xkcd.WTF!?

Explanation ➲

The median age in USA is currently about 37 years. Assuming that you must be at least five years old to remember a cultural event later, this means that anything that happened more than thirty-two years ago is remembered by a minority of people today. This applies to any event prior to 1980, so here in 2012, the majority of Americans are too young to remember the Seventies. However, according to census estimation the median will raise in the future, so instead of a 32 years gap between event and the moment when most people can't remember it, the gap becomes 35 years (implying a median of some 40 years).

2013: The Carter presidency Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States from 1977-1981. He lost all popularity after he was viewed as mishandling several crises during his presidency, including the Three Mile Island accident, the Iran hostage crisis, and the "stagflation" of the late 1970s. According to Wikipedia, his decisions to reinstate registration for the draft and his decision to boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (over the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) helped contribute to his defeat in the 1980 Presidential campaign.

2014: The Reagan shooting References the 1981 assassination attempt on the then American president, Ronald Reagan.

2015: The Falkland Islands War This is in reference to the brief outbreak of hostilities between the UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) located off the shore of Argentina claimed by both but controlled by the UK. Even to this date, tensions remain high over the ownership of these islands, and while many people alive today weren't alive to witness it, it nevertheless remains present in the collective psyche of both nations.

2016: Return of the Jedi release Return of the Jedi was the 3rd film in the original Star Wars trilogy, released in 1983.

2017: The first Apple Macintosh The Macintosh was a line of computers created by Apple, first introduced in 1984, with the Macintosh 128K.

2018: New Coke References a public relations blunder that the Coca-Cola corporation undertook in attempting to reformulate its cola recipe, the new formula called New Coke popularly. The public backlash so shook the company that they reintroduced the original recipe as Coca-Cola Classic within 3 months. New Coke was eventually rebranded from Coca-Cola to Coke II, and then discontinued. Coca-Cola Classic has quietly been rebranded back to simply Coca-Cola, as it originally was. The "New Coke" introduction is considered one of the biggest PR blunders from a major company ever.

2019: Challenger The Challenger was a Space Shuttle orbiter, which was launched in 1986, but exploded 72 seconds into its flight, killing everyone aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher selected to be the first teacher in space.

2020: Chernobyl Refers to the 1986 meltdown of a nuclear power plant in the Ukranian SSR (then a part of the Soviet Union). The meltdown forced the nearby city of Pripyat to be abandoned, and it remains a ghost town today.

2021: Black Monday Refers to the 1987 day of the largest one-day stock market drop in history.

2022: The Reagan presidency Ronald Reagan was an American president from 1981 to 1989, and was a generally well received president known for ending the Cold War, oversaw the Iran–Contra affair, invading Grenada, and issuing forth a number of new economic policies.

2023: The Berlin Wall Refers to the barrier surrounding the Anglo-French-controlled part of Berlin. It was erected by the East German Government in 1961 to stop illegal emigration to West Berlin (an enclave of West Germany) after the end of the Second World War. After a friendly revolution in 1989, emigration to West Berlin (and West Germany in general) was granted suddenly and very surprisingly again on November 9, 1989. The following rush of people to the Wall from East (to cross the border) and from West (to welcome friends and relatives) in that night coined the figurative "Fall of the Wall", preceding the actual reunion of Germany in 1990 and (almost) complete demolition of the Wall.

2024: HammerTime Refers to a refrain in MC Hammer's 1990 hit song U Can't Touch This; Randall Munroe makes reference to this song elsewhere in his comics, too (specifically 108: M.C. Hammer Slide and 210: 90's Flowchart).

2025: The Soviet Union Refers to a country emerging after the end of World War I. It became the cold-war adversary of the United States after the end of World War II and only collapsed in 1991.

2026: The LA Riots Refers to the massive riots occurring at the release of the verdict acquitting the officers accused of the Rodney King beatings in 1992.

2027: Lorena Bobbit Refers to the woman who emasculated her husband in 1993.

2028: The Forrest Gump release Forrest Gump was a 1994 drama starring Tom Hanks as a mentally disabled man, telling his spectacular life story. The movie had a highly successful release, and some consider it one of the greatest films of all time.

2029: The Rwanda Genocide Refers to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

2030: OJ Simpson's Trial The O.J. Simpson trial was a famous criminal case during which O.J. Simpson, a professional football player, was acquitted of the murder of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman. He was later arrested and jailed for other crimes, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

2031: Clinton's reelection Bill Clinton was the American president from 1993 to 2001. He won his second term in the 1996 presidential election. During his second term, he faced controversy during an impeachment trial, for which he was acquitted, and a large number of pardons he made on his last day of office. Clinton was a generally favoured president, exiting his presidency with a high approval rate.

2032: Princess Diana Princess Diana was a famous Commonwealth princess who made headlines after her 1997 death in a car crash.

2033: Clinton's impeachment In 1998, the American Congress voted to impeach then-president Clinton, based on allegations that he lied about relations with a White House intern. He was later acquitted.

2034: Columbine Refers to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, where 13 people were killed by a pair of shooters.

2035: Forgot About Dre Refers to the Grammy winning 2000 song, "Forgot About Dre," by the rapper Dr. Dre. In it, Dre complains that his accomplishments have been purposefully ignored and forgotten; ironically, at some point in the future Dre's complaints about being forgotten will, themselves, be forgotten.

2036: 9/11 Refers to the September 11 attacks in 2001, where terrorists crashed two planes into the World Trade Center towers, in New York City. Two other planes crashed that day: one into the The Pentagon, and one in a field outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania (presumably on its way to crashing into the Capitol Building).

2037: VH1's I love the 80s I Love the '80s was a 2002 nostalgia TV series by VH1. This will make the 1980s doubly forgotten; not only will people not remember the decade, they will not remember the famous retrospective of people remembering the decade.

2038: A time before Facebook Refers to the online social media site, Facebook, launched in 2004.

2039: VH1's I love the 90s I Love the '90s was a TV series airing in 2004.

2040: Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a devastating 2005 hurricane that hit New Orleans, killing almost 2000 people and causing 81 billion dollars in damage.

2041: The planet Pluto Pluto is a dwarf planet in our solar system. Up until 2006, Pluto was considered to be a planet.

2042: The first iPhone Apple's first iPhone was released in 2007.

2043: The Bush presidency George W. Bush was the American president from 2001 to 2009. He was criticized for the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, poor handling of Hurricane Katrina, and seeing the United States enter a recession. His approval peaked after the 9/11 attacks, but had fallen to historical lows by the end of his second term, making him one of the least liked US presidents.

2044: Michael Jackson Refers to the pop singer who died of drug overdose in 2009.

2045: Trying to say Eyjafjallajökull Is a reference to a volcano in Iceland that erupted in 2010. The eruption threw volcanic ash several kilometres up in the atmosphere, which led to air travel disruption in northwest Europe for six days.

2046: The Arab Spring Refers to the wave of revolutions that began in late 2010, where many Arabic nations overthrew leaders and started civil wars, with many nations converting to democracies.

2047: Anything embarrassing you do today Refers to the fact that in 35 years, the majority of Americans will not have been around on this date. However, it is to be noted that it would have to be something very embarassing for anyone more than people around or friends to notice. Usually, embarassing actions by an individual (non-celebrity) that aren't notable in some way don't end up being noticed, much less on the news.^{[citation needed]}

The title text is in reference to the vastly over-saturated programming on VH1 dedicated to the history of the TV universe.