What has happened in the last 25 years that surprises you?

Answer 1

9/11.
:-(

Answer 2

The explicit shift on the part of many 'successful' Western politicians to cease trying for an inclusive society and to tolerate increasing degrees of inequality of opportunity.

The rise of religious fundamentalism, and with it the rise in cults like creationism and the anti-Darwinian movement.

The severity of global warming and the fact that it's now too late to change some things that really matter.

The speed with which people hop into bed with one another.

The rise of China as a quasi-capitalist power (or at least as a player in the games that other capitalists play).

That most men now know how to use a keyboard and don't regard it as a put-down when they do their own typing.

That we stopped exploring the moon just at the point when we were starting to get somewhere.

The the world has stopped admiring Israel (I would guess that the Entebbe raid was about 25 years ago and pretty much the whole world was cheering).

The extent to which we put up with surveillance almost everywhere we go.

The remarkably easy ending of apartheid in South Africa - OK, it's got a lot of very different and difficult problems now, but 25 years ago we didn't think that the actual regime would depart with so little bloodshed.

The fall of the Berlin Wall (especially the speed thereof).

That there are so many good parts for female actors of middle age and above - thank Heaven.

New Zealand survived, against all the odds.

The rise of the Internet (one of the reasons why NZ survived - escaping the tyranny of distance).

That businesses have become so punitive and adversarial places to work in.

That I've become interested in gardening (to go from the large- to the small-scale).

That, after years of having been almost forgotten, Ed Murrow re-emerged as a folk hero with George Clooney's film; and, more widely, that both liberal and conservative messages are now delivered through the entertainment media ('The West Wing' vs. Rush Limbaugh, etc.).

The re-emergence of the death penalty in the USA.

That US policy-makers in particular seem to have forgotten the lessons of Vietnam (although they're not alone in this by any means).

How's that for a mixture?

Answer 3

The attacks of 9/11 surprised me, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Answer 4

9/11, 25+ years ago the US looked favorably on Saddam Hussein being in power in Iraq - and look how things changed in those past 25 years, technology - 25 years ago the first cassette Sony Walkman was all the rage, computer innovations, the internet, finding out that William M. Felt was deep throat.

Answer 5

Well I have only been alive for 18, but the massive leap in technology, and probably 9-11 are two very suprising ones.

Answer 6

The loss of inalienable rights, including privacy. I could not believe the information on Google about myself. And this is small potatoes compared to what the Government accesses about us. I'm also surprised at 'no knock' raids and searches in private homes, misuse of probable cause, etc.( I've never been arrested). Our Civil Servants have forgotten or ignored that they work for us, the citizens of the U.S.

Answer 7

Hey, is there an age limit to this question?! lol, I'm not 25, but I can tell you after observing this world for the diverse, every-surprising place it is, nothing truly surpirses me anymore. Just take whatever comes in stride with your life :)

Answer 8

Well I havent been alive for 25 years so.....
The most surprising thing would probably be the War in Iraq.

Answer 9

The internet and technology in general. When I was in school simple calculators were a marvel- 30 years ago. I am also surprised that our govt. cares nothing about it's own citizens and favors illegal aliens over US citizens.

Answer 10

The abrogation of all liberties by the people of the US during the GW Bush administration.

Answer 11

Collapse of the Soviet Union --
9-1-1 --
Clinton got re-elected --