GossipDuck

10 Biggest WTFs of the Decade

January 1, 2010 - 4 Comments

by sbahns

We keep seeing retrospective posts being that it is the end of the year and all. So we figured, why not join in the fun?  What, pray tell, would be a topic that no one else has covered ad nauseum?

Upon reflection we thought, “Well a lot of stupid shit happened over the last 10 years, how about that?”  So we tried to find 10 moments that were so stupid, we couldn’t help but utter, IM, message, tweet, post to Facebook the phrase of the decade: “WTF???”

WTF #1 AND #2 – George Bush & Dick Cheney

To be honest, this decade was screwed from the beginning.  I’m trying to make light of it here, but seriously Bush “winning” the election in 2000 was a helluva WTF moment. “WTF. Couldn’t people see what they were getting from the start?”

Cheney could have his own space on the list, but I honestly don’t want to give him the space. Where Bush embodied shear incompetence Cheney was an is a continual source of “WTF?” reactions.  And he still won’t shut the fuck up.  WTF?

Bush and Cheney are on here twice because not only was it a giant WTF that Bush was “ruled” president in 2000, but that enough people actually voted to reelect them in 2004.  WTF???

But thank god we had Jon Stewart to shepherd us through those nightmarish 8 years.

WTF#3 – Sarah Palin

I hate to give this woman any more publicity, but when she was picked as John McCain’s running-mate in ’08, it was a serious “WTF??” moment for me.  What’s more – I continued to utter “WTF?” every time I hear her speak. Here’s an example:

“WTF were they thinking?” “WTF makes her remotely qualified to be at that level of office?” “WTF are these people saying at her rallies?” “WTF is wrong with these people?”

WTF #4 – 2001-2003

I think the entire year of 2001 was one big “WTF??.” Right off the bat we had this guy in office who was changing shit left and right…mostly to the right and then BAM! planes fly into buildings in NYC, DC and a field in PA.

Follow that year up with 2002 and 2003 where we get involved in TWO land wars in Asia.  Never a good idea.  Doesn’t anyone play Risk anymore?

WTF #5 – Hurricane Katrina and the stranded souls of New Orleans

The response to Hurricane Katrina was a major “WTF?” moment – so much so that it lasted for weeks.  Every day people saying “WTF? Why can’t we fix this?”

A few years after the fact, it’s starting to fade from the collective consciousness – maybe it already has. But at the time, the images and stories of people begging for help in a major US city actually managed to wake up some people who SHOULD have been saying “WTF?” for years.

WTF #6 – Hot Mess Celebrities

There is a lot of material with celebrity gossip and antics that make any non-famous person go “WTF?”. I’m not going to rehash each one individually nor do I care what is happening with them. I’m saying WTF not because of what they do but because we are being told about it like it is somehow important. I guess I resent real news being pushed to the side because of this type of non-news and that leads me to…

WTF #7 – Non-News and Manufactured Consensus

You can’t mention Hot Mess Celebrities without some reflection on the reason why we’re even paying attention to these idjits.  All of the news networks are guilty of this.

Far more WTF, in my opinion, was the move toward a “rah rah rah Americuh” vibe to the news reporting.  We’ve always had stupid stories about fluff in news reporting, but after 9/11 it seemed like every news network had to be more red, white, and blue than the other.  Additionally they really pushed the war agenda and did not give credence to people who advised against it.

Here is Michael Moore taking CNN to task about its quality of reporting:

WTF #8 – Speculation, Crap Stocks, Sub-prime and all that confusing financial stuff

It came as a kind of delayed WTF to discover that our economy was based on shit. But, to be honest, was it really that surprising when you have people like WTF #1 in charge?  Personally, I just lament the fact that those house flipping shows aren’t as cool as they used to be.

I like Gawker’s take on this though:

So you, the investor, can take heart in the fact that your plain vanilla Dow Jones index portfolio didn’t just tread water the entire past decade; instead, it lost more than a quarter of its real value. You should have listened when your gut told you to invest it all in GI Joe action figures.

WTF #9 – Incuriousness

I don’t know if people are generally dumber than they used to be, but it does seem like it. The last decade was a real WTF because it really seemed (and still does) that actual intelligence, facts, and research is vilified.

Miss Teen South Carolina Lauren Caitlin Upton, 18

WTF #10 – Scaring the Beejezus Out of People for Political Gain

This reached new WTF heights over the last decade. I wasn’t able to find examples, but here’s Keith Olbermann ranting about it:

So anyway, peoples – I don’t want leave you with the impression that I think this decade was a complete wash.  There was a lot of cool stuff that happened. Another post for that perhaps…

So what do you think could be added to this list?

Tags: decadeofdumb, wtf

Category: History, Politics, Pop Culture, sbahns