Filibuster CartoonsTitle: Hitch and Kim and the end of an era (click to view)
Date: December 19, 2011
Thinking back to the twilight hours of the year 1999, I'm sure you remember that whole obnoxious debate — spurred on by an episode of
Seinfeld – about whether the "new millennium" began in '00 or '01. Though the '00 folks obviously won, and while I personally found the '01 people annoyingly petty and self-righteous, I still think it's interesting to observe how often the true cultural-political "start" of a new decade, century, or millennium does not occur until one year in.
The 19th century gave way to the 20th century on January 1, 1900, but the Victorian era proper did not end until 1901, when the Queen herself died. The defining geopolitical conflict of the late 20th century — the Cold War — in turn, is usually considered to have ended with the dawn of the 1990s, but it was not until 1991 that the USSR was formally dissolved. And the War on Terror, which defined so much about the 2000s, waited one year before beginning on September 11, 2001.
As it draws to a close, I feel 2011 has earned a well-deserved spot in this pantheon of eventful "first years," so eventful were the last 365 days in decisively concluding so much unfinished business of the previous decade, decades, and century.
2011 was the end of the Steve Jobs era of computing. With Bill Gates having long since passed into irrelevance, Jobs was the last true figurehead of computing's pioneer age, and the last visible link connecting our current epoch of touch-screen cell phones and billion-dollar software behemoths to punch cards and basement engineers. Subsequent generations will regard computing's experimental 70s and 80s with as much exotic detachment as we regard Edison or the Wright Brothers.
2011 saw a handful of decades-long despots finally die or flee after having driven their nations to the absolute brink. With Mubarak, Quaddaffi, and now Kim Jong Il all finally removed from office, the last century's long shadow of totalitarian thuggery continues to get lighter and lighter. Successful revolts in the Middle East, and possibly even the beginnings of revolt in Russia, seem to indicate that mass social communication technology has now largely conquered the primitive censorship and surveillance traditions of of the Nazi/Soviet-inspired police state, and revealed the dim prospects of the latter's survival. It was controversial, as such things always are, but "The Protester" was undoubtedly the right choice for TIME's 2011 Person of the Year.
2011 marked the effective end of the George W. Bush era of American foreign policy, with the killing of Osama Bin Laden and the withdraw of all US troops from Iraq. Though the American presence in Afghanistan remains (and even then, winding down), future presidents will now enjoy a much freer hand to shape US diplomacy, no longer weighed down by twin burdens which seemed impossible to unload but a few scant years ago. Not since the conclusion of Vietnam has the country faced such a clear opportunity for a new direction in statecraft, but will that new direction herald a new era of US passivity and isolationism?
In Canada, 2011 proved that Stephen Harper will indeed be one of Canada's most important leaders, and not some flash-in-the pan interregnum caused by a brief phase of minority parliaments. The Prime Minister's own moderate approach notwithstanding, a decade of Conservative rule will reverse many of the previously ingrained stereotypes of "Liberal Canada" simply by existing. It will hopefully help redefine the country as a democracy as it should be, with genuine policy debates and ideological disagreements — as opposed to mere tinkerings around the edges of a lot of Trudeau-era conventional wisdom.
The 20th century is not completely gone, of course, and a few more milestones still remain to be passed. Queen Elizabeth II will remain a powerful tie to the pre-war era as long as she continues to regin, as will the Spanish head of state, Juan Carlos. The Communists in China show no sign of lessening their six-decade monopoly of power, and the Castro family still nominally rules Cuba. The post-war aesthetics of fashion, food, cars, and music remain fairly static (a criticism articulated well in
this recent Vanity Fair piece), and social attitudes show few signs of moving beyond their post-60s liberal sensibilities. But most of the loose ends have been swept up just the same. As a member of the so-called "millennial" generation, it seems clear that by the time I eventually die, my decade of birth will seem as distant and foreign as it did for the last Victorians, when they perished in the 1970s.
I guess it's a common symptom of egotism to consider your own lifetime one of history's great transformative epochs, so I'm curious to hear what you guys think. Have the last 30 years been truly revolutionary, in terms of politics, technology, and culture, or just more of the same? Do you, as millennials, feel you're witnessing a more interesting and modernizing era of history than your parents and grandparents, or have the changes we've witnessed so far been largely overrated?
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On another note, this will probably be my last toon of 2011, barring any big news that just can't wait. I need to take a little time away from Filibuster for the holiday season, but I promise I'll be back with lots of cool stuff for 2012. For those of you who have been waiting patiently, the new Canada Guide is very nearly done, and I promise it will be worth the wait.
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