In almost every year I can remember, it's always seemed like the worst year ever. The world seemed to be falling apart and coming to an end. Yet, no matter what, the following year could always find a way to trump it. However, this time I am convinced that this is quite possibly one of the worst years in modern memory, and I have five things that prove it:
5. The presidential election
I swear, this election seems like a political satire straight out of the Cold War era warning us of what can come in the future. It is hilarious and frightening at the same time. The two most hated people in America are the presidential nominees for the major political parties. One has the reputation of being a slimy, shady politician who is widely disliked, and has found themselves in the hot seat twice regarding their emails (non-government email server and DNC email scandal). The other nominee is the equivalent of all the seven deadly sins combined; a greedy, loud-mouthed, blatantly racist, real-estate mogul (who really has all of his money because of his father), who has absolutely no experience in politics whatsoever. And to add to the theory that we are in the middle of a movie with a sadistic writer, we had another candidate who is a once in a lifetime politician, one who is an honest, good man who clearly had the good of the nation in heart who was shut out from being the nominee. We better grab our popcorn 'cause this is about to get good come November.
4. Celebrity deaths
Yes, every year we lose major figures in the world, but this year it seems even worse. A whopping number of 71 celebrities have died this year. This list includes juggernauts and icons such as David Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Alan Rickman, Harper Lee, Elie Wiesel, Garry Marshall, George Martin, Glenn Frey and sadly many more. We just need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that this list doesn’t grow.
3. Police brutality
Even though police brutality has become a big political and social topic since the 2014 death of Michael Brown, it has sadly not gone away yet. The topic of police brutality against unarmed black men and women is a serious problem in our country, and has now been brought into the mainstream eye thanks to the Black Lives Matter group. Even though the BLM movement focuses on all lives being precious, it is currently focusing on the lives of black America because they are in serious danger. They have been met with some backlash and have been challenged with the slogan "All Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" (blue lives, as in police officers). Things have begun to seem more heated ever since July. In July, Alton Sterling and Philando Castille were killed, Sterling for selling bootleg movies and Castille for a moving violation. What makes things even more complicated is that Sterling and Castille had firearms in open carry states, which has been seen as a right in America by conservatives due to the Second Amendment, yet even though there is evidence of them not being a threat they were both still shot. To make the tension even worse between the BLM movement and America’s police force, five officers in Dallas were killed by a radical gunman in regards to the deaths of Sterling and Castille.
2. Mass murder and terrorism
Sadly mass murder, specifically mass shootings, in the United States has become an all too common thing. In June we witnessed the worst mass shooting in U.S. history in Orlando, Fla., at the club Pulse Orlando. This attack left 49 people dead and 53 injured. Yet, no matter how many times we keep witnessing mass shootings, specifically in cases where Americans have been able to easily obtain assault weapons, nothing is done in regards to fix it. We’ve witnessed the murder of young children at school and people at church, yet nothing has been done. Sadly, as if we haven’t been dealing with enough death in within our own borders, other countries have been the victims of mass violence and murder, in most cases because of terrorism. In Nice, France, 84 people were killed and 308 injured when a cargo truck was deliberately driven into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day. Germany has also been dealing with it’s own cases of terrorism, one of them being with a 17-year-old seriously injuring people with a hatchet. In both cases, the assailants had ties to ISIS. If terrorism isn’t already considered a low life act of crime and hatred, matters have gotten even worse when there have been multiple cases of terrorism in the Middle East during the time of Ramadan, one of the holiest holidays in Islam, which ISIS claims to be fighting for. No Muslim person who followed their religion or read the Quran would even think of terrorism, never mind being involved in it during such an important time for the religion.
1. The Mac and Cheetos
Last on the list is probably the worst thing to ever happen to mankind, and it happened in 2016 — Mac and Cheetos.
OK, all joking about the Mac and Cheetos aside, 2016 has been a pretty rough year already with the four problems listed above (and the Mac and Cheetos certainly don't help). Hopefully, things will take a serious turn for the better in the last five months of the year.
