How have our lives changed during the course of the now-ending decade?
In my presentation, I will try to summarise the most revolutionary changes in the world around us.
Just ten years ago, nobody heard of Osama bin Laden, the War on Terror, the Smolensk disaster or any other important events. John Paul II was the reigning Pope, and Poland was only getting ready for membership to the European Union. Of course, we also weren't members of the Schengen Zone, so if we wanted to travel abroad, we had to stop at borders for passport control, and a passport was required. Work in England or Ireland seemed to be an exotic idea - particularly to those who were not highly educated. Also, there weren't any informative channels on television, for us to watch news of the work of President Kwasniewski and the SLD government.Today it's difficult not to see the progress our country has made thanks to joining the EU. The average Polish person's income rose from 1900 PLN to 3100 PLN. Naturally, the cost of living also rose, but that doesn't change the fact that there has been a decline in citizens living in poverty. Thanks to a huge injection of money, Polish cities are becoming more beautiful every year. However, one disadvantage in this situation is the thousands of young people who leave our country forever because of incomparably higher earnings in other places.
In the music industry, many new stars have appeared such as Ich Troje and Doda. Reality shows started appearing on TV, including the famous "Big Brother". Few remember, that the well known MP of the SLD party, Bartosz Arłukowicz, became the winner of "Agent". Another novelty was the appearance of various talent shows in which a critical board of judges took an important role (e.g. "Idol", "You can dance", "Poland's Got Talent" etc.).
The biggest hits of Cinema in the last decade were without a doubt the screen versions of the three Tolkien books, and the series of films about Harry Potter and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Thanks to many films such as Shrek, Ice Age, The Incredibles and Up, 3D animations bloomed spectacularly and gained mainstream popularity, even among older viewers.
Nobody had heard of Adam Malysz in 2000, because his career had yet to develop, and Robert Kubica was still driving go-carts. Poland would not have dreamed of hosting the European football championships. On the other hand, nobody assumed that the Polish representation would become so degraded - Currently, the Polish team is 69th in Fifa's rankings, lower than powers such as Armenia and Benin.
Many, many things have undoubtedly changed in the past 10 years. Even though we live more comfortably, we are much less certain of our future - this is because of world terrorism and financial crise. The world has been haunted by many natural disasters: this year's earthquakes in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in the Indian Ocean... Despite everything, I consider this decade to have been rather good for me, and I'm very curious about what future will bring to us?
Questions:
1. What do you think were the most life-changing events in the last decade?
2. What are your predictions in regards to the next 10 years?
1. I think that the most important for us was accession to EU. It give us a lot of opportunities to find a good job, to earn more money, to live more comfortable than before. This step was very important for improvement our lives.
ReplyDelete2. I am not good in foretelling the future so my reply i will restrict only to summarise last decade(see 1. paragraph).
I thing one of the most important thing was a boom. A car boom, internet boom, and the unpleasant one like horrible oil price or flat prices.
ReplyDeleteOpen border provides junk cars from UE as well as new job market.
What will be in ten years?
If I would know, I will not tell anybody :)
yes it is true. Everything has changed so quickly. Sometimes I am so suprised that not long ago people live absolutely different. Wars, revolutions... Recenly my dad told me "I was born in year of Stalin's death".For me it sounds so strange.
ReplyDeleteIf we take into consideration the exact meaning of the word 'revolutionary', then, in my opinion, in the last decade there was no revolutionary change in any field which is important to mankind. Such changes are, for instance, crucial discoveries, innovative ideas, or a breakthrough in science, medicine, technology etc. As an example, you presented the American 'War on Terror' and the Smoleńsk tragedy - I would not clasify those events as revolutionary ones, as they did not change anything, neither did they leave us with any new perspective for the future. Even Poland joining the European Union in 2004 should not be considered a breakthrough in our history. In my opinion, the EU is not and will not be an everlasting institution which has the potential to leave any historical or political heritage. Tu put it as short as possible, activities or events which happen because of someone's business and money craving are not revolutionary at all.
ReplyDeleteI think that the most revolutionary thing was (unfortunately) translocation of social life to the internet (particularly it concerns last generation of teenagers). I hope that's a short-time trend but people are becoming less individual for that reason, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAs for the second question - I'll leave it without answer because I don't like to play seer:)
I think that one of the most life-changing events in the last decade was Iraq Invasion. 4367 US soldiers were killed and more than 30 000 was wounded. Now oil prices are exctremely high, more soldiers will die, what for...
ReplyDeleteIn next 10 years for sure technology will be more advanced in my opinion for example mobile video will be delivered over data networks and for sure High Definition will be a standard. We will also have 3d TV channels.
In my opinion the most life-changing events in the last decade was Polish airplane crash. A lot of people died. Most of this people work in Polish goverment. In this crush died our President Lech Kaczyński with his wife. All Poland fell into mourning. In the future in my opinion European Union breaks up. Looking from another angle I think that the biggest changes are expected in the technique.
ReplyDeleteFor me the most life-changing events in the last decade were:
ReplyDelete- attack on the WTC
- polish entry to the European Union
- death of Pope John Paul II
In my opinion most life-changing events in last decade was for Polish people - European Union and globally - Internet. When we entered to EU, they giving us many resources to develop our country. Now in Poland is better and life is little easier.
ReplyDeleteIn global case Internet ten years ago was not such big importance as it's now. Now each company should have website. Most companies are using Internet e.g. to company management, customer service. In private life Internet is very important too. We can read news, watch tv, communicate with our friend and family for free and work remotely.
I think the most important change in recent decades was creation of a facebook. I believe that this social networking site has enabled people contacting with each other throughout the world while allowing the sender to be the producer of the information. we are not already convicted only on the information provided to us by the big media companies. we can create reality and organize into groups. A great example of this is a situation in Egypt where the revolution began in the FB through the contacts of people with the same views. protest against the president quickly moved to the streets of Cairo.
ReplyDelete