Lancaster, PA and saw a group of people gathered around some TVs in a department store and spent about an hour there watching the coverage.
Because of the problems with terrorism and the Middle East generally since, I think this one is often overlooked. (I know I overlooked it in my initial post.) But for me it wasn't so much a singular moment as a period of time. I was 14 at the time. I recall being downstairs watching TV when the reports began coming in that war had begun, and running up the stairs calling out to my mom that it had started. I was really excited; she was nervous it would expand. (She had four sons between the ages of 14 and 19 at the time...)
Mostly I remember that you could literally watch this war: CNN exploded--no pun intended--with its coverage, Wolf Blitzer on the scene and those night-vision videos of flares, tracers, bombs, and missiles. Some people said Vietnam was the first televised war, but this wasn't just on the nightly news: it was almost literally televised. We heard about scud missiles going into Israel and waited to see whether the Israelis would attack, which many feared would be fatal to the cause, drawing in the Arab nations on the side of the Iraqis. Israel showed amazing discipline.
There was a patriotic fervor, too. Remember Whitney Houston's national anthem at the Super Bowl? President Bush's approval ratings were insanely high and SNL had bits about Democratic primary challengers wanting to bail out of the race to let somebody else get beaten up. (Whoever played California Gov. Jerry Brown insisted something like, "I believe in aliens. I literally think I have seen little green men. Do you really want me to be president?")
And then it was over as quickly as it began. I think we assumed that's how future military actions would go. Desert Storm lasted, what, 40, 45 days? Afghanistan has lasted 6,500 or so, so far.
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