Happy Tết, y'all -- Year of the Cat, Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Common Era, 2011. How it will proceed, nobody knows, but it's been a wild start. . .
Will we remain in the United States of Amnesia? Remember all the emotional concerns over the Horrible Truth About Burma (the so-called Republic of the Union of Myanmar)? That was 2009. People forget the year, let alone the country or the issue. Too taxing on the memory, I guess. Tibet (various uprisings; latest reported, 2008)? Katrina (2005) many do remember. The Great Tsunami (2004)? The Great Blackout (2003)? Y2K (1999/2000)? Tet Offensive (1968)?
Year of Catnip? What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
Kinji Fukasaku's Black Lizard / Kurotokage / 黒蜥蝪 (1968).
Today's Rune: Movement.
7 comments:
Don't you know you're talking to the 'Me' generation? No one remembers anything :p
I remember all of it, especially TET because we saw it unwind three days after the fact on the nightly news. It took that long to get the film from Nam to NY.
But go back further to the first reality TV show...Oswald being shot by ruby live and in living black and white,
Erik, you have jarred my memory. Unfortunatly I can remember dumb detail but have to remind myself of the 'real' issues.
Hey, thanks all for the comments -- much appreciated, indeed. 50 years of reality TV . . .
Everything has sped up to the point, you can't take it in or treat it as seriously. Compare Egypt with Prague or T. Square in China.
I'll never forget the tsunami. As the death toll rose, I compared those numbers to the populations of local towns. By the final count, the entire Niagara Region was gone. It brought it home in a very real sense for me, above & beyond the shock and horror of the news, itself.
"United States of Amnesia." Brilliant!
Thanks, y'all for comments -- agreed!
Lana, credit to Gore Vidal for the phrase, so far as I know. Clever, indeed.
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