The second decade of the 21st century: verdict

[MoonDust]

As 2018 draws to a close, 2019 is upon us. It seems mad that this will be the last year of the 2010s. The year 2010 only seems like a moment ago.

So on balance, how were the 2010s? Of course, politically it was a fucking horror show the world over.

But what about culturally? Do you think that in another decade or so you will look back on the 2010s with rose-tinted nostalgia? If so, what aspects of it were good?

Or like the 1910s a century ago, is this decade just fucking awful with no redeeming features that gave rise to a lost generation?

Maybe 2019 has room for redemption. Maybe something utterly fantastic will happen that would make the years 2010-2018 meaningless. Like aliens come and we join the galactic federation in world peace. Or David Cameron kisses a bus.

[TrenterPercenter]

The 00s seemed the decade for courting with idiocy whilst the 10s went past flirtatious behaviour and into an on-off relationship with fanatical cretinism and imbecility. I think the 20s is decade humans finally get together with this fatuity and lie down in the giant global dumpster fire ignite or it sobers up and rejects the moronic shitshow served to them by their media.

Just think MLK had a dream that his kids would be judged on the content on their character, now the best we can hope for is a world in which Toby Young isn't considered an acceptable pundit.

[MoonDust]

I mean it could be the last decade before global ecological collapse. Then this decade won't seem too shabby.

"Ah the 2010s. Them were the days. We had this great thing called civilisation." You say, hunting for cockroaches in Wigan, which is by then a coastal ruin.

[bgmnts]

Its the Netflix-Disney-Marvel-Amazon decade.

Pretty bankrupt.

[BlodwynPig]

Its the Netflix-Disney-Marvel-Amazon decade.

Pretty bankrupt.

60s-10s
Pretty Things
Pretty Vacant
Pretty in Pink
Pretty On the Inside
Pretty, pretty, pretty good
Pretty Bankrupt

[biggytitbo]

It'll probably be remembered as the decade when we finally felt the full, catastrophic consequences of the financial crash and the 'bail outs'.

[MoonDust]

I'm curious who voted "not shit".

Would genuinely like to hear what people thought was good about this decade.

There were some good films I guess.

[Lemming]

Liked the first half or so, despite some awful personal stuff (DEAD MUM etc). Some good media, especially in 2011 which seemed to be a really good year - videogames, anime (I used to like anime!), tv series etc. Internet culture was pretty much the same, I reckon, maybe slightly more fun.

Second half has been defined by pure shit (mainly due to the obvious political stuff), even though my life has technically been going better. I can't think of too much media I've enjoyed from the past 4 or so years.

Personally, I don't really feel much different than I did in 2010, other than that I'm maybe slightly chubbier. I guess I'm a transvestite now and more politically aware/active. And I like lemonade now, used to fucking hate it.

I wonder what the prevailing subculture will be when people look back? Like, 90s has grunge and skaters, 2000s has emo/scene and chavs, what did we have this time? Hipsters or whatever? "YouTube content creators"?

Anyway, voting Not Shit in the poll, because 2010 - 2015~ was a relatively good time, and I think "Not Shit" is going to need all the votes it can get.

[Paul Calf]

https://apple.news/AKP6rmA74T9WoMVbnCm44YA

You know, just a senior officer with an exemplary record recruiting people who pose for photos in KKK regalia with their baby whose middle name is Adolf for a proscribed violent far-right group.

I think we've had peak 2010s for at least the last two years.

[MoonDust]

Good post Lemming. As to culture I reckon it will be a decade known for hipsters. It was also the decade I became politically aware too, starting right at the beginning in 2010 and seeing the mass movements in Greece against the bailout.

[bgmnts]

Where do you buy a Swastika pastry cutter?

[Paul Calf]

You can get 'em.

The 2010s was the decade I stopped feeling like a dork for being politically aware. The 2000s were immensely frustrating for anyone who was watching.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Comedy wise it's been pretty amazing, what with Nathan For You, three series of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, Review With Forrest MacNeil, three and a half seasons of The Venture Bros., Enlightened, Detectorists, Big Time In Hollywood, FL, Delocated, Limmy's Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and a fuck load of other shows. There's been some great stand up, music and cinema too (can't be arsed to list them all though), and a fair sprinkling of decent drama, so culturally I think it's been pretty impressive. It's just a shame everything else has been so shit.

[Mister Six]

I mean it could be the last decade before global ecological collapse. Then this decade won't seem too shabby.

"Ah the 2010s. Them were the days. We had this great thing called civilisation." You say, hunting for cockroaches in Wigan, which is by then a coastal ruin.

"by then"?

[king_tubby]

I'm curious who voted "not shit".

Would genuinely like to hear what people thought was good about this decade.

There were some good films I guess.

Met my partner in 2011, we're still together and have a wonderful little toddler.

Everything else sucks, mind.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Genuinely feel like years of my life have been stolen. Can you believe this Brexit/Trump shit has been going on 24/7/365 for over two years??

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

- Westerners aged below 50 told to accept lower living standards than their parents, and reject this in a number of different ways which hasn't yet been directed in full
- Increased rejection of a "political class"
- Various gadgets consolidated into mobile phones
- Increased accessibility, be that information and user feedback or the ability to leave that feedback
- The lengthening of periods without truly cut-through musical scenes and increased reliance on 1960-2000 as being pop culture.
- Most new comedy being developed in an atomised fashion versus centrally via major channels as was the case even up to 2010.
- Online dating becomes Normal
- The seemingly neverending trend of the Portlandia male-groomer jumping on any progressive bandwagon going without thinking about anything properly, while discussing hop-forward craft ale and moustache wax
- Slow progress of graphics in games but progress in terms of the experience, the manner of gameplay and cinematics to compensate. Rebirth of indie games through mobile gaming and online platforms
- Death of the high street firstly the financial crisis and then department stores not learning their lessons. Old shops that crushes indie stores in the 90s feeling the pinch.
- The return of real poverty in the UK, visible destitution and the deleterious effects thereof
- Veganism breaks through
- War as an unending permanent fixture in life and with it the jingoistic glorification of the Army even through exploiting its wounded victims.
- JC4PM

[Norton Canes]

Are those in any particular order? Just wondered why 'Veganism breaks through' sneaked in at 12th instead of being appended

[biggytitbo]

Nobody mentioned the final death of Sir Brucie Forsyth yet.

[Blumf]

Nobody mentioned the final death of Sir Brucie Forsyth yet.

I ain't seen the body, so it ain't fact.

[MoonDust]

Yes comedy wise it's been a good decade. The decade Partidge made a comeback with Mid-morning Matters, two books, and various TV shows.

I also joined CaB and had my first and only panic attack in the 2010s. So, swings and roundabouts.

[Emma Raducanu]

I used to enjoy driving home from work, listening to radio 4 until it was just pm with Eddie Mair wanking on and on about trump, Brexit and Theresa may. Genuinely hate hearing anything about them. I'm happier out of it. My partner putting hours and days of work into applying for permanent residence for a country where we'd probably be better getting out of is depressing.

Can't think of anything that has been invented which has improved my life. I deleted Facebook and Instagram which had a majorly positive impact on my wellbeing. Can't recommend doing that enough. You'll stay in touch with the people that matter. Goodbye everyone else! The next step for me is to trade in my smartphone for a basic one. It'll make me a better person.

When did foodbanks become the latest trend? Was it this decade? The thought of people relying on them makes me despise the entire political establishment. On the plus side, I've got a mortgage and will be paying the bank for the next 25 years. Every cloud..

It's also the decade of smashed avocado. A trend for cafes, operating to the same super cool template all offering the same as eachother; kimichi, sriracha, salt baked beetroot.

Coronation Street lost Emily bishop and Norris Cole.

England made it to a world cup semi final in nearly entirely undramatic style

[Mister Six]

The decade of the hipster? I dunno, I think that'll mostly be seen as an early-10s thing, the last blush of carefree "everything's going to be all right" middle-class indulgence. The late 10s - from about 2016 onwards - will be seen as the age of the politicised millennial, at least in the West, with growing concern over inequality and racism on one side, and fucking dipshit alt-right turds on the other.

For me personally it's been a great decade. The 00s were where I first became an actual adult and left the UK for (basically) the first time, and ended with me returning to the UK to make a go of it in London. The 2010s opened on me enduring the coldest weather since the 1920s or something, unable to afford central heating, desperately trying to scrape a job together in the fallout from the credit crunch (I am an idiot).

But early in the decade I accepted a job in Asia, turned my career around, met and married the love of my life, moved to New York, got my first properly well-paid job ever a couple of years back, and got a really great dog. I did fuck up my back, leading to recurring persistent pain, but that's fixable, if only temporarily, and it's not enough to take the shine off the great experiences and results I've had.

Obviously for the rest of the world it's been a giant, flaming shitheap, with cowards, quislings and maniacs driving the UK and US into the ground (though they have been aided and abetted by the poisonous ideologies introduced into the system by Thatcher and Reagan in the 1980s), the rise of fascism across Europe and climate change barrelling most of the planet towards extinction.

I am given some hope by the increased political engagement by da yoof, and the growth in awareness of things like financial inequality, the need for a proper minimum wage and universal income, and racial bias/oppression in various governments and societies. My worry is that the derangement of the system is leading to such an extreme polarisation of politics that I genuinely think a fascists vs communists/anarchists global rematch could be on the cards within 50 years.

Culturally, I'd say video games have mostly been more of the same, with most of the really notable additions to my personal canon coming in the late 2000s, and the best of the recent crop being sequels to such. Except Prey, but that's in the System Shock mould, so again - not anything wildly new.

Hollywood plumbed the depths of All Blockbusters All the Time in the 2010s, but there seems to have been more funding recently for mid-range and low-mid-budget flicks, and it seems easier - if not easy - for films by people who aren't yer standard white, straight male to get made. Which means more viewpoints, more stories and more interesting flicks overall.

But telly is where the really interesting stuff is happening, and the explosion in quality stuff from Amazon, Hulu, to an extent Netflix (even if it's buried among a lot of shite) and the ever-reliable HBO has been astounding, with a knock-on effect for US networks. We even got a gory, surreal, serialised show about Hannibal Lecter, for Christ's sake.

Books? Terry Pratchett is dead; don't talk to me about books.

Music I've pretty much ignored  until the last year or so, but Radiohead went shit and that made me sad.

So yeah, personally it's been great. In almost every other respect outside of a couple of genres of media it's been shite.

Genuinely feel like years of my life have been stolen.

If the number of years is nine or less, don't worry - that's normal for a nearly completed decade.

[batwings]

It's fucking shit. The London Olympics were nice for 5 minutes but other than that, mostly it's shit. ISIS eclipsing Al Qaeda. Cameron and May. Johnson. Mogg. Constant war. Austerity. Simon Cowell's fucking face. Cinematic Universes. The rise of the Flat Earthers, Sandy Hook truthers and the Q cunts. The last few years in particular have been exhausting, what with Trump and Brexit. The future editor of I Love the 2010s is fucked.

[massive bereavement]

I just can't perceive the 2000's and 2010's as independent from one another, it's all one decade to me and not even a proper one. 

Decades for real don't start until "the 20's" when it doesn't sound awkward to say it.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Load of old bollocks, innit ?

[MoonDust]

Well if the poll is anything to go by, it seems there's something that finally the overwhelming majority of CaB agrees with.

[Shit Good Nose]

The 10s for me has been major mental health issues, job insecurity, financial insecurity, getting over the death of my dad, an incredibly stressful pregnancy and birth and subsequent depression, no sleep for three and a half years, and that's before all the political bollocks, war and fucking Brexit.

I would say I can't wait for this decade to be over but, as discussed in other threads recently, then we're just racing to this planet being properly fucked.

The outlook then - mostly drizzle.

[Funcrusher]

I just can't perceive the 2000's and 2010's as independent from one another, it's all one decade to me and not even a proper one. 

Yeah, it's one long load of blah for me. Two decades that don't even have names they're so nothing.

[kngen]

But early in the decade I accepted a job in Asia, turned my career around, met and married the love of my life, moved to New York

This is quite a startling paragraph if you, like I did, misread 'Asia' as 'Asda'.

'I'd never even considered that they would offer such a wealth of opportunity,' I said to myself, stupidly.