Centuries

[poliphilo]

If the 19th century- the era of railways and stove pipe hats- really began in 1815- with the defeat of Napoleon, and the 20th century really began in 1914- with the outbreak of the Great War, shouldn't the 21st century really be getting under way round about now?

Every century has a theme and an atmosphere. The 18th century was about reason and the flight from reason, the 19th century was about science and the application of science and the 20th century was about ideology- all the isms up to and including nihilism- and that's pretty much the atmosphere we're living in still.

If the 21st century had really dawned would we still be obsessing about Hitler and Elvis or enthusing over the Monty Python reunion? The fact that we're looking over our shoulders for our ideas and icons and folk demons proves we're still living- mentally, spiritually- in the 20th century- just as the Edwardians were still living in the 19th.

It's all getting to feel a bit stale, a bit samey.  Why the bleep are our radio stations still playing music that's 40, 50, 60 years old?  Come on, 21st century, get your act together!

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

In the United States, the 21st Century started with the Supreme Court appointing George W. Bush President over Al Gore, despite Gore getting more votes. Although you could argue that it actually started with 9/11.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I was having this conversation or something like it with my friend Judy. She argued for 9/11 too and I said, yeah, but the rest of the world was used to having its cities blown up.

Maybe centuries start at different times in different places.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

I read somewhere that those stove pipe hats caused a riot in Paris when they first came out. I'd like to believe that was true.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

They're pretty outrageous when you think about it- so it's odd they ended up as symbols of bourgeois respectability.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

"The 21st century started with the Latvian Incident of 2015, when the world first united against Emperor Putin's expansionism ...."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

God, I hope not.

I don't want no Latvian Incident

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I'd vote for the oddball messages sent by some guy out of CERN around 1991, talking about interlinked information servers. He called it the "World Wide Web". Seemed a bit goofy, until I actually saw an early browser in action not long after - what a huge step that was from archie and gopher!

(i'm afraid I'm not sure quite how geeky you are =:)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Not very. I'm afraid archie and gopher goes right over my head :(