The top stories ten years ago, in 1999, were the Elian Gonzalez repatriation story and the Y2K scare. www.cbsnews.com/stories/1999/12/27/world/main143365.shtml That same year, AT&T made a commitment to broadband, though few knew what that meant, and it was the year of the Euro, with eleven European countries switching currencies. It was, of course, pre 9/11, pre Iraq war, pre Afghanistan, pre financial meltdown and pre “Great Recession.” It’s hard to believe that many people will ever look back on this current decade as nostalgically as we now look back at the 1990’s.
In 2000, after George W was elected president of the US, The Onion had a headline story that in the wake of what has followed seems more prescient than satirical. For those who are not religiously addicted to The Onion, it is a weekly satirical “newspaper” available both on-line and on many street corners in Manhattan that pokes fun at modern society and political events. www.theonion.com/content/index The headline back in those innocent days read: “George Bush: Our Long Nightmare decade of Peace and Prosperity is Finally Over.” Some things just aren’t as funny as time marches on.
By Myron Gushlak
