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First major worldwide event you remember?

[Generation Y] 
11K views 98 replies 77 participants last post by  withrainfall 
#1 ·
What is the first major worldwide event you remember?

I got inspired by the same question in the Generation Z section.

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Apparently I didn't pay much attention to international events in my early childhood (no memories of the Croatian War of Independence). Here are the earliest I remember:

FIFA world cup 1994
Hail Bopp comet 1997
Kosovo war 1998
 
#77 ·
The World Cup in the US for sure because the first game was in Chicago (I'm from the suburbs).

I also remember Princess Diana's death because I was at a festival with my family and neighbors. The time reports were coming out of France was right about the time when a concert we were at was about to begin (7 hours behind Paris).

The first bombing of the WTC is another event I remember.
 
#78 · (Edited)
Probably Princess Diana dying.

This shouldn't be a funny memory, but it kind of is in retrospect.

I think I was in the sixth or seventh grade, and I was in my Sunday school class. This kid Ben was like, the cool kid. He'd flash wads of cash that he'd get working for his dad, tell blasphemous jokes (at church?! omg, you're so bad)... he just always seemed, like, in the know of things.

He casually strolls in and tells us all that he saw it on the news. Of course Ben watches the news. So mature. So in the know xD I think I had a little crush on him.

After that I just mostly remember also having a crush on Prince William, like every other little girl in the world at the time watching the funeral.

Who knew that Harry would turn out to be the hot one.

And edit - the OJ trial happened before that, so I guess it would be that (world event tho?), unless I'm forgetting other things too. Idk, I honestly thought I was younger at first when Princess Di... died. Had to look up when it happened.
 
#88 ·
I remember seeing a lot of news coverage about IRA bombings as a kid, but I guess that wasn't really worldwide. Past that I remember the football world cup of 2002 where Brazil beat us purely because my class was made to watch it at school. I really didn't pay all that much attention to world events.
 
#93 ·
I'd say the Challenger explosion, but I don't remember much from that major event except that on television there were a lot of replays of the explosion and experts explaining what went wrong with the launch pretty much every channel, seemingly all the time.

So, I'd say my most vivid memory of a major world event would be the fall of the Berlin Wall when I was in the 5th grade/10 years old. Several of my classmates flew to West Germany shortly before or immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall to claim a piece of the wall for themselves. Some had brought back large chunks of the wall and I remember a classmate showing us a piece of the wall and how much explicit and calls to violence against certain people graffiti'd on the East German side. With peace signs, doves and other symbols of peace on the West German side. I guess I just found that to be fascinating how people from the same country but under different ideologies could have such different worldviews. One being idealistic and peaceful while the other being angry and making calls to violence.

I'd say that definitely shaped my opinion on which ideologies are worth endorsing and which are better left discarded.

Then of course there's 9/11, which along with the changing of the Millenium, is the defining major world event for Generation Y. As that started several sequences of major world events. Hm... well to stay away from controversial topics, I'll just say started the rise then fall of Neo-Conservativism. To which I say, good riddance to bad garbage.
 
#95 ·
Yeah, that's another one, one that honestly is likely what led to 9/11.
Meaning essentially stealing the election in 2000. At around this time and after 8 years of Bill Clinton, Neo-Conservatives were practically frothing at the mouth to continue war, or rather regime change in the Middle East. It was quite a sad time in history but that's why I say Neo-Conservatives are all garbage and deserve their spot in the garbage bin of history where every single of them belong.
 
#96 · (Edited)
I remember oil spills as a kid--probably the Gulf War Oil Spill (but could also be Exxon Valdez). I remember coloring a postcard to send to govt. that I drew--it was the word PEACE (like mirror image, so two peace). That must have been for Gulf War.

The Rodney King Beating/LA Riots stand out to me in detail though.

I just remember knowing Rodney King was beat by the cops, and that LA was on fire. Not sure how international they are, But they were strong memories--perhaps because they were referenced in OJ trial (which I remember in more detail--the car chase etc.)

I remember the Rwandan Genocide.

Also...Mother Theresa died around the same time as Princess Diana!

I guess the earliest, vaguest thing is the Berlin Wall, but I didn't really understand.

I don't remember the challenger at all.
 
#97 · (Edited)
Not world wide but the 1989 earthquake was my first memory of something major

Oj Simpson’s trial

Michael Jackson’s trial

Mother Teresa Death

2000 elections

9/11


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