So Many Good People Died

In the music industry, we lost so many people; including David Bowie, Prince, and Leonard Cohen.In the acting industry, we lost even more: Alan Rickman, Anton Yelchin, Doris Roberts, Gene Wilder, and so many more. Most recently, we also lost almost an entire soccer team from Brazil in a plane crash. The world loses so many people every year, but this year we lost some remarkable people to such awful things such as fights with cancer and drug overdoses and car accidents. There were over 80 celebrity deaths this year alone, making 2016 one of the worst years for celebrity deaths.

The Politics

All I’ve been hearing about for almost two years is this election. But this past year it’s been very up in my face. And another thing I’m sick of is all the terrible things that Donald Trump has done. The locker room talk video and his racist and sexist and derogatory comments are awful but honestly compared to his ignorant stand on politics they are almost nothing. Worse than Donald Trump perhaps is Mike Pence. He is homophobic, sexist, racist, and what makes it even worse is that he is an experienced politician. Another thing that I wish would die in 2016 is the constant barrage on Hillary Clinton. All the “Hillary for Prison” bumper stickers and the way everyone could only seem to focus on her email scandal. And the icing on the cake is the election.

The Election

I can’t believe that America actually voted for this man. He would destroy our country in his four years, and he works to tear apart all the good things that Obama has done. He wants to reverse the Affordable Healthcare Act and veto Roe v. Wade and the Marriage Equality Act. He would destroy our relationships with other countries, such as China and Mexico and he wants to ally us with countries we traditionally wouldn’t; such as Russia and Taiwan. The only redeeming factor for 2016 is that the electoral college votes are still out, meaning that Donald Trump could still not be our president.

Harambe

I cannot believe that a gorilla dying could turn into such a huge meme. For a little context on this if you don’t know already, Harambe was a gorilla in the Cincinnati Zoo. When a young boy fell into Harambe’s pen in late May, the Gorilla started to drag the boy around. Zoo officials ended up shooting Harambe and killing him out of fear for the boy’s safety. This spurred much anger on the part of people on the internet. People instantly memorialized him, making him an instant sensation. 11,000 people even voted for the dead gorilla on election day.

Brexit

In Britain this year 52% of the population voted for Britain to leave the EU. This widely affected not only Britain but also many other people not in Britain lost money when Britain’s stocks crashed. Brexit affected many people, but the worst thing I’ve seen because of Brexit is the number of memes that have come from it. Despite the majority of the population having voted for Britain to leave the EU a lot of people complained. The most this will affect people is the people who were protected by laws the EU had, most notably the LGBT+ community.

The Number of Hate Crimes

Early in June America had the largest mass shooting in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. A shooter killed 49 people when he walked into Pulse; a gay club in Orlando. These types of hate crimes have escalated all year. There have also been over 1000 awful police brutality incidents and racist hate crimes.

The Normalization of Rape Culture

From Brock Turner to Bill Cosby and even Donald Trump, it’s becoming more and more normal for people to be accused of sexual assault. And the worst part is that most men are getting off with barely any consequences. Brock Turner got a 6-month jail sentence and got out after three months for “good behavior.” When will we admit that raping people is not good behavior. Even Ke$ha had a sexual assault case with her music producer Dr. Luke, who, she claimed drugged and sexually assaulted her. The judge threw her case out and made her continue to work with the man. What are we teaching in society if we say this kind of behavior is okay?