Nerd Church - Our Roaring 20s

It's nearly that time again - when one year becomes another and we have the chance to make a fresh start

(...symbolically, if nothing else.)

But this year? This year marks the change of the decade, as well as the change of the year.

Yup, it's So Long and Farewell to the 2010s, and roll on the Roaring 20's.

(I'm now singing Panic! in my head, and I have no regrets.)

Were the 2010s that bad...?

Probably.

Especially 2016 onwards.

There's no sugar-coating it, some bad sh** has happened in this decade, especially the latter half - it feels like the world is colder, crueller, place than it was before.



But then... the world has always been cold and cruel. 

(Metaphorically - 'cos Global Warming means we're actually too hot temperature-wise.)

For some people, life is undoubtedly better now than it was in the 90s, or even the 00s.

While there's a long, long, way to go for the world to be the kind of place we would want it to be, there's definite progress.





It's def. better out there for us Queer folks than it was when I was growing up as a smol conflicted Queer child.

The attitude is by far more tolerant, out there in the world, than it was in the 90s and 00s.

I'm not gonna pretend that's the same everywhere. Geographically, culturally, and individually, these things vary a lot.




But progress is progress. And progress is worth celebrating.

Here in the UK, the Equality Act 2010 introduced a level of freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, religion, disability, age, transgender status, pregnancy/maternity, or marital status.

That's huge.

Yes, there are still injustices.

And yes, there are butt-faces who would like to see this Act torn up into little pieces



- But we still have a law that says 'you can't discriminate.'

And that's surely something worth celebrating.

Plus, of course, there's the legalisation of same-sex marriage with the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (England and Wales) and the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014.

And now that Northern Ireland's finally coming into line in 2020, this means that the whole of the UK will allow Queer folks the same legal rights as any other married couple.




This is just an example, of course, and I'm not gonna pretend that it in any way washes away the issues that still exist - but it's something.

And it's proof, isn't it, that against the tidal wave of hatred, love still wins...?

Via Giphy

I'm an eternal optimist. I plead guilty to that.

(...A Depressed optimist, but an optimist all the same!)



I also know, though, that between the Trumpkin, Brexit, and the general rise of hatred and terror across the globe, the 2010s have, indeed, been something of a global dumpster fire.

Via Giphy

(And that's before you even consider the LITERAL FIRES burning across the globe due to Climate Change over the last few years.)

I feel like future generations are gonna look back at the years 2016-2019, in particular, and be like, 'wtf were you guys even doing?!'




Like, I don't believe that we live in a simulation, but the following few, meagre, highlights kinda make you wonder:

• Boris Johnson is Prime Minister

• Trump is President of the USA

• Trump tried to buy Greenland from Denmark via Twitter

• No-one in power seems to care that Russia is meddling in the West's elections

• Trump paid off the porn-star he had an affair with using electoral money, bribed/blackmailed (depending on how you look at it,) the Ukrainian President, colluded with Russia to rig the US elections... and is still President of the USA.

• Germaine Greer, ex-leading-feminist, & author of The Female Eunuch, is... well, I don't know what she is these days, but it's not feminist*!

• Richard Dawkins, atheist & author of The God Delusion, promotes bigotted right-wing Christians

• Brexit

• Nickelback owned the President on Twitter

*Link CW: rape, sexual violence, stigma, victim-blaming

(For more on the strange & bizarre times in which we live, check out Nerd Church - Is This Dystopia?)

...I'm actually concerned about how many of these happened in 2019.

Maybe it's just 'cos they're fresher in my memory..?

Can you come up with equally batsh** events from other years in the 2010s? Tell me in the comments! 😉 (#CheckMeOutMamI'mARealBlogger!)

But the 2020s are a blank slate - albeit a slightly dirty and used one.

(...I don't know where that analogy came from, tbh.)

We have the chance that we always have - to work, slowly, diligently, and without giving up, to build a better future and a better world.

I know, I know - it's frustrating to take things slow. But we're chipping away at a mountain of hate here, dearest nerdlets, so slow and steady is the only option if we don't wanna burn out.

The world is, and has always been, a cold and cruel place; but we have the two things that can see us through - we have Hope, and we have Love.

Both of them are powerful as all get-out. Never give up on them, dearest nerdlets.

Via Giphy

Where there's Life there's Hope and where there's Hope there's Life.

And Love? Well, Love always wins.

Maybe not the way you thought. Maybe in the darkest of depths. But it wins. In the end. 

And if it hasn't? Then it's not the end.

Happy New Year/Blwyddyn Newydd Dda dearest nerdlets!

Let's change the f**king world.

💪💖

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Last updated: 24th May 2020