What's the first big news story you can remember being concerned about.

[DunderMifflin]

Mine was the Nancy Reagan "Just Say No" thing. I remember being horrified at the thought of my pot smoking dad being some sort of comic book supervillian.

That or something about the evil Soviet Union launching nuclear bombs on us during our sleep.

Cant remember which was first.

 

[SkynJay]

The first major event I remember is the OKC bombing.  It was surreal and as a preteen I was torn between 'awesome' when seeing the fire and horror that I didn't immediately have sympathy.  Then horror when human faces were really put on it.

My first political event came a bit earlier as my dad nervously watched the election results of Bush/Clinton.  Though a union man and a Democrat he was working Rocky Flats at the time and was terrified Clinton would shut it down so of course I was worried too.  (Turns out he was right and it was the best thing to happen to him; one of the clean up companies kept him on and put him through college).

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 Probably the Fall of Saigon. I can remember watching the news with my dad on most nights, and it was an event that he was clearly upset about. Many of the images were pretty freaky and dramatic for an 8 year-old me. Kind of a sobering counterpoint to all the American Military History I had digested up to that point.

[kairparavel]

I was 9 in the summer of 1980.

For me it was Clifford Olson 

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Clifford+Olson+Canada+national+monster+dead/5484826/story.html 

Also, the boxing match between Cleveland Denny and Gaetan Hart. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Denny

[Martell Spy]

The breaking up of the Soviet Union. I was keenly aware the world may be consumed in nuclear war at any time when I was a child, and very little else. So this was huge news, despite me not usually being engaged in news back then.

[peterbound]

I really cared about the 85 bears.  Don't ask me why, but when I close my eyes, it's the first thing that pops into my head when I think about 'big news' and my early years (I was 5). Maybe it was the super bowl shuffle, maybe it was McMahon's sweat band, or maybe it was Sweetness, but that's really the first thing I cared about. 

Weird too, as I don't really consider myself a sports fan. 

[ThinkerX]

1) Mid 1970's - report that two welders *inside* the Trans Alaskan Pipeline were in critical condition after nearly being asphyxiated. (Stoned idiot let fan at end of pipe run out gas.)  One of them was my father.  He survived, but had a bald spot the size of a silver dollar atop his skull from frost bite ever afterwards. (Hair froze to the pipe and was tore out by the roots when the rescue team moved him. They thought he was dead.)

 

2) Power struggle in the Politbureau of the then USSR in the early 1980's.  The old guard was dying off, the USSR was sliding into a unfixable economic mess, and one of the people vying for the top slot (Romanov) was a Stalin wannabe.  WWIII, complete with nukes, looked real possible for a while there. 

[Astromech]

As far as being concerned, the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh in 1981. It was one of those frightening stories that made national headlines. Even scarier for kids around the same age as Adam. When I reflect on the 80's, that event always comes to mind.

[lacuna]

The ozone layer disappearing was a big issue in the early 90s, as I recall. All the harmful UV rays would turn us all into mutants or something.

[Stubby]

A guard on the Berlin Wall got shot by the other side some time in the 80's.

As a youngun at the time it sounded important when I heard it on the wireless and I remember telling mum and she said "well, if it all happens it all happens".

[Gertrude]

1 hour ago, Astromech said:

As far as being concerned, the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh in 1981. It was one of those frightening stories that made national headlines. Even scarier for kids around the same age as Adam. When I reflect on the 80's, that event always comes to mind.

For me it was Johnny Gosch. He was just older than me and it happened in Iowa, so it hit close to home and I thought about it a lot. I don't actually know if it was as big nationally as it was locally, but I remember his face on the milk carton. He was never found, so there were images of him around pretty consistently for a long time.

What I don't remember is how or if my parents talked with me about it. I don't recall any more restrictions placed on me, but us kids always ran around in packs so maybe they felt that was enough? I don't remember being afraid because of it, just sad and wanting a happy ending.

[Jo498]

1977 terrorist abduction of German industrialist Schleyer and especially the parallel highjacking of the German plane by Palestinian terrorists. The fiancée of the son of a former co-worker of my mom was on that plane... I was 5 and had not quite realised that that plane had been abducted to in Africa. For a while I thought it was in Frankfurt because this was the closest and biggest airport I knew of. I was also shaky on the distinction between "tourists" and "terrorists"...

[Buckwheat]

I vaguely remember there was talk about the war on Balkan in the mid-nineties, but I cannot remember being concerned about it. It was still "far away" for me, I realised much later how close it really was and how bad it was.

[Cato.the.Elder]

I think it was the fall of the Berlin Wall, when I was 12. Before that I had follow the news about Gorvachov and the end of the Cold War (I had grown with a huge fear about a nuclear war and seeing the end of the world), but my memory about that is much more thin.

[Hereward]

The 1972 miners' strike. I remember my father telling me there was going to be a revolution, which didn't sound like much fun. Although on the up side, I also remember playing Escape From Colditz during the power cuts, with my Dad sitting on a revolving chair with a torch, while I crawled along under the dining table.

[Which Tyler]

Falklands War 1982; aged 6.

[Xray the Enforcer]

The California drought of 1976-1977, followed by the Iran hostage crisis and Ronnie Raygun's presidential run.

[drawkcabi]

In the 1980 election I remember being concerned that Carter would lose and not be President any longer.

I remember being terrified of volcanoes after Mt. St. Helens erupted (yet only a year or so  later my parents took me up a rumbling Mt. Etna in Sicily and it didn't bother me too much).

Not a specific news story but I remember being very scared a nuclear war would start any day.

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Hm I remember watching reports about 9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq on the news, but I was too young at the time to understand them really. However I definitely remember being worried about the 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

(This thread makes me acutely aware of how much younger I am than the average board member age haha)

[Xray the Enforcer]

6 hours ago, peterbound said:

I really cared about the 85 bears.  Don't ask me why, but when I close my eyes, it's the first thing that pops into my head when I think about 'big news' and my early years (I was 5). Maybe it was the super bowl shuffle, maybe it was McMahon's sweat band, or maybe it was Sweetness, but that's really the first thing I cared about. 

Weird too, as I don't really consider myself a sports fan. 

This is the best post.