We’ve come to the end of another year and everyone who’s any one is doing a retrospective of some sort. Even everyone who’s basically nobody is doing one. And so that’s where I come in. Sure I’ll do a retrospective. Maybe I’ll do two; one on the stories that are important, you know all that news shit and one on my story, although the story of my own year is actually more important to me even if it isn’t to you. Got that?
What appears in a retrospective is of course entirely dependent on what the writer thinks is significant. There are a lot of stories that are going to get included on some heavy hitting columns and blogs that wouldn’t get on my list. Some of those are:
The royal wedding. Aside from the fact that Britain could ill afford an eight figure party who gives a damn that a well-heeled pair are tying the knot. Yeah I know lots of people but suffice to say I don’t get it. The fact remains that the world, Great Britain included, is in a sick financial state. To that end, the royals promised to make the wedding more austere than royal nuptials of the past so William and Kate had to scrimp by on 34 million dollars. For a lot less they could have eloped to Reno and got one of those themed weddings. Probably could have had an Elvis impersonator perform the ceremony and still not broken the bank.
Top however many movies. I went to see True Grit and that’s about it. Did True Grit even come out in 2011?
Top however many TV shows. There weren’t any but I’ll make a list anyway.
Mash
All in the Family
The Honeymooners
Have Gun, Will Travel
Cheers
Johnny Carson
What’s that you say? All of those shows were discontinued long ago? Okay I go back to, there weren’t any.
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| Not on my list you're not |
Anything to do with the Kardashians, Lady Gaga, Lindsey Lohan, Oprah, Kate plus 8 or Regis Philbin. Maybe Regis is a funny, entertaining guy but his moving on will carry no weight before we reach mid-January, but if it does then we really need to get a collective life.
The significant stories are those that have global and national significance, that will affect our lives for months and years to come and that reflect or reveal what we are as a society. There were indeed many in 2011 and so, in no particular order:
The significant stories are those that have global and national significance, that will affect our lives for months and years to come and that reflect or reveal what we are as a society. There were indeed many in 2011 and so, in no particular order:
The killing of Osama Bin Laden. Nearly ten years to the month after he unleashed 9/11 the face of terror was found and killed. It won’t necessarily mean the end of Al Qaeda but it put a dent in the terror group and it marked a milestone in the war on terror. That he was found in an oversized million dollar compound in the veritable shadow of Pakistan’s military academy gave a sort of final credence to the notion that Pakistan really isn’t our friend. That we still have a presence in Afghanistan becomes something of a mystery now. I thought we went in there to get Bin Laden and then too quickly took our focus off the mission by going into Iraq (see below). Well we got Bin Laden. Are we really going to try to oust the Taliban for good and install a western style democracy into a nation that is, with borders that are in flux, a nation in name only?
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| Packing up and leaving |
The earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A disaster of biblical proportions significant not only because of its horrific magnitude and the loss of life and property but also because it revealed the fragile nature of nuclear power. Was it nature’s way of reminding us that nuclear is an anagram for unclear?
The Penn State child sex abuse case. This is the creepy case of Jerry Sandusky, a “trusted” adult who took advantage of the most vulnerable and toppled a collegiate football program that for decades was recognized as a squeaky clean model for all collegiate athletic programs. The university president, the athletic director and the head football coach all lost their jobs for lying to cover up the scandal in the case of the two administrators and essentially turning a blind eye in the case of the coach. The significance of this story is that it once again shined a glaring light on the continuing problem of pedophilia. And while some would say that the dismissal of a venerated football coach is secondary I would counter that maybe there is some hope that the firing of Joe Paterno will stand as a warning to any and all who would try to sweep the abuse of children under the rug. It is also another indicator of the corruption that runs rampant through intercollegiate athletics.
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| Power to the people |
The shuttering of Borders. Remember, my criteria for significance includes what a story reveals about our society. It was a sad day when a major bookstore chain closed its doors. Was it because bound books are being replaced by e-readers or because we just don’t read very much anymore? I hope the reason is the former because if it is the latter we’re being exposed as a society drifting towards ignorance and away from literacy and culture.
Legislative gridlock. Symptomatic of a malignancy in government, legislatures are working feverishly at getting nothing done. The prognosis is dire with indications of intransigence, demagoguery, chronic ideology and severe addiction to special interest money. But perhaps the gravest symptom is an extreme allergy to compromise. Our so called leadership is suffering from a stubbornness that makes a two year old look Solomonic by comparison and threatens the health of our nation. And what make is all so maddening is that these folks have approval ratings that at 11% absolutely plumb the depths and they DON’T SEEM TO GIVE A DAMN.
Time Magazine’s Person of the Year; The protester. Related of course to the Occupy Movement, Time awarded kudos to the everyday person who decided that the status quo is not necessarily the way things should be. Time not only recognized Occupy but also those protesters who toppled tin horn dictators in the Middle East and who continue to protest injustice. Managing editor Richard Stengel remarked that the protester is, "the men and women around the world, particularly in the Middle East, who toppled governments, who brought democracy and dignity to people who hadn't had it before." The Protester includes those who protested corruption in Greece, Spain and Israel as well as those who took to the streets in Russia to protest against Putin.
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| Vinia Hall. You go girl |
There were some notable quotes in 2011 and continuing a six year tradition Yale Law School's associate librarian Fred Shapiro came up with a top ten list. Among my favorites:
“We are the 99 percent.” As a supporter of the Occupy Movement what can I say besides, I love it.
"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress." — Warren Buffett
"Oops." — Texas governor Rick Perry. Real presidential Governor Perry.
"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for." — 2012 Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren
And finally if you want to impress at tonight’s New Year’s Eve party, regale them with the new words that were added to dictionaries this year.
Fist bump. The closed hand version of the high five.
Bromance. Related to the fist bump?
M-Commerce. You know, buying something with your smart phone.
Walk off. A game ending home run.
Cougar. This word made it to the dictionary in 2011. But it isn't these cougars.
And it isn't this Cougar
Cougar. This word made it to the dictionary in 2011. But it isn't these cougars.
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| John Cougar |
But it is a kitty, uh, in a manner of speaking.
Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012.
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Lol yes, the latter of the three cougars is a bit more appealing! =)
ReplyDeleteI'm nobody and not doing a 2011 retrospective, so I suppose that puts you a leg up on me.
ReplyDeleteI've read that a person can tell how well or badly the just ended year was. If they frequently write 2011 instead of 2012, 2011 was a good year. If the reverse happens, then it was a bad year. This is a function of the subconscious rather than the conscious.
I agree about royal weddings. I recall when a gazillion Americans got up at 3 or 4 am PST to watch Charles and Diana get hitched. I'd watch it if they paid me to attend including all expenses, otherwise fuhgeddaboutit.
Promos for current TV series don't make me want to tune in. One current show (coincidentally the only one I watch besides Prime Minister's Questions) is Burn Notice. Great entertainment, best watched on DVDs beginning with the first season.
Kardashian et al., a nice rogue's gallery of the arse end of the celebrity spectrum. I remember when Regis would qualify as the most annoying celebrity. These days he doesn't even crack the top five.
Bin Laden and Pakistan. Obama needs to end our presence in Afghanistan soon or he'll have some 'splainin to do, Lucy. He also needs to cut ties with Pakistan. As pathetic a sleaze as Karzai is, Musharraf was worse and his successors aren't much better.
We're finally done with Iraq. It would be splendid to have a series of presidential administrations that didn't feel necessary to change the governments of other countries that don't agree with ours.
The disaster in Japan. Nuclear energy has been arguably an unsafe option since the 1970s. It's hard to argue against the notion that such a volatile energy source is inherently dangerous because it is run by the combination of government and big business. What is undeniable is that anything people can build, nature can destroy.
Penn State and collegiate corruption. Disgusting, sickening, and only the most sordid and recent example of that corruption.
The Occupy movement has been absurd too often. It also, as you mentioned, has been a much needed resurgence in protesting the malfeasance of government and big business. There is that unholy pairing again. They're still unworthy of the public trust. The legislative gridlock you mentioned in a later paragraph should be a primary target for the Occupiers.
Borders going the way of the Edsel. Even though e-readers are growing in popularity, there is still too much movement away from literacy. For too many people, American Idol and the like are preferable to a good book.
As for those cougars. Yes, the "kitty" is appealing but she doesn't have sequential tail lights as the original Mercury Cougar did. On the other hand, she looks as though her stern action could rival that of the Merc.
@Scott, I doubt that we'll be seeing additional nuclear facilities in our lifetime and not for the reasons of safety or lack thereof. Building a plant is extremely costly and takes a great deal of time and neither of those is palatable to shareholders. I can't see government government funding being an option.
ReplyDeleteMy fear about the shuttering of Borders is that as you say, we're seeing a movement away from literacy. Used to be that sitting in a waiting room you would see people reading something. Now more often than not they're occupied not with a book, magazine or even an E-reader but with a smart phone and I'd be willing to bet it's a game app.
Why is it that when situations become dire after a long warning period, such as the need for alternate energy sources, governments and businesses jump into action and not before it became situation critical? My theory is that many of the world's CEOs and bureaucrats as students procrastinated until the last possible moment before getting to work on term papers and book reports.
ReplyDeleteThe people in waiting rooms, trains, buses who are reading instead of futzing with their phones are often our age or older. I really don't get the mass obsession with cell phones and all their permutations. Yes, many of them can do multiple tasks. The problem is that they're still just phones.
politics, yes. Good, bad, ugly, yes. E' stato un grande anno, perché vi ho trovato ancora una volta. Soggiorno meraviglioso!
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