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Analyzing the decades, 2000's

wadlez

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Each decade is seen as having an overarching theme of which the trends and culture can be summarized. EG the 60's: peace and love,hippies, flowers, flair pants etc

I would like to limit this discussion to start at the 60's as I am unfamiliar with the ones previous, probably because color television was invented in the 60's so was better recorded or something.

Anyway

There is continuity of these defining features of the decades and I see each decade in retaliation to the one before it. So I would like to ask everyone:

How would you the define the 2000's?
How did this come about as a chain reaction from the previous decade(s)?

Oh and before any INTJ's answer, please don't point out how these trends never neatly fall into a decade or how you cant talk for everyone in a decade etc
 

Cognisant

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I liked the 90's, I believe it was the height of human culture.

The "noughties" just sucked.
 

Anthile

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Terror, internet, internet terror and terror internet. I'm not sure about the order.
 

Cognisant

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I predict 2010 will the "Oh fuckit" decade.

Terrorists?
Meh, who cares, we're all going to die anyway, may as well go out with a bang.

Global Warming?
Bad weather and rising sea levels, not quite waterworld sea levels of course, noo just enough to be annoying sea levels, whoopde fricken do.

The Internet?
 

Bird

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I think it's important we remember
Conan .vs. Leno.
 

Beat Mango

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It was all about cash, cash, cash, consumerism, and cash. The partying, clubbing, materialistic decade where you wear your superficiality like a badge of honour.

You can generally get a feel for the spirit of the times by looking at it's music: "I wanna be a billionaire" by Bruno Mars pretty much sums it up, in my opinion. Or the line in an N.E.R.D song: "people don't wanna think no more, they just want to feel".
 

Dimensional Transition

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It was all about cash, cash, cash, consumerism, and cash. The partying, clubbing, materialistic decade where you wear your superficiality like a badge of honour.

You can generally get a feel for the spirit of the times by looking at it's music: "I wanna be a billionaire" by Bruno Mars pretty much sums it up, in my opinion. Or the line in an N.E.R.D song: "people don't wanna think no more, they just want to feel".

Very well said.
 

Stoic Beverage

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2000's were the years of The Scares.
Terrorist scare, environment scare, obesity scare, disease scare (swine flu, anyone?), and the money scare (recession! Woohoo!).
Also, there was a lot of pr0n.
 

Agent Intellect

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This depends where you live. I can only speak from my point of view in America.

For America, some large influences were obviously the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 9/11, the Bush presidency, climate change, completion of the Human Genome Project, Cell phones, the dominance of the internet, the stock market collapse, and the election of Barack Obama (it's funny to me that that name still gets caught by the spell checker on Firefox).

I think consumerism has become more prevalent in the 2000's. The 90's seemed to have a backlash against the consumerism of the 80's, with generation X being that popular 18-34 year old age range during the 90's. Music was often either about the struggles of being poor (hip-hop) or about how shallow and unfulfilling consumerism and mainstream society is (rock music). I think the internet getting big, and it's subsequent shopping sites and advertisement opportunities, created a new consumerist bubble.

The 2000's was definitely the first digital decade. Cell phones both dominate peoples social lives and television commercials. I think the emergence of cell phones (eg smart phones) and similar electronic devices has also added to the re-emergence of strong consumerism - everyone wants to latest iPod, smart phone, Kindle, notebook computer etc.

People now spend a great deal of time texting, updating their social network page, and blogging/tweeting about whatever comes to mind. This has led us away from any semblance of an information age and shifted the paradigm into an opinion age. Everyone now has instant access to the opinions of millions of people on any range of issues. This has brought both a polarizing of ideologies and yet, at the same time, a leveling (in the words of Soren Kierkegaard).

I think the 2000's was also the decade when America really felt it's self-proclaimed spot as the world leader being threatened. Not only was America attacked within it's own borders (9/11) but other powers (China, India) became a lot more powerful. I think this has added to the partisanship in America, because there are a lot of people who refuse to believe that America isn't and always will be "number one."

Speaking from my own personal experiences, I've seen a trend in hip-hop music becoming extremely mainstream. I remember the 90's as an era of more underground kinds of sounds with Wu-Tang Clan and their various affiliates, Canibus, and the emergence of JMT, Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and so forth. The 2000's were when pop music seemed to shift from boy bands, Britney Spears etc to mainstream hip-hop and R&B music.

The hipster look seems to have become popular in the 2000's. When I was in middle school and high school during the mid to late 90's, most people either looked grunge/punk or 90's style hip-hop (oversized clothes, t-shirt, sagging pants etc). A lot of the younger people I work with, and the people my younger sister hang out with, have the stereotypical hipster look.

The 2000's have been marked by a lot of re-tooling of old stuff. A lot of the movies that came out in the last decade have been sequels, prequels, remakes, and comic book films. A lot movies now days seem to be plagued with computer generated special affects (live action movies are almost cartoons now) and gimmicks like 3D.

I think, to sum it up, the main theme of the last decade is technology. I don't think anything has shifted the paradigm more than the technological advances during the 2000's.

edit: I forgot to mention (or maybe I suppressed it) the 2000's was an era fraught with "reality" TV. It pains me to say it, but it was big enough to be worth mentioning.
 

EyeSeeCold

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I think the 2000s came about as a realization of 80s technology innovations and the 90s modernist attitudes toward society and politics. In a way the 90s resembled the 60s main theme of peace and love, even to the point of having a resurgence of psychedelia.

I think we can define the 2000s as the dilution of 90s tension, analogous to the 70s mellowing out the 60s fervor. The main themes of the 2000s seem to be pop music (like the 80s), technology, politics(George Bush esp), and mass media in general.
 

Da Blob

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It is to be remembered that there was much pomp and circumstance ushering in this "New" millennia, including the scare that all the computers in the world were going to crash.

I see this decade as one where the forces of the anti-Christ tightened its grip on the economy and the balance between the Oppressors of the ruling class and the Oppressed of the world shifted heavily in favor of the Oppressors. This was done partially through the offices of the President of the United States, George Bush who was a ruling class advocate and life-long member of that money-worshipping cult. The middle class was terribly eroded, so that once again, the vast majority of the world can be seen as consisting of the Aristocracy and their lower-class servants.

It is to be remembered that the wealthy owe loyalty only to their god, Mammon and scoff at the idea of patriotism and human rights. Therefore middle class jobs were destroyed and the sweatshops of the world increased. In particular American investors found the sweatshops of Mexico and China to be quite profitable. It is quite amazing that Americans are so gullible and actually believe the propaganda being generated about what a wonderful country China is. I suppose for those willing to trade the Human Rights of Others for a few dollars, China is a great place. It is to be remembered that Capitalism and Free Trade are based upon the degradation of Human Rights, except for those of the Capitalists, themselves, of course. The Communists were not completely mistaken about the "Evils of Capitalism".

The wealthy ruling class of America, have destroyed this country, yet continue to dodge responsibility for the results of their greed. I do not think they care. For the power that their wealth brings them makes them welcomed in whatever country they decide to move to and as the Predators that they are - they will just move on to find new Prey, once America has been bled dry and destroyed.
 

snafupants

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-Solidification of political dynasties/oligarchies in US democracy

-Erosion of civil liberties, especially related to the USA PATRIOT Act

-Vague movement towards health, nutrition, and natural products

-General enhancement of the military-industrial complex

-Venal politicians out for money/career over constituents/country

Increases in communication met with increases in tribal, territorial mentality among religions and governments. A smaller world with greater communication means ostensibly less resources and more conflicting ideologies, which equates to increased violence. Also, more communication means greater likelihood of manipulation of information in accord with private interests.

This decade was more than an iteration of the one before, it was a validation of that vapidness and greed and clinging. That said, most of these points were made while thinking of the US through the years and should not necessarily be applied to other industrialized nations.
 

Kuu

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The age of disillusion. It seems there is no direction to civilizations anymore, no grand plan for nations, no overarching ideals that move people anymore, postmodernity has left us incapable of trusting anything, as if nothing new could ever be and all our problems are unsolvable... social alienation increases in developed nations as power decidedly shifts from governments to corporations... disenfranchised citizens disengage from political activity and public life, seeking refuge in banal entertainment, which leads to:

The age of distraction. Nobody seems to care of how hollow and mechanical human lives have become as we all continue perpetuating obsolete traditions and institutions by mere inertia (economic, social, political), with no serious consideration of their current relevance, successes and failures. We're all sucked into the massively interconnected and ubiquitous but highly superfluous information society, which is deeply transforming us, and yet as a whole we have not taken notice or even embraced the winds of true change. Game-changing ideas are stifled as media and science remain at the mercy of commercialism. We have so much accumulated knowledge and tools, but know not what to do with it. It seems nobody is thinking at all about the future (or the past), everyone is too distracted by the immediate, by all the shouting, by the next overhyped film, the next gadget, the next manufactured idol...

The age of scares. As we steadily lose focus of our past and future and stop thinking collectively, ignorance sets in together with uncertainty, tension and fear. Blatantly lies are thrown left and right brewing mass hysteria... Stupid wars drag on pointlessly. Religious-cultural tensions rise. Instead of solving problems we are just creating more and more...


We have lost all sense of direction.


Let's escape to mars and found a new transhuman civilization.
 

Jesse

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The first decade with widespread internet use. History will just see that. Depending on the two wars currently though it will be seen as the beginning of the fall for the US or a minor blip on it's history. S11 will be remembered as a change in US policy away from Isolation to pro-activism. Movies are a lot more dark (I'm talking in the mainstream). Music had no great new ideas or genres. It's really to early to tell although it looks to me like 90's with better tech.
 

EyeSeeCold

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The age of disillusion. It seems there is no direction to civilizations anymore, no grand plan for nations, no overarching ideals that move people anymore, postmodernity has left us incapable of trusting anything, as if nothing new could ever be and all our problems are unsolvable... social alienation increases in developed nations as power decidedly shifts from governments to corporations... disenfranchised citizens disengage from political activity and public life, seeking refuge in banal entertainment, which leads to:

The age of distraction. Nobody seems to care of how hollow and mechanical human lives have become as we all continue perpetuating obsolete traditions and institutions by mere inertia (economic, social, political), with no serious consideration of their current relevance, successes and failures. We're all sucked into the massively interconnected and ubiquitous but highly superfluous information society, which is deeply transforming us, and yet as a whole we have not taken notice or even embraced the winds of true change. Game-changing ideas are stifled as media and science remain at the mercy of commercialism. We have so much accumulated knowledge and tools, but know not what to do with it. It seems nobody is thinking at all about the future (or the past), everyone is too distracted by the immediate, by all the shouting, by the next overhyped film, the next gadget, the next manufactured idol...

The age of scares. As we steadily lose focus of our past and future and stop thinking collectively, ignorance sets in together with uncertainty, tension and fear. Blatantly lies are thrown left and right brewing mass hysteria... Stupid wars drag on pointlessly. Religious-cultural tensions rise. Instead of solving problems we are just creating more and more...


We have lost all sense of direction.


Let's escape to mars and found a new transhuman civilization.
Uh huh...yea...I agree... right right...*drools over avatar*

So, are we getting risqué now or what?
 

Döden

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Antioxidant superfruit fad (Acai. Jesus christ. Has anyone even actually seen an acai berry?)
Frozen yogurt fad.
4chan.
Youtube poop.
Trolling.
Tumblr.
Bros.
Hipsters.

I like to appreciate this decade for the details in its microcosmos.
 

Andropov

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When I think of the 00's, the things that come to my mind are terrorism, the internet, and consumerism.
 

Solitaire U.

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Growing fat behind locked doors in a Fear-Industrial complex where Totalitarianism masquerades as Protectionist Politics. The most (only) profitable concept of the decade is 'The Enemy Is Within'.

The future is uncertain, but it seems unlikely this next decade will be the one in which we re-take possession of our fucking streets.
 

EyeSeeCold

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Unlikely? I think the tensions are fermenting quite well. Although with Obama's victory, the social unrest has seemed to calm down a bit. Let's see how far this Wikileaks thing will take us.
 

5k17

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Excuse me, but why are we (i.e. you) analyzing the past decade now in 2010, while we haven't done so in 2009? And why are we analyzing the past 10 rather than the past 7, 295, or 0.3 years?

On the topic: For me, the 2000s were the time when hardly anything interesting happened. Internet, well, yes, maybe, but it's still not extensively available; I, for one, got an internet connection fast enough to actually do more than read plain text and download <2MB files only quite recently as I moved to a town larger than my home hamlet. Terrorism? Bleh, I didn't get killed. Nor did many other people, compared to your average war, pandemic or natural disaster. Consumerism? Nah. That just seems so because there's so little temporal distance.
The only thing of the 2000s that's worth mentioning is that I learned C++.
 

Meer

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Some people whined about digital synthesizers (and digital recording in general) and pined for ye olde days of analog. Some other people made digital synths that were marketed with a heavy emphasis on some kind of analog emulation witchcraft and some people lapped it up while others didn't.

Some different people made hardware synths with analog signal paths and digital user interfaces, but they didn't seem to get it right, at all. Recently, these same people made hardware synths with analog guts and digital controls reminiscient of ye olde analog synths, instead of crappy matrix editing bullshit and menu diving bullshit. And it's yellow.

MIDI is still with us, but needs an update, badly. This will probably never happen.
 

sroro

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Imo the '90s (what I remember of it) were boring but after the recycled feel of the '80s it seemed different. It was like the '70s, new culture new styles, but with fewer economic issues. People seemed more willing to do different things in media.

The '00s felt marred by the terrorism issue and a false sense of security via unsafe consumerism. It felt like the '80s again and no one was even thinking of appearing original in music or fashion. There was no sense of adventure like in the '90s, people were afraid to take risks.

Too early to tell about the '10s looks like it might be the '90's in appearance only without the risk taking or econ security.
 

wadlez

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Alright, didn't really want to discuss this here, but I didn't expect it to get brought up.

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Capitalism and Consumerism!!!!!!!!!!
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Firstly inline with the topic, consumerism cannot be seen as a defining unique feature of the 00's. It could of maybe been for the 20-30's as thats when new marketing approaches were born which spawned consumerism as we know it (see a century of self).

The word consumerism gets thrown around allot by anti capitalist's and goes hand in hand with demonizing commercial products and corporations. This whole paradigm which so many fall into only makes sense abstractly, but if you look at specific examples and what is happening on a concrete level it falls apart.
For example a common line you might hear is "why slave away at a job so you can just be a consumer and buy stuff you dont need!". I can tell you why, because any passion or interest that you have can be developed with money in this system. Art, writing, rock climbing, surfing, music, fashion, travel, dancing, books, movies. Thats nothing, you can start new movements, build unique businesses, theres so much freedom for creativity, so much freedom to not be creative and enjoy the works of others. Make and join different clicks of friends . All of the variance which makes up human experience and potential is available through earning money and purchasing. Even spirituality can be developed this way (and is).
If you cant enjoy spending money in a capitalist system then thats only due to your stupidity.
That being said, no more "Man were all just consumer drones man" as its retarded.

A quick mention, I'm a capitalist obviously. I'm not rich, I'm not arbitrarily evil. I not only believe but can put forward a rational argument that free markets are better than government for everyone (especially the poor). I used to be a socialist when I was a kid (its the default starting position as its intuitively correct), and know that you probably haven't asked yourself this question, "If capitalists are just normal people and think its the best system, how do they think this system works?", this is radically different to the typical unchallenged line of thinking that capitalists are only arbitrarily evil rich people plotting to destroy the world.

If you have said we've given more power to the ruling class or ruling elite as a defining feature of the 00's, then know that you are saying we've given more power to government as it doesn't make sense any other way (capitalism is the opposite to government, its freedom).

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I would define the general look and feel of the 00's as a snobbish attitude to the previous decades which lead people to be what they see as relatively neutral or undefined. Clothing tried to have a truly universal classic appeal which was accomplished by mixing all the best elements of the previous decades and sometimes over resembling 80's to be retro and ironic. No one style of music dominated and pop was again seen as cool, which was a contrast to the 90's which had a very anti pop ironic feel.
 

SkyWalker

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the century of the self (the self that secretly hates all others): narcissism epidemic

thats actually a good thing, because once everybody becomes a narcissist (instead of the elite few only) then it doesnt work anymore because there is nobody left to suck from. that will be a revelation!
 
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