The Year That Was and Wasn't

December 30, 2020 4:15 AM

To see 2020 out, the Morning News asked: what was the most important thing to happen in 2020? And what was the least important?

They have asked the same two questions since 2011, check out the yearly archives here.

posted by Gin and Broadband (19 comments total)

i don't know what the least important thing is

the most important thing is not covid-19, but how it revealed the brokenness and dysfunction of our government and society
posted by pyramid termite at 4:27 AM on December 30, 2020 [11 favorites]

The least important thing is something we never even noticed. Anything that made the news is disqualified by definition.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:25 AM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]

Pretty often, something we never even notice deserves our full attention for at least as long as this Gangnam style or these dancing robots ... And it may even get it, by somehow making, clawing, it's way onto the news.

There is a lot of stuff in the world.

Plus, you have to compete with cats, so the odds are never really in your favor.
posted by Green-eyed grenade at 6:37 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

For your consideration the Black Mirror team has created a mockumental recap: Death to 2020
posted by interogative mood at 6:59 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Brain dead zombies storm Michigan Capitol to protest Stay At Home order

and they came within 21,420 (swing) votes of remaining in control for another 4 years.
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 7:01 AM on December 30, 2020 [2 favorites]

The least important thing to happen in 2020 was everyone complaining about how 2020 is the worst, death to 2020, worst year ever, blah blah blah. Funny, people said the exact same thing about 2016. The assumption that anything meaningful will change because of a calendar date is not only unimportant, it's anti-important. We should downvote it.
posted by panama joe at 7:04 AM on December 30, 2020 [7 favorites]

The least important thing is something we never even noticed.

And when hindsight is taken into consideration, it's entirely possible for this to be true of the most important thing as well.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:11 AM on December 30, 2020 [3 favorites]

As long as we're doing end-of-the-year wrap-ups, here's one from Poynter (ethics and journalism org) that maybe doesn't warrant an FPP, but I think it's worth reading: Best and Worst of News Media in 2020
posted by box at 7:29 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

Nice, that Poynter year-end list starts of by naming Ed Yong as media personality of the year, for his writing about the coronavirus pandemic throughout 2020. We were just admiring his latest piece over in another thread--his writing is really, seriously good and he's worth following by name.
posted by LooseFilter at 8:22 AM on December 30, 2020 [7 favorites]

The assumption that anything meaningful will change because of a calendar date is not only unimportant, it's anti-important. We should downvote it.

I disagree. Thinking in terms of discrete periods allows us to imagine a better future. This year sucked but next year is a blank page. Maybe it'll be better. And knowing that, it's much easier to see the value in working toward making it better.
posted by suetanvil at 9:36 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

For me among the most important things is how COVID early on exposed for all to see (well, want to see, anyway) just how fragile our supply lines are in some areas, where efficiency and leanness have destroyed all semblance of resilience, while also exposing how inflexible and resistant to fast changes our production capacities and facilities are, such as for masks and toilet paper. But the closely related bit that really got to me early on was that creepy feeling of disconnectedness from information and control. As if nobody is in charge. Shelves being stocked by third parties neither managed by nor answerable to on site supermarket management leading to nobody in the stores being able to tell if and when anything is planned or expected to be restocked. That sense that there is nobody to talk to or ask questions.

Understanding this vulnerability and uncertainty is one thing. Experiencing it viscerally entirely another. This, to me, has been one of the most important things in 2020.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 9:39 AM on December 30, 2020 [9 favorites]

srsly. if american capitalism is so great, why can't it withstand a few weeks of lockdown without utter collapse?
posted by j_curiouser at 10:40 AM on December 30, 2020 [20 favorites]

For me it has been the disturbing reveal of how many of my compatriots view the spreading of a potentially deadly disease as a culture wars issue. Over 15,000 of my fellow citizens have died of COVID-19 this year. At the height of the polio epidemic seventy or so years ago it killed 500 in a single year, and somehow we thought that was worth vaccinating people against.

I’ve even had an interlocutor declare grandly that humans were on the way to developing a natural immunity to polio and that the vaccines were what killed all those kids.

This seems... unlikely.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:42 AM on December 30, 2020 [6 favorites]

My vote for least consequential major headline of the year is Elon Musk's son's name. Celebrity kids are already uninteresting news to me, but the conjunction of the person and the name choice meant this was a news item that lasted multiple days.
posted by LSK at 11:59 AM on December 30, 2020 [1 favorite]

I would say Kanye West's presidential campaign, except that a)Republican-connected people worked on it, and b)it appears they may not have always been 100% scrupulous when they did so.

So, instead, I'll go with Olivia Jade's half-assed redemption tour.
posted by box at 12:32 PM on December 30, 2020

I would definitely say the non-rejection of Trump by a significant enough proportion of the US electorate to say, No really, we actually want to become the legit global bad guys this time, for the rest of human history. China can have the pretending-to-be-the-good-guys gig. was most consequential.

(Possibly related to who will write the history: is China trying to Finlandize Australia? (My question, not from the linked article.) Because Trump and Brexit have broken too much of the Five-Eyes-dominated international trade system to fight back in that arena? And they're following mid-twentieth-century domino theory or something, because they're the only ones left whose government can follow simple hundred-year-old plans for things like public health and world domination?)

Though I think it was probably all over back when George W. Bush said things like, I think we agree, the past is over and Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. and basically ended nucular non-proliferation efforts and got us into two simultaneous land wars in Asia and a majority of American voters said That! That speaks to my soul! I want more of that! But it was probably game over even before that...
posted by XMLicious at 6:54 PM on December 30, 2020

For me it has been the disturbing reveal of how many of my compatriots view the spreading of a potentially deadly disease as a culture wars issue. Over 15,000 of my fellow citizens have died of COVID-19 this year. At the height of the polio epidemic seventy or so years ago it killed 500 in a single year, and somehow we thought that was worth vaccinating people against.

To expand on this, the most important thing seems to be the spread of misinformation and disinformation. I have been watching someone on social media for two days confidently explain that at any point between now and January 20th, Trump can declare that he lost the election; this will mean that Pence immediately becomes president, at which point he can pardon Trump for all crimes. Pence then resigns, Trump gets four more years, and a sad trombone plays over a photo of Biden. He has studied it, you see, and it's ironclad.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:21 PM on December 30, 2020 [3 favorites]

Edward III of England: Let me explain Salic Law to you...
Philip VI of France: Let my Pope who can't leave France explain Salic Law to you...

All Trump really needs is the blessing of whatever the QAnon equivalent of a Pope is, which is probably him, or someone else who works for Putin.

Unfortunately, even the US Constitution is just a completely malleable social contract when you get right down to it. The declaration of war bit melted away like the snows of yesteryear in a few days in 1964 and after the past five years the rest of the thing is halfway through the paper shredder already, like the Trump Administration's records.
posted by XMLicious at 8:07 PM on December 30, 2020

For your consideration the Black Mirror team has created a mockumental recap: Death to 2020

Now that's tempting, I used to so enjoy those end of the year wipe shows that Charlie Brooker used to do. His best work I always thought. I was quite disappointed when he stopped doing them to concentrate on those tiresome little nihilism porn sci-fi movies. I wonder if this is a return to form? Sadly I don't think I can shell out on a Netflix subscription just to find out.
posted by Atom Collection at 2:40 AM on December 31, 2020