If Fads Lived Up To The Hype!!!

So we have people meet on Friendster ("doesn't everybody these days?") and paying for MP3 (?) downloads on Napster, then we find out that the Internet is NOT a big deal?

This makes no sense.

And making jokes about it before you are due to be stung to death by killer bees.

That is one messed-up ATL.
 
So we have people meet on Friendster ("doesn't everybody these days?") and paying for MP3 (?) downloads on Napster, then we find out that the Internet is NOT a big deal?

This makes no sense.

And making jokes about it before you are due to be stung to death by killer bees.

That is one messed-up ATL.
its supposed to be a joke.
 
Revealing the lack of internet before being killed by killer bees? What a dystopia.


The killer bee part, at any rate. Can't gauge how much better the world would have been without the internet. :p
 
New Coke died out because the people hated it, not in the same manner that the XFL and such died out, I mean, people were pouring "New Coke" down the gutters and the like. I get the joke though.
 
Don't normally necro but...

Even considering this is a joke, it's not that ASB to imagine a lot of these happening. New Coke did well in taste tests. It probably could have survived if it was released in addition to Classic Coke. The others are a bit harder but not impossible. Howard Dean pre-2003 was seen as a "conservative democrat" so even in the context of a nuclear Iraq (implying no war, again) he could still rise to power as sort of a New Democrat... Or maybe as part of the "Reform Party" or something along those lines if the US is sufficiently unstable (another fad :p). Betamax declined in the early 80s obviously, so probably a pod of 1977 is needed at latest. Actually come to think of it given the references to multiple epidemics and "the Y2K bug" maybe the POD is more nasty influenza outbreaks, maybe starting with "Swine Flu" in 1976. Still doesn't explain certain other things though..
 
Other fads/societal trends to consider incorporating:

- VR Craze during the early/mid 90s. Considering the internet is implied to be still born or have been supplanted by something else this isn't that implausible.
- Recent concerns over "Flashmobs" and prior mass hysteria/riots...
- Riot GRRLS (original punk subculture)/"girl power" (pop version) during the 1990s.
- Media hype and hysteria over "right wing populism" and "right wing extremism" (e.g. militia movement; skinheads) in the United States and Europe during the 1990s and beyond following Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan's campaigns, as well as the success of parties such as FN in 2002.
- On the flip side, radical left-wing activism like animal rights, anarcho-primitivism and Greens gaining more of a foothold in popular culture. There is the real possibility of a "Green" scare or agitating against "Watermelon" subversives ("green on the outside, red on the inside"). (see: Fight Club; 12 Monkeys in OTL)
- "Hotline" scams, like the infamous "Freddie Freaker" viral video that got leaked on the internet.
- Cheaply produced Synthetic clothing (crocs; "jelly" shoes; polyester, etc.).
- "Flexisexuality" (2000s) and "swapping" (1970s), particularly if HIV and various STDs were successfully dealt with (see: AIDs awareness)...
 
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Here are a few PODs that seem to get forgotten:

* VR Sex. With the VR Craze of the ATL. consider that technologies such as the Internet, VCR, et al., thrived due to the presence of pornography...

* During the mid-1990s and early 2000s, there was a huge craze for private space travel. Unfortunately 9/11 killed those plans...

* During the 1980s and 1990s, there was a great fear that Japan was going to remilitarize, and become a political superpower...

* Besides "killer bees", throughout the 1970s and 1980s, there was a fear that "man-eating fire ants" would overrun cities throughout the Southwest...
 
Okay, not sure how plausible this is but...

1976-1979: Swine Flu Pandemic grips United States, Russia, China. Cold War finally ends as USSR and PRC regimes implode.
1980: Betamax dominates the market. John Anderson elected President.
1984: Mirage comics makes its hit debut. Gary Hart elected President.
1985: New Coke makes its debut; old Coke formula re-christened "Classic Coke."
1988: Gary Hart re-elected President.
1989: Killer Bee infestations become more pronounced; Power-Glove becomes top selling item.
1992: Crystal Pepsi makes its debut, soon devouring up more of the market share.
1992: Ross Perot elected President. Valiant and Image Comics make their hit debuts amidst a booming independent comics industry.
1993-1994: Blind Melon makes their hit debut, signaling explosion of "grunge" genre. Internet dead as AOL network spreads.
1995: Nintendo VirtuaBoy console makes its hit debut, part of a new wave of VR. Controversy over unauthorized pornographic content spreads - 2nd Sexual Revolution underway. Waterworld makes its hit debut.
1996: Ross Perot re-elected President. Comics crash averted.
1999: The Phantom Menace makes its hit debut. Sega Dreamcast solidifies Sega as video game industry leader.
2000: Y2K virus signals economic crash. Ralph Nader elected. XFL makes its hit debut. "O-Town" forms signaling pop-punk revival (note: different band than OTL).
2002: Friendster and Zune make their hit debuts. Vanilla Coke makes its hit debut.
2003: SARS virus signals further trouble for global economy...
2004: Howard Dean elected President amidst global political turmoil.
2003-2007: "Flexisexuality" trend spreads as "3rd Sexual Revolution" occurs.
 
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1976-1979: Swine Flu Pandemic grips United States, Russia, China. Cold War finally ends as USSR and PRC regimes implode.
1980: Betamax dominates the market. John Anderson elected President.
1984: Mirage comics makes its hit debut. Gary Hart elected President.
1985: New Coke makes its debut; old Coke formula re-christened "Classic Coke."
1988: Gary Hart re-elected President.
1989: Killer Bee infestations become more pronounced; Power-Glove becomes top selling item.
1992: Crystal Pepsi makes its debut, soon devouring up more of the market share.
1992: Ross Perot elected President. Valiant and Image Comics make their hit debuts amidst a booming independent comics industry.
1993-1994: Blind Melon makes their hit debut, signaling explosion of "grunge" genre. Internet dead as AOL network spreads.
1995: Nintendo VirtuaBoy console makes its hit debut, part of a new wave of VR. Controversy over unauthorized pornographic content spreads - 2nd Sexual Revolution underway. Waterworld makes its hit debut.
1996: Ross Perot re-elected President. Comics crash averted.
1999: The Phantom Menace makes its hit debut. Sega Dreamcast solidifies Sega as video game industry leader.
2000: Y2K virus signals economic crash. Ralph Nader elected. XFL makes its hit debut. "O-Town" forms signaling pop-punk revival (note: different band than OTL).
2002: Friendster and Zune make their hit debuts. Vanilla Coke makes its hit debut.
2003: SARS virus signals further trouble for global economy...
2004: Howard Dean elected President amidst global political turmoil.
2003-2007: "Flexisexuality" trend spreads as "3rd Sexual Revolution" occurs.

This is definitley more realitic than many of the ATLs currently posted. Starting in 2001, there was a fear that America was going into a "Second Cold War" with China. For 2008 or 2012, we really need to have Sarah Palin become president in the ATL.
 
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