O.J. Simpson -- dead

As far as O.J. is concerned: Burn in hell.

 

After the collapse of communism, all the big events of the 1990s in the West were insulated “small”events. Bad things happen but they are contained.After 9/11 you get a cascading set of events that are global, interconnected and possibly existential, like global temperatures rising. Much more similar to the first half of the 20th century in scale. I think the fact that every big event of the 1990s was so self-contained allowed us to view them like curiosities, far removed from our actual life. Something to be seen through the glass of our televisions. Unfortunately it also convinced us nothing truly globe-altering would ever happen again. Francis Fukuyama brain meets television and the internet. We’ve been snapped back into history over the last 20 years.

 

I was debating putting that up between MJ, Elvis and Prince, but as I recall from the Reagan shooting, the early reports indicated his wounds were not (directly) life-threatening, and this was confirmed within a couple hours.
Subsequent stories I have read indicate his injuries were indeed very serious, probably much more so than publicly acknowledged, but at the time the narrative quickly shifted to "the rugged and resilient Reagan was joking in the ER and was quickly on the mend."

Remember, Reagan was shot at 2:17 Eastern Time and the NCAA championship game was played later that night. They talked about possibly postponing but by late afternoon it was decided Reagan was out of imminent danger.

 

By the way, Marcia Clark has aged like a fine wine:

 

My Millennial "where were you" moments

1) 9/11
2) Pandemic
3) Loma Prieta (might be because I'm in Nor Cal)
4) Obama winning
5) ?

I don't remember the chase (I think I was at my mom's. But I don't remember really watching it. Maybe I did because mom and my step-dad did.)
I remember the verdict, but millennials really don't see that as a hugely defining thing.
I was a year old during Challenger.

 

In contrast to the Reagan shooting, with JFK, the very first fragmentary reports indicated someone was seriously injured, within probably 10 minutes it was confirmed it was Kennedy.

My mom came and yanked me straight out of kindergarten that day and marched me 200 yards back home. When we got there Cronkite was saying JFK had been seriously wounded and unconfirmed reports said he had died. Within probably 10 minutes of our returning home the official word was given.

 

It's not like his teams wilted in the playoffs.

 

Surprised Virginia Tech hasn’t been mentioned as an oh-shit moment. Same for Sandy Hook and the Boston Marathon bombing.

 

Sandy Hook was the last "Oh shit!" shooting moment. It's all "Aw, fuck! Again?" since then.

 

Wow! Hard for me to comprehend it will have been that long ago.

 

Marilu Henner was in the shower.