Ah, the proverbial year in review top ten list. Forever a trademark of this time of year. I love these lists for one main reason: they cure me of my cultural ignorance while not making me feel guilty that I was ignorant in the first place. You see, news is important; we need people reporting and interpreting the events that happen around us. But at the same time, news is unimportant; the vast majority of news is irrelevant to the vast majority of people. The world will continue to chug along whether you know about it or not.
Take Will and Kate’s baby announcement as an example. This event is (somewhat) news worthy and (apparently) important to many people, but for most of us, being informed about Kate’s morning sickness is more about being ‘in the loop’ than it is about the relevance this has to our lives. Will and Kate’s baby announcement is not news to because it is important; it is news because we want it to be important.
In many ways, that is the way the news should be; we should learn about the things people think are important because, you know what, most of the time it is important. However, should you feel guilty if you were not ‘in the loop’ on stories that other people deem important? Of course not; no one can know everything. But if you did feel guilty, you always have the annual top ten year in review lists to keep you (barely) in the loop.
So without further ado, and in no particular order, here is my list of the stories that you should be aware of before we enter a new year of stories that we can once again be blissfully ignorant about.
U.S. Presidential Election:
The 2012 U.S. Presidential Election was one event I am sure very few were ignorant of, even if most people would have preferred to be ignorant of it. The election was billed as a battle of ideologies between the Democrats and the Republicans, but it actually turned out to be more of a battle of technology and demographics. Obama did not win with the unabashed optimism of his first campaign; no, he won in large part because his tech-savy campaign team and the shifting demographics of the American electorate. However, ultimately this election was just another example outrageous money spending because apparently more than $US6 billion was spent on the 2012 election campaigns. Yikes.
Highs and Lows:
2012 was most certainly a year of highs and lows. On the high note, Felix Baumgartner, voted National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year, made history by performing the highest skydive ever. Baumgartner jumped from a balloon 39km above the Earth’s surface and reached a top speed of 1342 km/h, becoming the first person to exceed the speed of sound in free fall.
On the low note, the famous Canadian film-maker James Cameron became the first person to reach Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the ocean, on a solo mission. Cameron completed the feat in the “Deepsea Challenger” submersible and spent more than three hours exploring the ocean floor collecting samples for scientific research and footage for a 3D film of the journey. No word on whether the expedition made Cameron feel like he was the “King of the Ocean.”
Israel and Gaza:
The most recent conflict in November between Israel and Gaza represents a long and deep-seated quarrel in the Middle East. While they were thankfully able to agree to a cease-fire before Israel invaded Gaza on the ground, the tensions and politics still remain. Analysts say that the November conflict was a “qualified victory” for current Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it also resulted in an “emboldened” and strengthened Hamas group. Another important point moving forward is the role that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi played in the cease-fire negotiations. Morsi proved that he had the leverage to bring Hamas to the negotiating table to help facilitate a ceasefire, which no doubt signals a shift in the balance of power in the Middle East that will certainly influence peace negotiations in the future.
Syria:
To stay in the Middle East, the ongoing conflict in Syria has unfortunately been one of the most devastating stories of the year. The conflict or the popular pro-democratic uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, erupted in March 2011 in connection with the Arab Spring after some the government opened fire and killed several demonstrators who were protesting the arrest and torture of some teenagers who painted revolutionary slogans on a school wall. The conflict continued to escalate, prompting the UN to get involved in 2012. Current estimates say that more than 40,000 people have died in the conflicts, and approximately 400,000 Syrians who have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, and a further 2.5 million have been internally displaced within Syria. The UN projects that up to 4 million people inside Syria will need humanitarian aid by early next year.
London Summer Olympics:
The London Summer Olympics were one of my favorite events of the year. There were opening ceremony cameos by Mr. Bean, David Beckham, James Bond, and the Queen herself; there were heroes (Oscar Pistorius, Christine Sinclair, Andy Murray); there were legends (Usain Bolt; Bradley Wiggins); there were newcomers (Gabby Douglas; Missy Franklin); there were rivalries (Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte); there were surprises (Rosie MacLennan); and there was heartbreak (Paula Findlay; Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang). What more do you want from an international sporting event?
PSY:
Of course, Mr. Gangnam himself will find his way onto any 2012 year in review list. PSY, the stout 31 year old Korean pop-star, literally invaded the rest of the world, appearing at numerous award shows around the world and even performing at half-time of the most recent NFL game between the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks in Toronto. Psy’s famous song “Gangnam Style” passed Justin Beiber’s “Baby” as the most watch video of all time in November. Currently, Psy’s famous video has been watched almost 1 billion times. Amazingly, or disturbingly, that is not a typo.
Hurricane Sandy:
New York Magazine’s cover after the Sandy hurricane was straight out of a movie. Almost half of the island of Manhattan was eerily dark because of a loss of power. The contrast was striking, but so were the effects of the hurricane. It is estimated that hurricane Sandy cost $62 billion dollars in damages and lost business, but more than the money, the hurricane also resulted in over 200 deaths with approximately 71 deaths occurring in the Caribbean.
Amanda Todd:
Bullying has long been a problem for kids, but in the last few years it has become much more serious than a problem that kids will simply grow out of. Amanda Todd, the Port Coquitlam B.C. teenager, was bullied physically and online until she decided to take her own life on October 10, 2012. Amanda’s suicide received international attention because it illustrated the devastating effect of social media and online bullying. In response to her death, new initiatives have been launched to support anti-bullying research and programs so that these tragedies can be prevented in the future.
NHL Lockout:
Does anyone even know what is going on with the NHL lockout anymore? Does anyone even care? It is hard to tell, but the NHL certainly hasn’t done itself any favours by stubbornly pushing for a lockout after a few strong seasons. Hockey is a business, we know, but unfortunately it appears that in pursuing this business the NHL is pushing its fans away. I don’t know when NHL hockey will be back, but unfortunately I care less everyday.
Gun Violence:
2012 will be remembered for many things, but the lasting image may unfortunately be the school shooting in Newtown Connecticut that left 28 people dead, 20 of them being under the age of 7. The terrible part is that although the Newtown shooting was the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, it was not the only unprovoked mass killing of the year. Shockingly, the U.S. suffers on average 20 mass shootings a year, and the Aurora Colorado movie theatre shooting that killed 12 people will be remembered for a long time to come because it was intimately connected with one of America’s favorite violent movies, The Dark Knight Rises, in one of America’s cultural cathedrals, the movie theatre. Debate over gun violence in the U.S. has now reached an all-time high with President Obama calling for needed reform. One can only hope that change will come so that we do not have to read about similar stories in the years to come.
Honorable mentions:
Facebook IPO, Lance Armstrong, David Petraeus, Justin Trudeau, Costa Concordia crash, Quebec student protests, Mars landing, and Rob Ford.
