2016 has been one hell of a year, and not in a fun way. It’s been collectively labelled by almost everyone as one of the worst years on record. Here are some of my musings as to why 2016 was so horrible, in no particular order:

Celebrity Deaths: We should have known how much of a shit show 2016 was going to be, as it kicked off with the deaths of Alan Rickman and David Bowie. Davis Bowie died on January 10, and four days later, Alan Rickman passed away. Their deaths were a horrible start to the year, and many others followed: Prince, Sharon Jones, Leonard Cohen, and Muhammad Ali. Looking back, this was clearly the universe’s way of warning us about 2016.

TV Deaths (SPOILERS): Not only were our real-life idols dying, our faves on TV were also being killed off. Even though writers are usually not known for being sympathetic toward audiences, 2016 seemed particularly cruel. An arrow meant for Clarke killed Lexa on The 100, shattering the hearts of so many Clexa shippers. Barry on The Flash lost his remaining parent, Hodor was ripped apart by White Walkers, Poussey from Orange is the New Black was suffocated by a guard, Glenn from The Walking Dead was brutally beaten with a spiked baseball bat, and the winter finale of How to Get Away with Murder revealed that Wes was under the sheet. Clearly, TV wasn’t the place to look for reprieve from 2016.

#NoDAPL: Indigenous people are once again fighting to protect their land and water, and once again, the government doesn’t give a shit (at the time of writing).

Harambe: Continuing on the delightful topic of death, on May 28 of this year, a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and was grabbed by Harambe, a Western lowland gorilla. A worker at the zoo then proceeded to shoot Harambe, fearing for the boy’s life. Thus, an Internet meme was born. Tributes to the late gorilla, like “dicks out for Harambe,” were all over the Internet. The meme even spilled over into real life as many people tried to vote for Harambe in the U.S. elections. WHY???

#Lochtegate: The Olympics, usually enjoyable for even those who have no interest in sports, was ruined in a 2016-like fashion. Ryan Lochte, a grown ass man, decided to lie to the press and say that he was robbed at gunpoint in Rio. Turns out he wasn’t robbed, but instead he and three others had destroyed a bathroom and urinated in public. What the fuck man?

iPhone 7: It appears the designers forgot one important feature: the headphone jack. You had one job, Tim Cook. Apparently, people are expected to purchase AirPods (wireless earphones) if they want to listen to music and charge their phone at the same time. Simply by looking at the AirPods, I know that I’ll lose them several times and have to continue buying replacements. The explanation for this change was “courage.” I’m going to start using that line every time I fuck up.
Pepe: In what is probably the most 2016 thing to happen in 2016, Pepe was taken hostage by white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Even the most innocent of us were not safe

Brexit: Britain decided that it really doesn’t like immigrants and decided to exit out of the European Union. Good luck.

Police Brutality: 2016 was also the year when cases of police brutality were mostheavily publicized. This year saw many violent videos of unarmed black men getting shot and, in most cases, killed by the police

U.S. Presidential Election: The icing on the mess that is 2016 wasthe election of a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, unqualified man to office, rather than a qualified woman. So fucking done.

Slightly redeeming qualities of 2016: Ramsay’s death on Game of Thrones, Pokémon Go, Beyoncé’s “Formation” and Solange’s A Seat at the Table, Leo finally winning an Oscar, Hamilton winning the Tony Award for Best Musical, the Cubswinning the World Series, and
the beauty that is Biden and Obama memes.

Images courtesy of Oreoluwa Adara