“But I know damn well that I wasn’t anywhere near East Asia when Tienanmen Square happened.”
Really great point. You’d be worried about ripple effects - flights cancelled, it would be on the local news all the time, etc.
Maybe like being in California during a major quake. If you were there when it happened for sure you would remember it. Hmm - if you were in California after the quake and they were still cleaning things up and things were disrupted you would remember it too. But you wouldn’t say “I was there when it happened.”