Newscasters turn way too many inconsequential events into “everybody will always remember where they were when” events.
“We’ll all forever remember where we were when Kanye West commandeered the microphone from Taylor Swift.”
“We’ll all remember where we were when heard that Dick Cheney shot his friend in the face with a shotgun.”
In my lifetime, there have been only two events I consider worthy of that distinction.
- The assassination of JFK.
- 9/11.
My parents’ generation can rightfully add the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
If I could add a third event within my lifetime, it would be the Challenger explosion in 1986. But I won’t.
People will nominate other events: killing Bin Laden, the 1972 Olympics massacre, the Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations, various sports events, Nixon’s resignation, Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon, Magic Johnson declaring he had AIDS, the OJ chase. I remember clearly–sitting in Grandpa’s living room on Christmas Eve of 1968–hearing the Apollo 8 astronauts read the Creation story as they orbited the moon.
All of those are memorable events, but of a Second Tier variety. For the Top Tier, let’s stick with the JFK assassination and 9/11. And when newscasters go hyperbolic about the Event of the Day, just humor them.
