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I wish I could make Gen Z really understand the horrors and absurdities of the George W. Bush administration. https://twitter.com/itxaropena/status/1347951968325677064
Like it started off the Supreme Court basically saying "stop all the recounts it doesn't matter Bush is president now" and that was a big "huh what" moment in time
But we were still in the Clinton mindset of "eh it's probably fine" because the Cold War was over and nothing much was happening out in the open--although of course A Lot was happening where we couldn't see it.
And we figured we'd have four years of Goofy Ol' George to put up with
But uh
you know
But uh
you know
Like I want kids to understand that 9/11 wasn't just horrific, it was surreal. I mean, I lived in New Jersey so it was a bit more immediate for me than for others but the days and weeks that followed were legit SURREAL. Everything felt totally alien
There were teachers in my high school who literally had to run out of the school midday because they were in the Reserves/National Guard and they were called in immediately. Like. They had to run out of their classrooms with like, no notice and we didn't see them for years
My husband was in basic training when 9/11 happened and at first his flight assumed it was like, a drill or something until they realized it was actually real and so many ppl tried to get out of their commitment--saying they were suddenly gay, or threatening suicide
The administration wanted us to amp up to wartime production capacity but they also wanted to cut taxes. So you had this massive military effort no one was paying for
And when we went into Iraq, whoo boy, that was something. You had this...parody of Congressional debates, you had a Defense Department whose philosophy was literally "do more with less," imagining they could wage a 2-front war with like 15 dudes and some missiles
Fox News is ubiquitous now but 9/11 was when it started becoming A Thing.
And there was an oppressive, omnipresent "us-or-them" atmosphere where to be a Good American meant cheering on never-ending war & the implementation of a massive state surveillance apparatus
And there was an oppressive, omnipresent "us-or-them" atmosphere where to be a Good American meant cheering on never-ending war & the implementation of a massive state surveillance apparatus
You had John McCain singing "bomb bomb bomb Iran"
You had John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney creating an absurd frontline of private paramilitary forces while the actually military served back-to-back 18 month deployments
You had John Bolton, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney creating an absurd frontline of private paramilitary forces while the actually military served back-to-back 18 month deployments
You had country musicians singing about putting boots in asses and you had Dave Matthews creating protest albums.
Then there was the 2004 election
Then there was the 2004 election
In a time of total war and terrifying surveillance, the 2004 election came down to GAY MARRIAGE and FLAG BURNING.
John Kerry was Joe Biden but more boring. Republicans took his very real, well-documented service in Vietnam and tried to make it a lie.
John Kerry was Joe Biden but more boring. Republicans took his very real, well-documented service in Vietnam and tried to make it a lie.
John Edwards existed.
You grandparents both watched Will & Grace and voted Republican because they didn't think it was "appropriate" for "the gays" to get married. THE WAS A TWO-FRONT WAR ON
You grandparents both watched Will & Grace and voted Republican because they didn't think it was "appropriate" for "the gays" to get married. THE WAS A TWO-FRONT WAR ON
George Bush mispronounced words, had multiple television shows devoted to his incompetence, fell off a bicycle, choked on a pretzel, and was probably drunk most of the time!
The vice president SHOT SOMEONE IN THE FACE
The vice president SHOT SOMEONE IN THE FACE
Meanwhile social media was just starting and you were trapped in this weird in-between state of connected and not-connected. Facebook was only for college students. We had die-ins to protest the war and the Dixie Chicks were cancelled for lightly criticizing Bush
Then the entire economy crashed and a bunch of kids (me included!) graduated college with mortgage-sized student loans and there were no jobs, no hope of recovery, absolutely nothing.
Wait hold on, lemme rewind a bit. In 2005 you had a massive destructive storm hit a major US city. Thousands of people died. The man in charge of recovery efforts had experience running the ARABIAN HORSE CLUB OF AMERICA.
Heckuva job Brownie
Heckuva job Brownie
Kanye West stood next to Michael Meyers on TV and said "George Bush doesn't care about Black people" and that was suddenly the Most Controversial Thing Ever.
People were stuffed in a football stadium because they nowhere else to go.
A city was left to die
People were stuffed in a football stadium because they nowhere else to go.
A city was left to die
[TW: suicide]
The military couldn't handle the amount of troops committing suicide
Lindsey Graham was a "reasonable Republican"
Fox News was becoming the many-tentacled monster it is today
The military couldn't handle the amount of troops committing suicide
Lindsey Graham was a "reasonable Republican"
Fox News was becoming the many-tentacled monster it is today
Look this is a bare-bones summary I just pulled out of my own memory without any research. If I wanted to, I could give you a five-hundred tweet thread just about the first year of Bush's eight in office.
My generation came of age in that mess.
My generation came of age in that mess.
So yeah. Our teenage years were a fvcking maelstrom of surreal cruelty and terrifying imperial fever-dreams.
Anyway now I'm 35 and I live in Spain and rescue cats. So please help me do that: https://twitter.com/ellle_em/status/1309999500992405504?s=20
I know Reagan was awful too but I was born in 1985 so I did not live through his administration. I wanted to make a thread about my lived experience, hence Bush II
