Saying that 2016 was a bad year is an understatement. But there were so many events (The orange elephant in the Oval Office, anyone?) that were bad, that a lot of the bad things were pushed out of the way and forgotten. I haven't forgotten though! Without further ado, here are 11 bad things that happened in 2016 that I personally don't think we have discussed enough.
1. Romanticizing Nazis
What? Why is this even happening? The Alt-Right? Articles talking about how "dapper" white supremacists are? What is going on? I mean, yeah it’s important to understand that there are people who want to disenfranchise entire groups of people for race and ethnicity and religion but while you’re humanizing people who want other people to die, the people of these marginalized groups aren’t getting the same treatment. They’re not being humanized. Why are we okay with this? I didn’t start out the year 2016 with the thought that Nazis were going to be “in” for the attractive pool. Why are we ending this way?
2. People are just now realizing that 2007 was ten years ago.
No, it hasn’t been “just a few years,” it’s been nearly ten years. Get a grip on your time perception. (That was absolutely directed to me).
3. Harambe??????????????
Why are we still making Harambe memes? People are dying. Stop harassing the workers of the Cincinnati zoo for the gorilla you don’t actually care about. Please stop talking about the gorilla, it’s been months.
4. Tomi Lahren
I honestly don’t need commentary on this. She’s awful. I want her to leave.
5. Saying Michelle Obama is a transgender woman.
This isn’t new. But holy heck! Stop saying this stuff. I’m sorry that your own ego is so fragile you feel the need to be simultaneously racist and transmisogynistic in one go, but do you really have nothing better to do than blast the greatest woman in the country? Surprise: Women have muscle. Women have shoulders. Women have features that men have. Men have features that women have. Just because your racism makes you uncomfortable with the idea that you could be attracted to a black woman doesn’t mean you should go off and make yourself look like an idiot.
6. Slut-shaming Melania and Ivanka Trump.
Enough said.
7. Telling trans people where they’re supposed to excrete waste.
I can’t believe this was a hot topic this year. 2015 was great for trans progress…when I looked up happy trans moments of 2016, all I found was a bunch of depressing articles about upset cis people who were uncomfortable with the idea of sexual predators who weren’t them or their sons using the “girl” bathroom.
8. The majority of “Bernie Bros” who are incredibly racist, misogynistic, and were okay with switching to Trump.
Every time I see Bernie Sanders’ face, part of me winces in pain. Because of people like this. How do you go from a Jewish man who recognized the injustices against marginalized groups to the mighty rotting crayon himself? Being privileged and ignorant, apparently.
9. Commenting something very long and extraneous that, when read, is just an angrier rehash of what was originally said.
Can this be classed as a new form of mansplaining? Please? I’m sick and tired of it. Do you want a gold star? Do you want to prove that you’re “smarter” about a topic? I’m not going to give it to you. Chill out.
10. The death of Alan Rickman.
Why aren’t we wearing all black eternally for the goodness of this man? There were so many bad things that happened this year that everyone forgot that Alan Rickman died.
11. People using Christina Grimme’s death to redirect mourning for the victims in the Orlando Shooting
I can’t believe I forgot this happened. It made me so angry! Honestly most of the people who cared that Christina Grimme died were also people in mourning from the Pulse shooting. But there were still people who used a young girl’s death as a means of being “edgy” and mourning that “not enough people” would care that she died because people who made them feel uncomfortable about their sexuality and gender identity had been victimized in the largest U.S. shooting ever.
