Angela Dimaano, Features Editor
Flip phones, denim jeans, and Spongebob Squarepants. The 2000s were defined by its profound technological advancements, political triumphs, and tragedy in many forms. As we look back to two decades ago, we remember how our world has gotten to the point where we are now.
Much like any decade, the 2000s had its fair share of events with adverse negative effects. In the United States, the attacks on September 11th, 2001 (often referred to by using just the phrase “9/11”) is a day many will never forget. Four coordinated terrorist attacks were performed by Islamist terrorist organization Al Qaeda in New York (Twin Towers), Washington D.C (Pentagon), and a failed attempt in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, with its speculated target to be the Capitol or the White House. Following these horrific acts, President George W. Bush’s Congress was able to pass the Patriot Act, which sought to strengthen U.S national security through any means necessary. Another direct response of the United States after the 9/11 attacks is the continuing War on Terror, a multi campaign strategy aimed at putting an end to international terrorists. Along with its NATO allies, the U.S has most prominently been a part of the War in Afghanistan and Iraq war to battle terrorist organizations.
The 2000s also experienced some of their own pandemics and virus outbreaks. The 2002-2004 SARS outbreak, which began in China’s Guangdong province, resulted in over 700 people dying. The major portion of the outbreak lasted 8 months, infecting 8,000 people from 29 different countries. Years later, the Swine Flu pandemic began in 2009. This was the second pandemic involving the H1N1 influenza virus, after the Spanish Flu in 1918. Infecting an estimated 700 million to 1.4 billion and killing an estimated 284,000, the Swine Flu was found to have originated from a pig farm in central Mexico. Financially, the 2000s offered two main economic crises: the Dot-com bubble and the Great Recession. The Dot-com bubble was a stock market bubble created by the speculation of Internet related companies in 2001. Many individuals invested in quickly growing internet related companies and caused the corresponding stock prices to skyrocket. At the end of 2001, the stock market downturned after a year of company losses. The aftermath of the bubble was the change in mentality by investors; a company should be invested in based on how fast they spend their capital. The second major economic event is the Great Recession, as started by the bursting of the United States housing bubble. The Great Recession was a period of time from 2007-2009 where vulnerabilities in the financial system, specifically related to housing, were uncovered. Specifically, in the United States GDP fell 650 million dollars and household net worth fell 11.5 trillion dollars.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami occurred on December 26th, with the earthquake being the third largest ever recorded at a 9.1 to 9.3 magnitude. The earthquake occurred off the west coast of Indonesia, causing a tsunami with waves up to 30 meters high. Casualties are recorded at more than 200,000 people from 14 different countries, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters to occur in history. Another major natural disaster was Hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane that set down in the southern United States in August 2005 with winds recorded up to 175 mph. Katrina originated on August 23 as a tropical depression and made landfall on August 25th in Florida. Over 1,800 deaths were recorded and $125 billion in damages, tying the for the most costly Hurricane, caused by flooding and torrential winds.
Despite all of the negative events that occurred in the 2000s, there were plenty positive events as well. Scientifically, human genome sequencing was further explored through the Human Genome Project. A scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, researchers from over 20 universities studied the genomes of donors. Research produced results of 22,300 protein-coding genes present in humans and the human genome has more repeated segments of DNA than previously thought. With this information, more research could be done on how genetic diseases come about and what genes indicated risk for certain diseases. Later on, in 2004, two rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars to explore its terrain for signs of water. The two rovers were able to send images of Mars back to Earth and on March 4th, Opportunity was able to capture signs of an area previously containing water. Both rovers were initially supposed to be on the surface for 90 days, but were able to function well beyond that period of time.
Politically, in the United States, the No Child Left Behind Act signed and the first African American president was elected. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was aimed to close the achievement gap between less and more affluent students. With passage of the act, schools were held accountable to the progression of all their students; standardized tests every year and more detailed report cards became the norm. The act allowed reading and math scores for Black and Hispanic children to reach an all-time high, lowering the achievements in those corresponding subjects. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, being the first ever of African American descent. He had defeated Republican John McCain with 365 electoral votes along with running mate Joseph Biden. Obama would eventually be reelected in 2012 for a second term.
In the 2000s, computer-generated imagery (CGI) became more common in films One popular example of this is Avatar (2009), the highest grossing movie of the decade. The movie’s plot centers on humans in the 22nd century who wish to colonize Pandora, a planet rich with resources. The film made 2.79 billion dollars from the box office and was only dethroned years later by Avengers: Endgame to be the highest grossing movie of all time. Superhero movies also became highly popular during the 2000s, with notable releases being the Batman series, the Spiderman series starring Toby Maguire, and the Marvel superhero series. With the advances in technology, these movies were able to reach higher commercial success than before and would continue to do so in the following decades.
The Internet blew up in the 2000s with the launch of MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and more throughout the decade. MySpace was first founded in 2003 and was one of the first social networks to reach a wider global audience, also allowing the rise of other social networking platforms. Facebook was founded in 2004 initially as an online student directory featuring photos and personal information for Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg’s school at the time. The platform eventually evolved to be accessible to the wider public and remains prominent with 2.74 billion monthly active users to this day. YouTube was founded in 2005 and allowed users to upload, view, and share various videos. YouTube allowed users to have control over what content they produced and was able to become a source of livelihood for some.
Even twenty years later, these events have had profound effects on our society and on the individual. Politically, socially, technologically, and scientifically, our world continues to grow from the foundations set in past decades. For Generation Z, the 2000s were our childhood and source of nostalgia, that hopefully, we can look fondly upon.
