The 80s changed everything! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for major events and trends of the 1980s that have reverberated through history.
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00:00I've talked to you on a number of occasions about the economic problems and opportunities
00:04our nation faces.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for major events and trends
00:10of the 1980s that have reverberated through history.
00:14But as expected as the death may have been, it nevertheless had a stunning impact around
00:18the world.
00:20Number 10.
00:22Discovery of the DNA fingerprint.
00:24I was aware at that time that Dr. Alec Jeffries had been working at Leicester University in
00:31respect of DNA tests.
00:33In 1984, British geneticist Sir Alec Jeffries made an epoch-defining discovery.
00:39He realized that he could identify unique patterns in a strand of DNA, creating a DNA
00:46fingerprint for individuals.
00:47This groundbreaking method revolutionized both law enforcement and medicine around the
00:51world.
00:52Criminal investigators could now more accurately identify suspects and exonerate the wrongly
00:57imprisoned.
00:58Today, they use a database of sites like 23andMe to find familial matches for criminal
01:04suspects.
01:05For years, Patrick Mark Perkins eluded police until pioneering forensic work finally tracked
01:11him down.
01:12In medicine, DNA fingerprinting led to massive leaps forward in genetic research.
01:18We now have a greater understanding of inherited diseases.
01:21Researchers are starting to personalize treatments based on an individual's genetic makeup,
01:26and diseases can be targeted on the genetic level.
01:28It's not just a treatment, but it's actually a genetic cure to accomplish something nobody
01:32else has ever done.
01:33I mean, that's amazing, right?
01:36Number 9.
01:37Man-made environmental disasters.
01:39The scenes are simply hellish.
01:41So much suffering from India's invisible killer.
01:44At one point, an official said one death was being recorded every minute from the poison
01:48gas leak in the city of Bhopal.
01:50Globalization and widespread deregulation led to a spike in both the volume and scope
01:55of man-made environmental disasters.
01:57In 1984, for example, Union Carbide India Limited was responsible for the worst industrial
02:03disaster in human history.
02:05Toxic methyl isocyanate gas leaked from their pesticide plant in Bhopal, India.
02:11Hundreds of thousands were exposed, leading to widespread respiratory, neurological, and
02:16reproductive issues and thousands of deaths.
02:19Entire streets near the factory are nearly deserted, with houses locked up and empty.
02:24Similar health problems occurred thanks to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster two years later.
02:29Massive amounts of radioactive material were released into Ukraine, devastating the local
02:34environment.
02:35In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska poured millions of gallons
02:41of crude oil into the ocean, decimating marine life and ecosystems.
02:46The tanker Exxon Valdez, gouged by a reef, more than 8.5 million gallons, poured into
02:51Prince William Sound, a prime fishing and recreation area.
02:55Number 8.
02:56Reaganomics and the Rise of Wealth Inequality
02:59In the late 1970s, we were economically struggling as a nation, but relatively equal as a people.
03:07That changed in the 1980s.
03:08President Ronald Reagan changed the landscape of American politics with his 1980 win.
03:13He implemented his economic plan, dubbed Reaganomics, instituting a regime of tax cuts,
03:19deregulation, and reduced government spending.
03:22These policies spurred a surge in wealth, especially among corporations and the already
03:28rich, leading to a booming stock market and economic growth.
03:31However, they also contributed to rising income inequality.
03:36And most likely, only a small handful of rich individuals at the top become even richer.
03:42Units of growth were concentrated at the top as wages for the middle and lower-income
03:46workers stagnated.
03:49Across the Atlantic, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher implemented similar policies.
03:54She privatized industries and cut taxes.
03:57There too, the rich prospered and inequality rose.
04:01Together, Reagan and Thatcher's economic philosophies reshaped global capitalism.
04:06Their neoliberal policies influenced the world economy for decades.
04:11She introduced free-market policies that helped the country throw off its post-war
04:15malaise and shook up the banking world with a flurry of deregulation.
04:197.
04:20The First Lebanese War and the First Intifada
04:23In 1987, following an incident with the Israeli Defense Forces that left four Palestinian
04:29refugees dead, Palestinian militia led a violent uprising known as the First Intifada.
04:35The Lebanese Civil War erupted in 1975, creating a chaotic power vacuum that drew in regional
04:42powers.
04:43After the PLO established a stronghold in the beleaguered nation, Israel invaded in
04:471982.
04:49This invasion deeply destabilized Lebanon and sparked the rise of Hezbollah as a real
04:54military power there.
04:55They entered the world stage a year later when they bombed U.S. Marine barracks as well
05:00as French paratroopers.
05:02Former peace talks in 2000 proved unsuccessful when agreements could not be reached on issues
05:06like the status of Jerusalem, the rights of refugees, and increased Jewish settlements
05:11in Palestinian lands.
05:12This once again cranked up regional tensions and set the stage for decades of future conflicts.
05:18Meanwhile, the First Intifada in the Palestinian territories began in 1987 after 20 years of
05:24occupation.
05:25The consequences of these events are still being felt today as the war in Gaza intensifies.
05:31But many people associate Israel with its ongoing conflict with Palestine, a violent
05:36dispute over land, political control, and resources.
05:396.
05:40The HIV-AIDS Epidemic
05:43You've tested positive for HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS.
05:51In the early 1980s, rumors began to spread of a disease starting to ravage the gay community.
05:56Soon, these rumors were undeniable as America and the world were forced to confront the
06:01devastating HIV-AIDS epidemic.
06:04Fear and stigma surrounded the disease, prevalent in already marginalized communities, and governments
06:10struggled to respond.
06:12The facts may also help this man, Daryl Yates Rist.
06:15He's a journalist, he's gay, and he's thankful the world's finally taking notice of a disease
06:21that has killed so many.
06:22It hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard, with millions dying from the virus.
06:28Civil and economic upheaval continued well into the 1990s, as AIDS became one of the
06:33deadliest pandemics in human history.
06:36Human rights activists begged the world to stem the tide of this plague.
06:41After two decades of mounting deaths, PEPFAR was created in 2003.
06:46This initiative has since provided life-saving treatment, reducing the spread of AIDS and
06:50making HIV manageable for millions.
06:53It's recently reported extensively on PEPFAR, its impact, and the threat of funding cuts
06:59and what that threat looks like.
07:01Number five, a global spike in political assassinations.
07:05On this day 30 years ago, shots rang out in Washington and President Ronald Reagan was
07:10wounded by gunfire.
07:11The 1980s were marked by a wave of political assassinations and attempts around the globe.
07:16Some were driven by ideological conflicts and power struggles, but not all.
07:20In 1981, President Reagan survived an assassination attempt by a mentally ill man seeking fame.
07:27He was wounded.
07:28My God, he was, the president was hit.
07:33That same year, Pope John Paul II was nearly killed by a Turkish gunman linked to political conspiracies.
07:39British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped an IRA bombing in 1984.
07:45No political sides were safe.
07:47Church Bishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat were murdered
07:52by right-wing revanchists.
07:54Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards.
07:58Even pop culture figures like John Lennon were not immune, and his 1980 murder shocked the world.
08:04This evening John Lennon arrived at the emergency room at the Roosevelt Hospital.
08:10He was dead at the time of his arrival.
08:13Number four, globalization and free trade.
08:16Other nations face very severe economic difficulties.
08:19In fact, both developed and developing countries alike have been in the grip of the longest
08:23worldwide recession in post-war history.
08:26The combination of technological advancements, deregulation, and neoliberal economic policies
08:32of the 1980s created fertile ground for a surge in free trade and globalization.
08:37Championed by leaders like Reagan and Thatcher, these policies reduced trade barriers and
08:43promoted open markets.
08:44They encouraged the flow of goods, services, and capital across international borders.
08:50But our economic system, based on individual freedom, private initiative, and free trade,
08:55has produced more human progress than any other in history.
08:59Multinational corporations took center stage as they created global supply chains.
09:03These changes reduced the cost of goods, shifted manufacturing jobs to cheaper locations in
09:09developing nations, and forged long-lasting bonds between nations.
09:13While globalization boosted economic growth and innovation, it also led to outsourcing.
09:19Job displacement became the norm in industrialized nations, while prices decreased, inequality
09:25and environmental exploitation spread like wildfire around the globe.
09:30There are a number of people who have been suffering as the economy is changing and how
09:35some local labor markets are facing competition from overseas and things like that.
09:39So these kinds of dislocations happened.
09:42Number 3.
09:43The death of Leonid Brezhnev.
09:44High atop the Kremlin tonight, a Soviet flag at half-staff.
09:48A symbol of mourning for Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, President of the Soviet Union.
09:53This 1982 event marked the end of the reign of the Soviet Union's old guard of hardliners.
09:59Brezhnev's successors, Andropov and Chernenko, briefly maintained the status quo.
10:04They were soon displaced by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, signaling a new era.
10:10We decided that we must help to decrease the threat of nuclear war.
10:17Gorbachev introduced glasnost, openness and perestroika, reconstructing, in an attempt
10:22to reform the stagnant Soviet system.
10:25These reforms loosened state control, leading to an increase in both political freedoms
10:30and economic turmoil.
10:31Gorbachev and Reagan's meeting at the Geneva summit in 1985 signaled the beginning of the
10:36end of the Cold War.
10:38The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 symbolized the collapse of the Soviet influence in Eastern
10:43Europe.
10:44By 1991, the Soviet Union itself dissolved.
10:47This is the scene tonight at the Berlin Wall.
10:50We'll take you there live.
10:53Number two, Deng Xiaoping's open-door policy and China's rise as a superpower.
10:5888% of people were living in absolute poverty.
11:02China's economy was just 5% of the United States' and its GDP per capita was the equivalent
11:07of Zambia's.
11:08First introduced in the late 1970s and instituted in the 1980s, the policy marked a dramatic
11:14shift in China's economic strategy.
11:17They pivoted from strict communist controls to market-oriented reforms.
11:22Deng transformed the nation into a global economic powerhouse thanks to foreign investment,
11:27trade and technology.
11:29Fast forward 40 years and China is unrecognizable.
11:33Special economic zones attracted multinational corporations.
11:38As a result, the 1980s sparked a period of rapid industrialization and export-led growth.
11:44Hundreds of millions were lifted out of poverty as China became the world's factory.
11:49China's GDP would continue to soar as it became a key player in global trade and finance.
11:54Deng's reforms laid the foundation for its emergence as a geopolitical superpower.
11:59Today, they are the primary challenger to U.S. dominance around the world.
12:04700 million people have been lifted out of poverty and its share of the global economy
12:09has gone from 1.8% in 1978 to 18.2% in 2017.
12:14Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
12:18Rise of the video game industry.
12:20From Pong to Pac-Man, NES to Game Boy, video games revolutionized entertainment.
12:26Mario Brothers with Mario from Donkey Kong, his brother Luigi and lots of crazy creatures.
12:31And it's twice the fun when two play at once, because you need all the help you can get.
12:35Mario, where are you?
12:39Mario Brothers, new from Atari.
12:41Famine in Ethiopia.
12:43Nearly two billion watched the Live Aid concert to combat it.
12:46He said, you better come on and sing, you know.
12:48I said, I can't, Bob, I haven't got a band together now.
12:50He said, well, you just sit at the piano and do your own number.
12:54How's that for a geldof, personally?
12:56So that was it, you know, I just had to come.
12:59Simple as that.
13:00Rise of Michael Jackson.
13:01He transformed from a young boy frontman to the greatest pop star on Earth.
13:06Tonight, Jackson looked great.
13:07So did his brothers.
13:09Fans say the glimpse was worth the wait because they love the superstar.
13:13We love you!
13:14We love you, Michael!
13:16The birth of MTV.
13:17The channel injected pop culture directly into the living rooms of Gen Xers across the globe.
13:22I want...
13:24IMTV.
13:2624 hours a day on cable TV.
13:29I want my MTV, MTV, MTV!
13:32Yeah, too much is never enough.
13:34The war on drugs.
13:35Crack ravaged the streets of America and the government responded with a war.
13:40George H.W. Bush has been in office seven months when he addresses the nation live on TV.
13:48This is crack cocaine.
13:51It's as innocent looking as candy.
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14:09Number 1.
14:10Rise of personal computing.
14:12It plays bridge, it plays checkers, it balances checkbooks, it can be used for a typewriter,
14:16it can be used for word processing applications, it can communicate with other personal computers
14:20over the telephone line.
14:22In human history, few technological revolutions were more impactful than the rise of PCs.
14:28Early personal computers like the Apple Macintosh and IBM PC made technology accessible beyond
14:34large corporations.
14:36Innovation spread like wildfire and productivity went through the roof.
14:40But the computer is very much in that position now.
14:43It will be the equivalent in terms of its impact on our society of what the internal
14:48combustion engine and the automobile were.
14:51As computers spread, so did open source software, starting in 1983 with the GNU project, the
14:57promotion of collaborative development and shared software resources continues to this
15:02day.
15:03In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, transforming how information was
15:09accessed and shared globally.
15:11Together, these developments democratized technology, igniting the digital revolution.
15:16They laid the foundation for the current internet age.
15:19The spread of personal computing has since driven advancements in every industry from
15:24farming and medicine to entertainment and trade.
15:27The Google search engine has gotten so popular, it's given rise to something called Googling.
15:32That's where you type in the name of a friend to see how many times he or she shows up on
15:36the internet.
15:37Do the 80s hold a special place in your heart?
15:40Let us know in the comments below.
15:41And, you know, who knows, it may be the world's biggest backyard fence to talk over before long.
15:46Did you enjoy this video?
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15:57Thanks for watching.