Example: O.J Simpson
He was a symbol of where the 90s were and how big his court case was at the time. Not that he should garner sympathy because we all know he did it and he only got off on technicality as well as theater performed by his council. But we all know where we were when that was all happening.
This one will make it sound like I’m a fan — I’m not — but I was a kid when Owen Hart entered the WWF and an adult when he died in the ring.
Wrestling had already lost its shine and appeal to me, early in the 90s. The characters, storylines, and action bled fake. And, as I grew up, I came to understand it was no different than any other staged play, entertainment, or storytelling. What really bothered me wasn’t the fake drama, or the dumbing down of storytelling. It was serial betrayal, shameless advantage-taking, and the smooth-brained jingoism of it all. It became the refuge of every shameless American impulse.
Then Owen Hart died on camera. There was a brief reality check. Then, on with the show. The change, though was an acceptance that real death was no reason to stop, slow, or change directions on the machine. If anything, the show, the drama, the merch, and the culture became the basis for an entire political bloc.
Lest we forget: Linda McMahon is now Secretary of Education. Hard to think of a person worse than Betsy DeVos, but here we are.
Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper.
Literally the day the music died.
Out of left field, and something I’ve posted online before: Arthur Tudor
Arthur was the older brother of the man who became Henry VIII. Like the curious echo in modern times, red-haired Harry was the spare.
Arthur’s death, therefore, is the historical pivot that turns Britain Protestant, cutting ties with Rome, dissolving alliances with Europe and sending us off into doing everything in the way we did it, for better or worse, since Tudor times
Shakespeare? Might never have happened. Spanish armada? What armada? We might well have remained friends and there’d be no need for angry Spaniards in ships. Arthur was married to Catherine of Aragon. We might have been part of any armada.
Mary I was Henry and Catherine’s child. With Arthur still alive, there’s no Mary I.
In the timeline where Arthur lives, Henry’s trajectory is completely different. Does he still marry Anne Boleyn and beget Elizabeth? Even if they do, she’s very unlikely to become queen.
All of modern history, especially that of the USA, would be completely different were it not for that one unidentified and lethal malady.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
I would say more end of ww1 and ww2 to be even more precise. The age of empires died
Stalin
His death led to the discovery of the horrors of Stalinism. A part of the leftist intelligentsia in the West saw communism for what it was, which considerably weakened Western communist parties, and ultimately brought the hegemony of neoliberalism. Also, the USSR was never as brutal with their population afterwards
Also, the USSR was never as brutal with their population afterwards
Brezhnev tried though
Harambe… RIP
Came here to say this. He was the fabric holding society together. We are all adrift in the dark now.
My dick’s been out for nearly 10 years now. I’ve been arrested a number of times over it, but I’ll keep my dick out for Harambe until we get justice.
Quite literally ushered in the new dark ages.
David Bowie, pretty sure he was the last wizard keeping our reality on track and ever since he died it’s been downhill to shitsville.
I’m a wizard and I’m trying but things have gotten really bad
It was Lemmy dying a couple of weeks before Bowie that was the beginning of the end.
wasn’t Lemmy a huge racist?
All those poor souls in the World Trade Center.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Her death ended the rule of law in the usa.
She may have single-handedly precipitated the slide into fascism in the US.
If she had simply resigned from her position when she began experiencing health issues, it would have allowed her successor to be nominated and approved under a democratic administration.
Instead, she wanted to retain her position of authority as long as possible, and so her greatest legacy to the US became Amy Coney Barret appointed by Trump and the subsequent series of 5-4 votes in favor of furthering his agenda.
If she had simply resigned from her position when she began experiencing health issues, it would have allowed her successor to be nominated and approved under a democratic administration.
There’s no guarantee that would have happened. See Mitch McConnell and Merrick Garland
Hell even if she had resigned and they got a democrat in, GOP would just wait for their next chance. The current state of the US has been in the works for several decades now, I find it hard to believe that RBG’s decision had any influence over it; it would have just delayed the inevitable.
I prefer “no guarantees” to “guaranteed fuck up” tbh.
Perhaps she was banking on a Clinton win.
Mao Zedong
Tankies are gonna be mad, but things in China improved after his death.
The Queens Victoria and Elizabeth 2
Hunter S. Thompson. We could really use some of that spirit in the media right now.
Years ago Matt Taibbi seemed to be stepping up, and it was around the time HST died. Taibbi’s work on Iraq and Wall Street was excellent. Then (what was it a decade ago?) he went MAGA. Wtf?
Makes no sense. It would be like HST railing against Nixon’s downfall.
Saddam Husein
Nah. That change began when the towers fell, so we should probably point to the deaths of the 3000 as being the turning point.
Albert Joseph.
He was a maintenance worker at the World Trade Center
King George VI
Queen Elizabeth II
Eponymously, Edward VII , but not practically
