• OgdenTO [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    Covid will be different because it affected people and entire structures and real people died -- at home.

    The Iraq war, while truly very important all happened in some far off land, so it's easy to ignore.

  • Ithorian [comrade/them, he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    The war was something you saw on TV, and unless you really followed it headlines probably only popped up once a week or so after the first couple years. People are living covid, every day all day it is effecting our lives. No one is going to forget about this for a long time. Unfortunately that doesn't mean we're going to learn a damn thing from it.

  • Florn [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Americans will remember the propaganda surrounding covid and never learn its real history. They'll say things like, "Cuomo was a creep behind the scenes, but he handled the coronavirus well!" because the news told them this.

    • nohaybanda [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      If Zoomers bring about communism they can throw me into me into the woodchiper feet first

      • 420blazeit69 [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        "I dream of a society where I will be guillotined as a conservative"

  • Grownbravy [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    America seems to make so many problems, it’s difficult to say which should be remembered

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    We'll forget COVID asap but we're gonna have weepy, melodramatic remembrances for 9/11 for the rest of our lives and beyond. Depsite the fact that like 300x less people died in 9/11. Because COVID highlights the contradictions and major deficiencies within US capitalism, while 9/11 reinforces the imperialist narrative - that there are "bad guys" out there who hate us because they hate our freedom. And we have the right to "defend ourselves" against any perceived threat that the CIA/State Dept pushes. And if we end up murdering hundreds of thousands based on a paper-thin lie, well that's just an oopsie-doopsie.

  • SteamedHamberder [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    I still think yearly variants are going to happen forever. Even though the “Spanish” flu has faded, we obviously remember the flu, because it’s yearly.

    • NephewAlphaBravo [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Wait is that seriously the origin of the flu? I always thought it was just a particularly horrible version of something that already happened

      • furryanarchy [comrade/them,they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        No, but it was the first version if the flu that was understood as a separate strain in the way we understand it in the modern day.

  • CentristMarxist [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    The biggest difference between the two is that the Iraq War happened a world away in a country full of brown people. It was thus easy to ignore. COVID is happening all around us and is killing white people just as readily as it kills everyone else. So, maybe, just maybe, we remember COVID.

    Or maybe I still haven't lowered my expectations for the human race enough yet.

    • TheFuckYouOnAbout [hy/hym]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Idk dawg people around here are already forgetting about it even as it kills them and their families

  • fed [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    how is the Iraq war one of the most defining moments of the century

    • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I mean, it led to the formation of ISIS, and resulted directly in 500k to a million deaths.

      • fed [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        feel like you are using the consequences as a way to measure importance 9/11 makes more sense than Iraq

        • LeninWeave [none/use name]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Except that America would have done all that anyways without 9/11.

          The Project for the New American Century (think tank with a shitload of Bush officials) literally expressed their intent prior to 9/11 and said that it would take time unless there was a new Pearl Harbor - i.e. 9/11 was simply an excuse and they were planning on doing it all regardless, just a bit slower. Plus, with the amount of fucking around America was doing in the middle-east during the 20th century, something like it was bound to happen sooner or later.

    • comi [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think libya had made much more impact, with brazen disregard to anything resembling goals or plans, all countries became much more cautious with usa, plus lead to immigration “crisis” in europe, leading to far right shitheads (obviously, western view)

      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        This is the opposite of americentrism - the Iraq war barely affected America at all, and basically destroyed the region, leading directly to ISIS.

        • JuneFall [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          It isn't americancentrist for happening in the US nor cause it happens outside of it. It is that, since it views the world only through the actions of the US and things do only happen when they are involved in it.

          • LeninWeave [none/use name]
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            It's not americentrism, the Iraq war was a massive crime that hugely fucked up the region, affecting many of the world's most populated countries in the process.

            This is like saying WW2 is Eurocentric while ignoring the pacific and Mediterranian+ME theaters, just because Germany started it.

            • spectre [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Plus nobody is discounting the fact that other things have happened as well, the list of "defining moments of the century" is probably like 10-15 things long. 9/11 and covid-19 top it right now (still have 79 years for more shit to happen), but the Iraq war is very likely to make the cut even if it's not at the very top of the list.

              • LeninWeave [none/use name]
                ·
                3 years ago

                9/11 absolutely does not top that list lmao. Now that's americentric. 9/11 was nothing compared to a litany of other shit that happened since 2000, much of which America perpetrated (and would have perpetrated anyways, even without 9/11).

                • spectre [he/him]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  I think you completely missed the point of my post

                  • LeninWeave [none/use name]
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    3 years ago

                    Your post lists 9/11 as more "defining" for the century than the Iraq war, which is literally laughable. Please explain to me if I'm still missing something.

                    As for your point that the title says "one of the most defining", yes, that's very true - but not the point of my reply.

                    • spectre [he/him]
                      ·
                      3 years ago

                      Tbh I'm not really interested in having a discussion with someone who calls what I say "laughable" without adding anything of substance.

                      • LeninWeave [none/use name]
                        ·
                        edit-2
                        3 years ago

                        Look, I'm sorry for bothering you with the dismissive tone. However, I'm frankly offended by any comment putting 9/11 above the Iraq war by any metric at all, and nothing you followed up with convinces me that it's not just an unfortunate leap of chauvinism.

                        If you've got an actual rationale or something I'm missing, please do explain it to me - I'm interested in understanding.

  • acealeam [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    the public needs adedicated holiday for everything we're supposed to remember. covid19, never forget!