The First Decade Of The 21st Century

We are closing in on the end of the first decade of the 21st century. I know it technically ends on December 31st, 2010 (not December 31 at , 2009). But for the purpose of evaluating the decade I am ending it early (such power I have!). What do you think about this past decade? What are the defining moments? How has life changed since the beginning of the 21st century?

Historians never evaluate an era until it is long past because the effects from each one may be long in coming. Thank God we aren't historians. We can give our opinions and observations about it, and those may make some sense of it all. Since I am writing to you about this (how come I always supply the ideas in our E mails???) I get to go first with an analysis. I yet have no coherent one, so you get rambling observations from me instead.

In no particular order here are a few things from the first 2000 decade that might be significant for the world.

* Wireless power- that wireless stuff sure has impacted how we get news , report it, even transfer personal news to those closest to it. Remember when those students and housewives in Iran used their mobile phones and computers to record and broadcast footage that almost toppled the Iranian government after disputed elections. It didn't, but it sure lessened the vise of the Iranian dictators. There are many more examples of the power of instantaneous information, both good and bad. Google to Wikipedia to MySpace, Facebook and YouTube, those places have changed human relations for better or worse and have all come of age this decade.

* Rural isolation is disappearing- even the most remote and poor places today are armed with information that changes their lives and more importantly, their expectations for a better life. You can't keep them isolated on the farm anymore.

*Altered economic systems- This decade we lost faith in banks and mortgages, in stock markets and the divine right of real estate to increase in value. Some third world countries have become wealthy and some first world wealthy one saddled in debt.

* The dying newspaper, magazine and mainstream mediums- The world no longer wants real news in traditional format. It now cancels newspaper subscriptions and tunes into sound bite journalism as a replacement. So we know less about real issues important to our lives but have greater access to more trivial things that never enrich us but seem to entertain and sedate our brains like the drugs of the 60's decade did to those who were young and lived in it. That more Americans voted for contestants on a silly, vacuous TV show called "American Idol", than voted in the last two U.S. Presidential elections shows that the 2000's have opened as an age of triviality.

* Trendiness and political correctness- This has been the decade for followers, not leaders. We are expected to accept even the most unproved of theories if enough people believe that it becomes "a fact that" the theory is true. From Global Warming ("It's Global Warming and we are all going to die"!) to those crazy "healthy diets" we are told we must eat (My God! Give the children candy too once in awhile) to replacing Christianity with fanatical Islamism to texting and chatting while driving, if you don't participate you'll be pictured as odd.

Ok, your turn to tell me what has been different this past decade..