Back in the mid to late 90s conspiracy theories had a moment of popularity. Art Bell had the latest and greatest news. A movie called Conspiracy Theory was released. Along with the hype, Fox was regularly putting out TV specials about conspiracy theories. You may recall the TV show claiming that the Apollo moon landing was fake, and don’t forget Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, where you could actually watch scientists cut open an alien. Those were the days when crop circles showed up every day and cows were having their genitalia’s surgically removed with laser precision.
Among all these TV specials, I have always remembered one that I saw in 1994. It was about the usual conspiracy speculations. It was pretty boring, and it was even worse than other shows of this type. I say that because I didn’t understand what the interviews were about. To this day I’ll probably never really know what that particular show was supposed to be getting at, but what I do remember from it has stuck with me to this day. In one of the interviews a conspiracy theory nuts said, and I quote, “In 1996 people will be wearing t-shirts that say, I Survived 1995.”
As a preteen I never forgot what that guy said. And admittedly I lived through 1995 wondering if the end was coming. Okay, I wasn’t constantly thinking about what this guy had said, but from time to time during 1995 I would think about what I heard, and wonder if there really would be some kind of disaster. I don’t know what, exactly, I expected to happen. Like I said, I didn’t really understand what the show was about, so I wasn’t sure what the kind of disaster this guy expected to come. I tend to think that what I thought would happen was war, and not a foreign war. No, I was expecting there to be a war fought on U.S. soil. Of course that didn’t happen in 1995.
You know what though? I do have a memory from 1995. It was something I saw on the news, and oddly enough, it was something else that I didn’t understand. The release of Windows 95. I didn’t know anything about computers at the time. My family didn’t have one. The only computers I’d used were an Apple IIe and some Mac OS computers (though I didn’t know what Mac OS was). I didn’t even know what Microsoft was. Well, on the news there was an announcement that Windows 95 was being released at midnight, and there would be people waiting in line to buy it as soon as it came out. It was reported as a really big deal. I was confused out of my mind. I had no idea what Windows was or why this new version was so special, but I remember that news report.
I don’t know why I mention the release of Windows 95, I guess it’s because it was the most noteworthy news story that I remember watching in 1995, and it was not the life destroying tragedy or disaster that I was expecting because of what I had heard some nut say. (Though some might argue that it was.)
I searched for the phrase I survived 1995
. Only two pages of results showed up on Google. Two. And no references to this TV show I’d seen either. I’d like to see the show again, to find out what the guy was actually talking about. Now that I’m an adult, I think that what the guy had to say might actually make some sense. Not intellectual sense, as I’m sure he was a nut, but it would at least be somewhat coherent, and he might at least have some unfounded reasoning for his claim.
Needless to say, I survived 1995, but I’m not wearing a t-shirt boasting about it. I don’t think anyone else is either.