2014: The Year in Garbage
December 17, 2014 9:08 AM Subscribe
THIS YEAR STUNK. It’s possible all years are this bad, but we don’t think so. 2014 was simply a trashpile of world events and sewer people. The slop started piling up at the start and never slowed down. It reeks in here. Did anything good even happen? We can’t say with certainty.
Because my editors hate me…they asked me to remember what happened in 2014 – as I experienced it on CNN.
posted by RogerB at 9:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by RogerB at 9:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
I thought this might just be outragefilter but it is actually very cathartic.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
I literally had this in another tab ready to post.
This year was bad and we should feel bad.
posted by The Whelk at 9:15 AM on December 17, 2014 [15 favorites]
This year was bad and we should feel bad.
posted by The Whelk at 9:15 AM on December 17, 2014 [15 favorites]
Also I am now very interested in the NHL mumps outbreak.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:15 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:15 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Let's not forget that we are now literally using humans to experiment with deadly pharmaceuticals.
posted by likeatoaster at 9:17 AM on December 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by likeatoaster at 9:17 AM on December 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
I'm rollin' coal all over this crap year.
posted by naju at 9:19 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by naju at 9:19 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
The part where everyone wallows in the impotence of a comment section after a major event.
posted by Taft at 9:22 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Taft at 9:22 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
Ironically, I feel like personal shittiness in my life this year distracted me from the 24 hour news cycle, so in retrospect this year doesn't seem too bad to me. Like, on one hand, fuck cancer, but at least I wasn't obsessively following the Israel-Hamas conflict!
posted by muddgirl at 9:23 AM on December 17, 2014 [22 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 9:23 AM on December 17, 2014 [22 favorites]
Also I am now very interested in the NHL mumps outbreak.
ESPN has a pretty good rundown. It includes mump facts, players, and tracing the timing of the outbreak.
posted by barchan at 9:24 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
ESPN has a pretty good rundown. It includes mump facts, players, and tracing the timing of the outbreak.
posted by barchan at 9:24 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Yeah. I've been thinking this a lot lately. Just one bad news cycle after another.
Feels like the massacre threat that forced Anita Sarkeesian to shut down a planned appearance deserves a spot, too, if only to punctuate just how bad the *gate bullshit got. But in a year this shitty, I feel like it's kinda hard to keep track of everything, y'know? There's plainly some shitty stuff we're all forgetting because it's buried underneath all the other shit.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:26 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Feels like the massacre threat that forced Anita Sarkeesian to shut down a planned appearance deserves a spot, too, if only to punctuate just how bad the *gate bullshit got. But in a year this shitty, I feel like it's kinda hard to keep track of everything, y'know? There's plainly some shitty stuff we're all forgetting because it's buried underneath all the other shit.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:26 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Also: awful news, all year long.
Yet a really good year for me personally.
I'm glad for the personal goodness, but I keep lookin' at the rest of the world and...I just don't know.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Yet a really good year for me personally.
I'm glad for the personal goodness, but I keep lookin' at the rest of the world and...I just don't know.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
The mumps outbreak possibly beginning with the Blues is one more in the column of Missouri being ultimately responsible for all of these.
posted by almostmanda at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by almostmanda at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
on the other hand we now have a planet that is populated entirely by robots and that feels pretty neat.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:29 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:29 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
The bright spot this year was the ongoing gay marriage legalization. It's not as many victories as we would like but it's a big one.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:29 AM on December 17, 2014 [29 favorites]
posted by triggerfinger at 9:29 AM on December 17, 2014 [29 favorites]
Oh god, the illustration for "vape." And Sherlock Blitzer.
posted by uncleozzy at 9:32 AM on December 17, 2014
posted by uncleozzy at 9:32 AM on December 17, 2014
Let's just put every bad thing in this year in a big pile and dance around it, moaning.
Then we say it was all a goat's fault and then we chase the goat out of town.
posted by The Whelk at 9:34 AM on December 17, 2014 [39 favorites]
Then we say it was all a goat's fault and then we chase the goat out of town.
posted by The Whelk at 9:34 AM on December 17, 2014 [39 favorites]
Everyone keeps saying how 2014 sucked and they can't wait for it to be over and all I can think is that the Earth doesn't cross some imaginary first down line on January 1st. There's no reason the shitiness can't keep continuing.
Maybe humans will just try a little harder to be better once 2015 gets here, I dunno. Here's hoping.
posted by bondcliff at 9:37 AM on December 17, 2014 [6 favorites]
Maybe humans will just try a little harder to be better once 2015 gets here, I dunno. Here's hoping.
posted by bondcliff at 9:37 AM on December 17, 2014 [6 favorites]
The Year Laughter Died! The Year the Existence of Diversity and Representation Was Still Somehow an Issue! The Year Privacy Disappeared! The Year People Were Like, "Ugh, Crowdsourcing"!
posted by psoas at 9:37 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by psoas at 9:37 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
Everyone keeps saying how 2014 sucked and they can't wait for it to be over and all I can think is that the Earth doesn't cross some imaginary first down line on January 1st. There's no reason the shitiness can't keep continuing.
We draw these imaginary lines so we can give ourselves the intellectual permission to clear our slates and look at the world anew. It's a sanity-saving measure.
posted by psoas at 9:38 AM on December 17, 2014 [72 favorites]
We draw these imaginary lines so we can give ourselves the intellectual permission to clear our slates and look at the world anew. It's a sanity-saving measure.
posted by psoas at 9:38 AM on December 17, 2014 [72 favorites]
Well, mt father died. So I'm pretty much done with 2014.
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:40 AM on December 17, 2014
posted by Nanukthedog at 9:40 AM on December 17, 2014
Everyone keeps saying how 2014 sucked and they can't wait for it to be over and all I can think is that the Earth doesn't cross some imaginary first down line on January 1st.
No, you see, we put Old Man Time in a giant wicker man over Times Square and set it on fire to start 2015 anew. I'm just sad Dick Clark isn't hosting Dick Clark's Rockin' Blood Sacrifice anymore.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:41 AM on December 17, 2014 [20 favorites]
No, you see, we put Old Man Time in a giant wicker man over Times Square and set it on fire to start 2015 anew. I'm just sad Dick Clark isn't hosting Dick Clark's Rockin' Blood Sacrifice anymore.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 9:41 AM on December 17, 2014 [20 favorites]
NEW YEARS SACRIFICIAL EVE
posted by The Whelk at 9:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
For those of us on the Lunar Calendar, we still have to wait until February 19th to cleanse our shitty year, but at least we get some cash out of it!
Speaking of which, I'll add the shitty way HK pro-democratic protesters were treated by their own police and the Chinese government to the garbage pile.
posted by FJT at 9:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
Speaking of which, I'll add the shitty way HK pro-democratic protesters were treated by their own police and the Chinese government to the garbage pile.
posted by FJT at 9:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
It seems mean to put the wicker bee helmet on the goat and pour bees in it, but this year was rough enough that I'm willing to try it.
posted by almostmanda at 9:49 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by almostmanda at 9:49 AM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
This wasn't a bad year because of earthquakes or drought or a corn blight. This was almost entirely a bad year because people were such monsters. Especially Americans - though God knows pretty much everyone else was just as bad.
It's not like that changes on January 1. Even if we torture a goat. In fact torturing a goat for our sins would be pretty much in keeping with Americans of 2014 and a great start to a new year of more of the same.
posted by Naberius at 9:49 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
It's not like that changes on January 1. Even if we torture a goat. In fact torturing a goat for our sins would be pretty much in keeping with Americans of 2014 and a great start to a new year of more of the same.
posted by Naberius at 9:49 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
Black-eyed peas for everyone on January 1! It's our last, best hope for a better 2015.
posted by asperity at 9:53 AM on December 17, 2014 [6 favorites]
posted by asperity at 9:53 AM on December 17, 2014 [6 favorites]
Seriously, was 2013 even close to this bad? I feel like some bad stuff happened that year, but have forgotten it after all this new shit. And is 2015 going to be just one continuous catastrophe? We should think about calling it off.
posted by demonic winged headgear at 9:54 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by demonic winged headgear at 9:54 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Entire human race given some tea, cookies, and a blanket; told to just "wait this out"
posted by The Whelk at 9:56 AM on December 17, 2014 [25 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 9:56 AM on December 17, 2014 [25 favorites]
I used to have a theory that even years were better. (Based on American political theatre sucking all the air out of the room)
December's goings-on alone on friends, family and strangers has disproven this theory. Or, we need to re-align the year. Like a leapmonth.
posted by DigDoug at 10:00 AM on December 17, 2014
December's goings-on alone on friends, family and strangers has disproven this theory. Or, we need to re-align the year. Like a leapmonth.
posted by DigDoug at 10:00 AM on December 17, 2014
If only there was someone to put us all in time out till we learn how to behave better.
posted by emjaybee at 10:01 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 10:01 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
Seems thorough, but I even feel like this forgot some really key stuff. For example: Elliot Rodger and the rise of MRAs as hate group? That was a shining gem on the pile of gems, surely.
posted by naju at 10:04 AM on December 17, 2014 [16 favorites]
posted by naju at 10:04 AM on December 17, 2014 [16 favorites]
2015 has to be better cause we'll have an excuse to dress like Back To The Future extras.
posted by The Whelk at 10:04 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:04 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
Malaysia also had a pretty terrible year but it only got referred to as a sort of throwaway jab at the uselessness of CNN.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:07 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by poffin boffin at 10:07 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Just think about Joffrey and remember the bright side...
posted by Navelgazer at 10:07 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 10:07 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
2014 was mixed bag.
• On the good side, the courts were hard at work slapping-down gay marriage restrictions nationwide.
• On the bad side, there was a distinct resurgence in the more aggressive/insane side of conservatism, culminating in the R's taking the Senate and growing their numbers in the House. Oh, and dead black men at the hands of unrestricted police and grand juries being okey-doke with that.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:09 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
• On the good side, the courts were hard at work slapping-down gay marriage restrictions nationwide.
• On the bad side, there was a distinct resurgence in the more aggressive/insane side of conservatism, culminating in the R's taking the Senate and growing their numbers in the House. Oh, and dead black men at the hands of unrestricted police and grand juries being okey-doke with that.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:09 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I can only hope that one year or another I'll get to the end of December without wanting to play This Year on endless repeat.
posted by ckape at 10:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by ckape at 10:14 AM on December 17, 2014 [5 favorites]
On the upside, it gave him an opportunity to vent and all, and who doesn't enjoy that?
posted by IndigoJones at 10:18 AM on December 17, 2014
posted by IndigoJones at 10:18 AM on December 17, 2014
At the last minute in this much less than meh year, the US established diplomatic relations with Cuba, Pakistan and Afghanistan seem to be organizing a joint ass kicking for the Taliban just in time for the Solstice. Malala a resilient, Pakistani, woman, picked up a peace prize making her a strong example for what good people accomplish when education enables a broader view, her astonishing bravery speaks so succintly to familial support, and honors her country. The world got together and worked on global warming, Americans of every color and belief began to reshape what we as a people demand from law enforcement. The world stood united in its love of cats. Hey, they came up with a great Pope, I didn't see that comin'! I can't remember, but whoa man, didn't they legalize weed in some places? California outlawed single use plastic bags. LGBT people now have a shot at something straight people have experienced for so long, the contorted misery that marriage can be. Then with new advances in random observation of US populations at large, you will never be lost again. Just call the data center they can tell you where you are, what's in your wallet and your scan results. The sky is still blue at times though we only have a couple of years left of that, so for now its all good. The whole world didn't blow up yet, people are still shopping, tbose that enjoy existential angst are getting that in triple measure this year, not everybody is suffering in this social climate. Amazingly someone in a position of relative power finally mentioned the bad habits encultured, of not enshrined by secrecy and opacity. In this year mindfulness was touted though it seems a suicidal preoccupation. A photograph sold for 6.5 mil, breathing hope into the aspirations of photo artists everywhere. We learned there isn't a war on Christmas, its more a war on "isness." Great music came out of this year, and international sharing of culture and history. In wonderful farce the president of Turkey declared women "delicate," and claimed Turks discovered America, ultimately we will shake off the concept of discovery, in fact we will have matured as a species when we can look at our wrongdoings, properly understand them, and then do better.
It is my take we are not nearly happy enough, all things given, all things worked for, but really there are only so many puppy threads I can generate an interest in, before I grow supicious I'm being anesthetized.
posted by Oyéah at 10:19 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
It is my take we are not nearly happy enough, all things given, all things worked for, but really there are only so many puppy threads I can generate an interest in, before I grow supicious I'm being anesthetized.
posted by Oyéah at 10:19 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
There's always the Economist's droll take: "Even with the best will in the world—which, in 2014, has not been conspicuously forthcoming—the outgoing year could not be regarded as one of the planet’s finest."
posted by blucevalo at 10:23 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by blucevalo at 10:23 AM on December 17, 2014 [7 favorites]
We landed on a comet — cool — but then a trash heap in a bad shirt had to ruin it
That's so unfair. When someone sewed me a crappy suitcoat or knit me a sloppy sweater, I wore it. And I'd wear a Matt Taylor t-shirt any day.
At any rate, it behooves us to "be the change". When you point a finger, three point right back at you.
posted by Twang at 10:32 AM on December 17, 2014
That's so unfair. When someone sewed me a crappy suitcoat or knit me a sloppy sweater, I wore it. And I'd wear a Matt Taylor t-shirt any day.
At any rate, it behooves us to "be the change". When you point a finger, three point right back at you.
posted by Twang at 10:32 AM on December 17, 2014
THIS YEAR SUCKED if your sole window to the world is mass media and your boundaries are so poor that that world at large is your major touchstone for a meaningful emotional experience. Otherwise it may or may not have sucked, largely colored by your personal experiences.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2014 [9 favorites]
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:35 AM on December 17, 2014 [9 favorites]
When you point a finger, three point right back at you.
YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I POINT!
posted by Navelgazer at 10:39 AM on December 17, 2014 [10 favorites]
YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I POINT!
posted by Navelgazer at 10:39 AM on December 17, 2014 [10 favorites]
THIS YEAR SUCKED if your sole window to the world is mass media and your boundaries are so poor that that world at large is your major touchstone for a meaningful emotional experience. Otherwise it may or may not have sucked, largely colored by your personal experiences.
Or, this year sucked because you don't see the experience of your life as an island totally isolated from what happens to other people?
posted by superfluousm at 10:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [22 favorites]
Or, this year sucked because you don't see the experience of your life as an island totally isolated from what happens to other people?
posted by superfluousm at 10:44 AM on December 17, 2014 [22 favorites]
When someone sewed me a crappy suitcoat or knit me a sloppy sweater, I wore it.
Who is knitting you sloppy sweaters covered with enormous cartoon breasts that objectify women and demoralize your female coworkers?
posted by poffin boffin at 10:46 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
Who is knitting you sloppy sweaters covered with enormous cartoon breasts that objectify women and demoralize your female coworkers?
posted by poffin boffin at 10:46 AM on December 17, 2014 [12 favorites]
While reading TFA, I had a sudden, overwhelming wave for nostalgia for Suck.com and Terry Colon. :|
/derail
posted by droplet at 11:06 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
/derail
posted by droplet at 11:06 AM on December 17, 2014 [8 favorites]
It's surely true that one can find good developments: we landed a probe on a comet, gay marriage is on a steady roll toward success...and for a lot of the really shitty things (police racism) the fact that it has become such a fight is a good thing. Bill Cosby may be an awful human being who should by rights have spent the last 30 years in jail, and it's terrible that we've come to that realization so late in the game...but better late than never.
And it's awful, truly awful, that the US engaged in so much torture. (Or any torture at all.) But it's a damn good thing that the report got out, at least.
So, yeah. There are good things to be found.
Still feels like a pretty shitty year on the national & world stage.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:09 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
And it's awful, truly awful, that the US engaged in so much torture. (Or any torture at all.) But it's a damn good thing that the report got out, at least.
So, yeah. There are good things to be found.
Still feels like a pretty shitty year on the national & world stage.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:09 AM on December 17, 2014 [4 favorites]
Also: awful news, all year long.
Yet a really good year for me personally.
posted by scaryblackdeath
Eponysterical.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 11:18 AM on December 17, 2014 [14 favorites]
Yet a really good year for me personally.
posted by scaryblackdeath
Eponysterical.
posted by Bentobox Humperdinck at 11:18 AM on December 17, 2014 [14 favorites]
Yeah, this year rocked in that I moved away from Quebec to a city I really quite like, but I also lost a friend to cancer which really hurt.
In conclusion: 2014 was a land of contrasts.
posted by Kitteh at 11:40 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
In conclusion: 2014 was a land of contrasts.
posted by Kitteh at 11:40 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
One good thing that is evident from this article, apparently we stopped using "trash" to mean "people living in poverty" in 2014. So that's kinda neat.
posted by capricorn at 11:42 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by capricorn at 11:42 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
Good grief, this is miserable. I'm off to find a more hopeful thread on Metafil...
posted by Wordshore at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 11:50 AM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
The Year Laughter Died! The Year the Existence of Diversity and Representation Was Still Somehow an Issue! The Year Privacy Disappeared! The Year People Were Like, "Ugh, Crowdsourcing"!
This is the first I've heard of the Breaking Bad "sequel" Kickstarter buried in this link. I can't tell if the guy doing the pitch is high or I am.
posted by Dr-Baa at 11:51 AM on December 17, 2014
This is the first I've heard of the Breaking Bad "sequel" Kickstarter buried in this link. I can't tell if the guy doing the pitch is high or I am.
posted by Dr-Baa at 11:51 AM on December 17, 2014
This was weirdly cathartic to read, but it definitely reminded me that aside from the shitpile that is the actual events themselves, the media shoveled its own layer of inescapable, vile putrescence over everything. I have disliked the mainstream media since middle school. Even as a child, I could tell that, with a few exceptions, the news was just there to blare a constant stream of FEAR FEAR FEAR BUY STUFF BUY STUFF BUY STUFF, and I hated it. I still hate it. And I hated it especially this year, when just about everything the mainstream media said about Ferguson and police brutality and race seemed like the most base cowardice, a willful turning away from the realities of America's past and present. The way the media functions in this country right now is bad for us. It's bad for the world.
posted by yasaman at 12:01 PM on December 17, 2014 [10 favorites]
posted by yasaman at 12:01 PM on December 17, 2014 [10 favorites]
If you are looking for something positive, nice people, people who are content, then here's a nudge to the video in this thread.
posted by Wordshore at 12:53 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by Wordshore at 12:53 PM on December 17, 2014
I turned 51 this year. So Viet Nam, Nixon, Watergate, oil embargo, three mile island (i lived nearby), Reagan, etc. etc. 9/11, the Bush years etc etc -- but 2014 is the year I got cancer, so yeah, it sucked.
The plus side, for me is that I have great supportive friends and family and great doctors, so as of today I am cancer free.
It would be easy for me to ignore the bigger issues of the day and wallow or rejoice in my own successes and failures, but the reality is that I have a son and he will inherit this world and it is my responsibility to give him the tools to do so.
I could write a litany on 'what's wrong with the world today', but this or any laundry list of this past year's news events will make that crystal clear.
So I go to work, just as I've done throughout the year, trying my best to make a difference; I volunteer as a tutor, coach and mentor at my son's school; I participate in my community, as a business owner, role model, customer, citizen, voter. I rail against injustice, support charities, run 5k's for research and awareness.
I want better leaders for my state, my country, the world; i want economic disparity to come to an end; i want institutionalized racism to be stamped out and more action on CO2.
2015 can only be better, if each of us acts as we can to achieve the world we want. it seem hopeless at times, but i think about the world a hundred years ago, in the midst of WWI and before antibiotics and I feel like change can happen as it has many times before. I wanna live to see it.
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
The plus side, for me is that I have great supportive friends and family and great doctors, so as of today I am cancer free.
It would be easy for me to ignore the bigger issues of the day and wallow or rejoice in my own successes and failures, but the reality is that I have a son and he will inherit this world and it is my responsibility to give him the tools to do so.
I could write a litany on 'what's wrong with the world today', but this or any laundry list of this past year's news events will make that crystal clear.
So I go to work, just as I've done throughout the year, trying my best to make a difference; I volunteer as a tutor, coach and mentor at my son's school; I participate in my community, as a business owner, role model, customer, citizen, voter. I rail against injustice, support charities, run 5k's for research and awareness.
I want better leaders for my state, my country, the world; i want economic disparity to come to an end; i want institutionalized racism to be stamped out and more action on CO2.
2015 can only be better, if each of us acts as we can to achieve the world we want. it seem hopeless at times, but i think about the world a hundred years ago, in the midst of WWI and before antibiotics and I feel like change can happen as it has many times before. I wanna live to see it.
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:11 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
I am firmly on record that this year has been a flaming pile of garbage. Though to be honest that could describe a great many years of human history. On the other hand. Kerbal Space Program hit beta this week. So it's mixed?
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:12 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 1:12 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
It was a good year because it was such a bad year
That this year could only be better
-- Scrawl, "11:59 It's January"
posted by whuppy at 1:13 PM on December 17, 2014
That this year could only be better
-- Scrawl, "11:59 It's January"
posted by whuppy at 1:13 PM on December 17, 2014
I can't remember the last year that didn't end with a "thank god THAT's over." But 2014 has seemed especially garbagey, worse than the Dreaded Laramie. Just relentlessly full of terrible things.
posted by edheil at 1:21 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by edheil at 1:21 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
for a lot of the really shitty things (police racism) the fact that it has become such a fight is a good thing
This. This is not the year police started getting away with murder in the U.S. Hopefully we'll look back someday and say 8/9/14 was the day the U.S. and the world's eyes were opened to it.
(But yeah this year sucked the big one).
posted by sallybrown at 1:24 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
This. This is not the year police started getting away with murder in the U.S. Hopefully we'll look back someday and say 8/9/14 was the day the U.S. and the world's eyes were opened to it.
(But yeah this year sucked the big one).
posted by sallybrown at 1:24 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
2010 also sucked. So did 2011. I don't remember if 2012 and 2013 were that bad. But really, bad stuff happens every year, and so does good stuff. We're making a lot of progress on a lot of stuff. Progress just comes slowly and with a lot of kicking and screaming. 2014 was a pretty good year for me personally, perhaps my best ever year. So that's something.
posted by bleep at 1:55 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by bleep at 1:55 PM on December 17, 2014
And as if to cock a snoot at Mr Downer here, the US and Cuba today announce a regularization of diplomatic relations.
Made my day.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:10 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Made my day.
posted by IndigoJones at 2:10 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Well, Sept. 20th my aunt died, Sept. 29th my father died, and then Oct. 20th my uncle died. All 3 siblings gone in the space of one month. Then my father's cat died a few weeks later. I can't even express how badly I want to see the back of 2014.
posted by gudrun at 2:38 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by gudrun at 2:38 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
What struck me about this year is that many of the "worst news" involved things that have been going on for years, if not decades, but this was the year they came out in the open. I can't say this was the year we began to hope to fix all these bad things, because that requires a lot more introspection by a lot more people than we've accomplished so far, and it's going to hurt badly and make for a few more bad years before we can truly turn things around... if we ever really want to. Maybe the worst thing about 2014 is realizing how LITTLE different it is from "the bad old days".
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:45 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:45 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
For me, 2014 was a year of making major, gutwrenching decisions. They were 100% the right decisions to make, though, so all the pain and suffering ended up being worth it. I can't say as much for the outside world; on a macro level, humanity continues to find new ways to be awful. This graphic didn't even include the Pakistan tragedy, which has to be the #1 most awful thing humans have done to other humans this year.
posted by desjardins at 3:04 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by desjardins at 3:04 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
The question in my mind is are things really getting worse and worse, as they appear to be, or were they always this shitty and we're only hearing about more and more of it? All I know for sure is that my life and the lives of a great many people I know or am only Internet acquaintances with seem to have fallen apart in the last year or two. The new normal can bite me.
Meanwhile, still nothing on that asteroid.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:31 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Meanwhile, still nothing on that asteroid.
posted by ob1quixote at 3:31 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
I've had some bad years. I've also had some pretty good years.
This was definitely a bad year. And it was the first bad year where not only was i having a bad year, but the news/social media feed/etc was just constantly on about some terrible thing happening in the world at large.
I think what really made this a truly garbage year was that in both categories, bad things stacked. There was never just one shitty thing going on that people were rightfully outraged about, or one shitty thing going on in my life.
So yea, i know there's probably some "maybe take a step away?" thing here, but the internet is usually what i do to unwind if i'm not just reading or watching something or working on some project, or don't really have the energy for the more productive stuff. And it really does seem like an abnormally shit year when you get home from dealing with the aftermath of getting in a car totaling accident, find out your partners mom might very suddenly only have a month left to live out of nowhere, and then open up the computron and see something to the effect of "really terrible shit is happening right outside your door! [more inside]"
I know the new year itself is just an arbitrary, and in many contexts meaningless divider... but if that's the case, then why did shit seem so easy in 2013? Only one particularly interesting thing happened for me that year, but nothing all that bad went down either. And i swear, i wasn't reading about some new horribly fucked thing online every week. It's not like i started seeking it out either, it's just there.
Guess i didn't feel like killing myself this year though, so that's an improvement. Kind of amazing too, all things considered. Go me i guess?
posted by emptythought at 3:39 PM on December 17, 2014
This was definitely a bad year. And it was the first bad year where not only was i having a bad year, but the news/social media feed/etc was just constantly on about some terrible thing happening in the world at large.
I think what really made this a truly garbage year was that in both categories, bad things stacked. There was never just one shitty thing going on that people were rightfully outraged about, or one shitty thing going on in my life.
So yea, i know there's probably some "maybe take a step away?" thing here, but the internet is usually what i do to unwind if i'm not just reading or watching something or working on some project, or don't really have the energy for the more productive stuff. And it really does seem like an abnormally shit year when you get home from dealing with the aftermath of getting in a car totaling accident, find out your partners mom might very suddenly only have a month left to live out of nowhere, and then open up the computron and see something to the effect of "really terrible shit is happening right outside your door! [more inside]"
I know the new year itself is just an arbitrary, and in many contexts meaningless divider... but if that's the case, then why did shit seem so easy in 2013? Only one particularly interesting thing happened for me that year, but nothing all that bad went down either. And i swear, i wasn't reading about some new horribly fucked thing online every week. It's not like i started seeking it out either, it's just there.
Guess i didn't feel like killing myself this year though, so that's an improvement. Kind of amazing too, all things considered. Go me i guess?
posted by emptythought at 3:39 PM on December 17, 2014
This year has been a huge roller coaster for me. Started into January with "maybe your kid has glaucoma and BTW what health insurance?" ...annnnnnd it's steamed right on through gall bladder surgery, a second round of skin cancer, and now I have freaking pneumonia. (We did eventually have insurance, and that's a big one in the plus column for 2014 that we shouldn't forget: this year, the Affordable Care Act gave some 15 million people access to health care who didn't have it before.)
But it's also the year I sold a novel, a game, and a bunch of short stories, I made some charming friends, I got to start eating gluten again, and I started work on a thing in the sweet spot of pays-well and creatively-fulfilling. So it's hard for me to call it a bad year, exactly.
I do maintain 100% that GamerGate, Ferguson et al are the tectonic ripples of change happening. It's ugly and scary and dangerous to live through but things will be better when the dust settles. I believe this. I truly do.
posted by Andrhia at 3:41 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
But it's also the year I sold a novel, a game, and a bunch of short stories, I made some charming friends, I got to start eating gluten again, and I started work on a thing in the sweet spot of pays-well and creatively-fulfilling. So it's hard for me to call it a bad year, exactly.
I do maintain 100% that GamerGate, Ferguson et al are the tectonic ripples of change happening. It's ugly and scary and dangerous to live through but things will be better when the dust settles. I believe this. I truly do.
posted by Andrhia at 3:41 PM on December 17, 2014 [3 favorites]
In 2014 I realized that 2013 wasn't that bad, 2012 had some good moments, 2011 was just another year, and 2010 was a period in history that I happened to experience live.
posted by Seiten Taisei at 4:08 PM on December 17, 2014
posted by Seiten Taisei at 4:08 PM on December 17, 2014
I'm subtitling 2014 with "12 Funerals and a Wedding" because that's what actually happened.
Maybe when my friend's baby gets released from the hospital on Christmas day I'll feel a brief surge of hope that miracles are still possible... well, this shiny new Pope's pretty much the bee's knees, too.
Nothing particularly awful happened in my own life, I'm just surrounded by people suffering and I can do little to help them except donate money and volunteer, which I did at astronomical rates compared to previous years. My dad would probably remark on the 10% tithing rule -- I don't tithe to a church, but I gave my 10% back to the community nonetheless. So much bad stuff is happening to so many people that I literally can't figure out which awful thing to focus on next, and it's emotionally paralyzing.
Maybe 2014 wasn't the worst year ever, but with two weeks left to go, I'm scared of pre-judging its moribund state.
Here's to an unusually optimistic view of 2015, then! *clinks glasses with MeFites*
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:45 PM on December 17, 2014
Maybe when my friend's baby gets released from the hospital on Christmas day I'll feel a brief surge of hope that miracles are still possible... well, this shiny new Pope's pretty much the bee's knees, too.
Nothing particularly awful happened in my own life, I'm just surrounded by people suffering and I can do little to help them except donate money and volunteer, which I did at astronomical rates compared to previous years. My dad would probably remark on the 10% tithing rule -- I don't tithe to a church, but I gave my 10% back to the community nonetheless. So much bad stuff is happening to so many people that I literally can't figure out which awful thing to focus on next, and it's emotionally paralyzing.
Maybe 2014 wasn't the worst year ever, but with two weeks left to go, I'm scared of pre-judging its moribund state.
Here's to an unusually optimistic view of 2015, then! *clinks glasses with MeFites*
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 4:45 PM on December 17, 2014
Who is knitting you sloppy sweaters covered with enormous cartoon breasts that objectify women and demoralize your female coworkers?
It kinda cheered me up to imagine that like, instead of grandma sending a corny crocheted Christmas sweater every year, she sends a corny crocheted Christmas sweater covered in enormous cartoon breasts every year
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:29 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
It kinda cheered me up to imagine that like, instead of grandma sending a corny crocheted Christmas sweater every year, she sends a corny crocheted Christmas sweater covered in enormous cartoon breasts every year
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:29 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Someone needs to do a "Every Year Is Sucky" parody to the tune of "Every Sperm Is Sacred." Because seriously, every year is horrible and gets worse. Every dang one. I used to want to time travel into the future--now I'd just run back a few decades and hide or something.
I would seriously jump into a portal to another dimension if one opened up in front of me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:20 PM on December 17, 2014
I would seriously jump into a portal to another dimension if one opened up in front of me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:20 PM on December 17, 2014
I have to admit I really hate this trope. It strikes me as, I don't know, the meme-ification of events and processes that have real effects on people's lives. Like, this is the year that police brutality / sectarian violence in Africa / Russian politics / what-the-fuck-ever really mattered, because it was the year in which it apparently was brought to the attention of 22-year-old white American "content creators". Personally I feel really uncomfortable with the way members of the media class (so, probably most people here including myself) ball News Events up into tidy wads and then recycle them as social shorthand the way they would with movies they'd seen, or professional sports.
posted by threeants at 6:36 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by threeants at 6:36 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Slate: 2014 - The Year of Outrage (everything you were angry about on social media).
posted by Wordshore at 9:49 PM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Wordshore at 9:49 PM on December 17, 2014 [2 favorites]
This year, Metafilter unfortunately had to let two mods go due to financial issues, but then bounced back from donations and got properly indexed on Google.
Also, I discovered Metafilter. This has prompted many changes in myself.
I can't say I'm that much happier, but I'm definitely grateful that with all the bad stuff going on, these small things happened.
posted by halifix at 10:36 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, I discovered Metafilter. This has prompted many changes in myself.
I can't say I'm that much happier, but I'm definitely grateful that with all the bad stuff going on, these small things happened.
posted by halifix at 10:36 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
The Islamic State is doing some horrible depravities but horrible depravities go on in sundry regions; you hear so much about "ISIS" - what an ominous name - as advertising for the perpetual war.
Many of these outrages are pure media narrative which must be considered at best as a fiction "based on actual events".
Journalism is very sick these days and it's probably time to start considering quarantine and euthanasia what with these "sponsored content" pathogens appearing.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:49 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
Many of these outrages are pure media narrative which must be considered at best as a fiction "based on actual events".
Journalism is very sick these days and it's probably time to start considering quarantine and euthanasia what with these "sponsored content" pathogens appearing.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 10:49 PM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]
With all this talk of a "garbage year" and a "trashpile of world events and sewer people", I am seriously disappointed this isn't an end of year summary of the crap my garbage sons have been up to.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:03 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:03 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
I read The Art of Communicating this year and the idea that the information we consume affects us as much as the food we eat struck me. So the second half of this year I've been carefully screening what I read and watch. The cumulative effect is that the second half of this year was infinitely better than the first half. I'm just as "informed," but the rage-inducing details aren't part of my mental landscape and I don't spend a lot of time feeling unable to effect change. It's had an incredibly positive effect on my relationships with others, too. I guess I feel that the year itself was neutral.
posted by wendyfairy at 11:15 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by wendyfairy at 11:15 AM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Congratulations, or did the book come with a mini sandbox so you can bury your head?
posted by Oyéah at 3:15 PM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Oyéah at 3:15 PM on December 18, 2014 [1 favorite]
Personally I feel really uncomfortable with the way members of the media class (so, probably most people here including myself) ball News Events up into tidy wads and then recycle them as social shorthand the way they would with movies they'd seen, or professional sports.
How is this different from how international news has always existed since the beginning of time? When the terrible events are about those people in some other place, it becomes naturally easier to be flippant about it.
The difference is now after the factoids wrap-up, we have the means to instanteously figure out how to donate aid to the people suffering from those events.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:01 PM on December 18, 2014
How is this different from how international news has always existed since the beginning of time? When the terrible events are about those people in some other place, it becomes naturally easier to be flippant about it.
The difference is now after the factoids wrap-up, we have the means to instanteously figure out how to donate aid to the people suffering from those events.
posted by Apocryphon at 5:01 PM on December 18, 2014
If I were trying to be optimistic, I'd focus on the "a year where the fucked up bullshit that's been going on forever finally gets talked about" aspect of this year, and succumb to the fallacy that history is somehow cyclical rather than just a long slow running down toward oblivion, and hope that in some way 2014 is 1964, and that therefore 2017 and 2018 are going to be really really fun and weird.
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:32 PM on December 18, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 8:32 PM on December 18, 2014 [4 favorites]
This piece is premature. We've still got another week and a half of 2014 to go, that's plenty of time for the Gods to drop another turd on the world.
posted by homunculus at 3:45 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 3:45 PM on December 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Ramez Naam has a really lovely piece explaining why 2014 was perhaps not as horrible as we think?
posted by Andrhia at 3:28 PM on December 23, 2014
posted by Andrhia at 3:28 PM on December 23, 2014
Things That Brought the Rude Pundit Unmitigated Joy in 2014
posted by homunculus at 2:16 PM on December 24, 2014
posted by homunculus at 2:16 PM on December 24, 2014
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posted by Going To Maine at 9:12 AM on December 17, 2014 [1 favorite]