- 2 days ago
The 1980s are remembered as a fun and iconic decade—but not everything aged well. In this video, we explore 10 Moments From The 80s That Are Disturbing Now, including shocking TV moments, outdated attitudes, controversial ads, and pop culture events that feel uncomfortable by today’s standards.
These moments prove how much society has changed—and how strange the past can look through modern eyes.
🎥 Watch more shocking history and pop culture videos on watchmojo.world.
These moments prove how much society has changed—and how strange the past can look through modern eyes.
🎥 Watch more shocking history and pop culture videos on watchmojo.world.
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NewsTranscript
00:00There were no rules about how long we were allowed to think before we reported a strike.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at jaw-dropping events in the 1980s that are way worse.
00:10There's no way to stop this or contain this.
00:15The preventable Challenger tragedy.
00:17By the mid-80s, shuttle launches felt routine.
00:20The awe of the Apollo 11 moon landing was old news.
00:23Shuttle flights were just background noise.
00:25To reignite national excitement, NASA added a schoolteacher.
00:30Mr. McAuliffe to the Challenger mission.
00:32What are you most excited about?
00:33Seeing the Earth from that perspective.
00:35Of that small planet.
00:37Millions of kids tuned in from their classrooms to watch.
00:40History unfold.
00:41Instead, they watched a preventable disaster.
00:43Engineers had warned for...
00:45About the solid rocket booster O-rings failing in cold weather.
00:48Management pushed the launch anyway.
00:50I sure hope nothing happens tomorrow, but if it does, I'm...
00:55I'm not going to be the person to stand before a board of inquiry and tell them that I gave you...
01:00My approval of the launch, my rocket boosters in an environment that they were never qualified.
01:0573 seconds after liftoff, the shuttle disintegrated live on national...
01:10At the time, it was framed as a tragic accident.
01:13Looking back, it's one of the most...
01:15Disturbing examples of bureaucratic hubris in modern American history.
01:20I would say then that...
01:23No, no, no, no, no.
01:25We'll have to look at the list here.
01:26Rex 84's Secret Femiplan.
01:28Cold War tensions were high...
01:30In the 1980s, and Washington loved itself a doomsday drill.
01:33But if history teaches...
01:35Anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our...
01:40They had multiple every year, but one exercise crossed straight into pure...
01:45Dystopia.
01:45Appropriately, in 1984, the Reagan administration quietly ran a drill...
01:50called Rex 84, a continuity of government plan in case of national emergency.
01:55Sounds boring, right?
01:56Except the fine print included suspending the Constitution and declaring Marshall...
02:00law.
02:00They'd also create military camps to detain up to 400,000 immigrants with...
02:05Hints of domestic dissidents, too.
02:06Nobody outside the Beltway even knew about Rex 84.
02:10Until it surfaced in the Iran-Contra hearings.
02:12Colonel North, in your work at the...
02:15NSC, were you not assigned at one time to work on plans for the...
02:20Continuity of government in the event of a major disaster?
02:23With the Trump administration open...
02:25Frequently, floating mass deportations, and ICE expanding detention, Rex 84 feels...
02:30disturbingly familiar in 2025.
02:32Martial law is the concern we should have over the-
02:35the balance of this administration.
02:37Greenham Commons C&D infiltration.
02:39The anti-nuclear pro-
02:40proliferation movement in the UK for decades was spearheaded by women.
02:44All this activity-
02:45has sent roots deep into the lives of women with no political experience at all.
02:50In the early 80s, thousands camped outside of a US nuclear base in Berkshire.
02:55In common, they sang, chained themselves to fences, and demanded a future without Mushroom Cloud.
03:00I'd managed to get a little mention of the march in conventional women's magazine.
03:05Cosmopolitan, I seem to remember.
03:09And they were-
03:10women who had seen these and-
03:12and jumped at it and thought, yes, this is for me.
03:14To the-
03:15to the public, it looked like a grassroots protest.
03:17Margaret Thatcher's government viewed it as a communist-
03:20threat.
03:21Newly unearthed records reveal that undercover police infiltrated the campaign for-
03:25nuclear disarmament for years.
03:27Copper spied on activists, feeding intel back to the-
03:30state.
03:31At the time, these women were often mocked as eccentrics.
03:34Now we know-
03:35they were also being surveilled like criminals.
03:37I'm very proud of what I did, really.
03:39Something's never-
03:40They're not important to change, as Great Britain remains one of the most robust surveillance
03:43states on Earth.
03:44Andreeve Bay-
03:45radioactive water leak. Everyone remembers Chernobyl, but the 1980s were littered with
03:49other
03:50nuclear accidents and near misses.
03:52You can imagine if there was an issue
03:55and there was a problem with the fuel, it escaped into the radioactivity escape.
04:00When you get into the water systems, you don't have very far to go to make it to the
04:05Gulf and out into the Barents Sea.
04:07Most barely made headlines. California's San Onofre
04:10plant, for example, suffered a leak in the 1980s that most people never heard about.
04:15The Diabe plant, meanwhile, faced protests over safety before it even opened.
04:19But one of the most chilling
04:20took place in Russia's Andreev Bay, a Soviet naval base.
04:23In 1982,
04:25storage tanks holding spent nuclear fuel began leaking radioactive water straight into
04:29the Barents Sea.
04:30Workers tried to patch the holes with everything from lead sheets to frozen fish.
04:35many had no protective gear whatsoever. Thousands were exposed to radiation, and the contamination
04:40of the
04:40is still being cleaned up today.
04:41Today, I want to congratulate all those who have been involved.
04:45in these complicated efforts over many years. They have worked with Forsyth,
04:50and determination, and through their work, they have made this region a safer place.
04:54PFA
04:55PFS
04:56Forever chemicals use and cover-ups. Did you know that non-stick pans have effectively
05:00used in the world? People in the 1980s sure didn't.
05:02And since most foods won't stick to Silverstone,
05:05cleaning up is quick and easy. They were marketing non-stick pans, waterproof jackets,
05:10and stain-proof carpets every day. These products felt like miracles of modern living. Nobody
05:15thought twice about the chemicals making that possible. But behind the scenes, companies like 3M and
05:20DuPont already knew the truth.
05:21I was surprised that people already knew the truth.
05:22I was surprised that people already said that
05:25that couldn't we better not do.
05:27Heel verstandig. They wisten the same.
05:30They were using PFAS, so-called forever chemicals, which don't break down, and actually
05:35build up in the human body. Internal studies link them to cancer, immune disorders, and
05:40reproduction.
05:40But 3M and DuPont buried the findings.
05:43At the bottom of the letter is written
05:45in capital letters, only tell those who have a need to know.
05:50For a while, their products kept flying off the shelves. Consumers were dozing themselves
05:54with toxic chemicals.
05:55That contaminate water supplies to this day.
05:58Damascus Titan missile explosion.
06:00In September 1980, a dropped wrench almost annihilated Arkansas. A maintenance worker
06:05at a Titan II missile silo in Damascus, dropped a socket wrench while making routine repairs.
06:10It fell from level 2.
06:16Probably 70 or 80 feet.
06:18The tool punctured the missile's fuel tank.
06:20unleashing a chain reaction no one could stop.
06:22We literally had to cut a fence, and then...
06:25You know, break through a steel portal door, and a caged-in entry, and go down 35 feet.
06:30to a 6,000-pound blast locked door.
06:32Hours later, the silo exploded.
06:34Somehow...
06:35Instead of detonating, the 9 megaton warhead was hurled out of its housing.
06:39It came to a...
06:40safe rest just outside the silo.
06:42At the time, the story was reported as a strange accident...
06:45in a rural town.
06:46Looking back, it was one of the closest near misses in US history.
06:50Nuclear Armageddon could have started with a Butterfingers movement.
06:53I look back on that, and...
06:55I know I was...
06:57I say lucky, blessed, or both.
07:00The Joe Camel advertising campaign.
07:02It may be hard to imagine in 2025, but cigarette ads...
07:05used to be everywhere.
07:06RJ Reynolds took it a step further.
07:08In 1988, they rolled out...
07:10Joe Camel in the US market.
07:12The character lacked many typical Camel traits, and essentially...
07:15appeared as a muscular human with a camel's head.
07:17He was a cartoon mascot in sunglasses...
07:19who...
07:20looked less like a rugged cowboy, and more like a cool, leather-clad rebel.
07:24To adults...
07:25It was just another ad campaign.
07:26To kids...
07:27It looked like a Saturday morning cartoon hero selling cigarettes.
07:30Studies later showed that by the early 90s, Joe Camel was as recognizable to six-year-olds...
07:35as Mickey Mouse.
07:36With all of this evidence stacking up against them, RJ Reynolds was pressured by...
07:40the public to end the Joe Camel campaign.
07:42At the time, the campaign was hailed as clever marketing.
07:45Looking back, it's remembered as a cynical scheme...
07:47to hook children on nicotine.
07:49Like...
07:50There'll be a 50-year-old guy going,
07:51Hey, I should start smoking!
07:53Savings and Loan Deregulation.
07:55Savings and Loans had once been the picture of stability, safe mortgages, and community trust.
08:00When inflation soared, and the Fed hiked interest rates, their model collapsed.
08:05If we try to beat inflation with borrowed money...
08:10We just make the problem worse.
08:11The Reagan administration promised to unshackle these banks...
08:15the same deregulation as the cure.
08:16Well, this administration's objective will be a healthy, vigorous...
08:20growing economy that provides equal opportunities for all Americans...
08:25No barriers!
08:26They removed regulatory guardrails to let SNL innovate.
08:30Instead, lenders dove headfirst into speculative real estate and junk bonds.
08:35They had no clue what they were doing.
08:37Frauds spread across the sector.
08:38By the late 80s and early 90s...
08:40Nearly a third of SNL had collapsed.
08:43The bailout cost taxpayers over a hundred...
08:45billion dollars.
08:46We will not rest until the cheats and the chiselers and...
08:50the charlatans spend a large chunk of their lives behind the bars.
08:55of a federal prison.
08:56What looked like modernization at the time...
08:58now reads as a dress rehearsal...
09:00for the 2008 financial crisis.
09:02Buyers spread HIV.
09:04For decades...
09:05Buyers was best known for their aspirin.
09:07Their brand was synonymous with relief.
09:09In the 1980s...
09:10the company silently spread untold suffering.
09:13At the time...
09:14Buyers produced a blood...
09:15the clotting factor used by hemophiliacs.
09:16The medicine is called factorate.
09:17It was an injector...
09:20injection medicine.
09:21But their screening process was less than robust.
09:23Meaning that many high-risk donors...
09:25clotting factors contained HIV.
09:27Once the problem was discovered...
09:29Buyers doubled down...
09:30and quietly pulled the tainted product from the US market.
09:33They didn't destroy it...
09:34or ring the alarm bell...
09:35instead...
09:36they sold the stock in Latin America...
09:38Europe...
09:39and Asia.
09:40They figured out a way, Joe...
09:41to make a profit on a product...
09:42that they could not sell in America.
09:44Tens of...
09:45thousands of patients...
09:46many children...
09:47were infected with HIV or hepatitis...
09:49as a result...
09:50it remains one of the most disturbing corporate scandals...
09:53in medical history.
09:54The US government...
09:55allowed it to happen.
09:56The FDA...
09:57allowed this to happen.
09:59Before we continue...
10:00be sure to subscribe to our channel...
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10:15Stanislav Petrov...
10:16saves the world.
10:17On September 26th, 1983...
10:19a single man...
10:20may have saved the entire world.
10:22Soviet early warning systems...
10:23detected what looked like...
10:24five US missiles...
10:25incoming.
10:26The nightmare scenario...
10:27of the Cold War.
10:28By protocol...
10:29Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav...
10:30Petrov...
10:31should have reported it...
10:32as a confirmed strike...
10:33triggering immediate retaliation...
10:35instead...
10:36he hesitated.
10:37My father...
10:38was surprised...
10:39because...
10:40the war...
10:40with one rocket...
10:41it can't work.
10:42Trusting his instincts...
10:43over the machines...
10:44Petrov...
10:45judged it as a false alarm.
10:46He was right.
10:47The missiles...
10:48were nothing but sunlight...
10:49reflecting off...
10:50high altitude clouds.
10:51At the time...
10:52nobody outside...
10:53the Soviet Union...
10:54knew his name.
10:55In this situation...
10:56another...
10:57could be...
10:58automatically...
10:59подтвердить.
11:00PUSK...
11:01и все.
11:02Today...
11:03he's remembered...
11:04as the man...
11:05who may have...
11:06single-handedly...
11:07prevented...
11:08world...
11:09war...
11:10war...
11:11war...
11:12war...
11:13war...
11:14war...
11:15war...
11:16war...
11:17war...
11:18war...
11:19war...
11:20war...
11:21war...
11:23war...
11:24war...
11:25war...
11:26war...
11:27war...
11:28war...
11:29war...
11:05war...
11:063...
11:07all by refusing to push the button.
11:08I knew perfectly well that nobody would...
11:10be able to correct my mistake if i had made one is there an 80s moment that now makes you think
11:15what were we all thinking let us know in the comments below
11:20you
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