Finally, we can say it: 2020 is almost over. Good riddance.
As we finally seek to end this annus horribilis, America will live among the rubbish for years to come – a devastating economic downturn, a generation of students behind in education, the collective mental trauma of a prolonged isolation. 2020 will be hard to forget.
But 100 years from now, when those of us who lived through the year it all stopped are gone, how will future generations look at what happened? How will history sum up how crazy 2020 was?
One can only imagine an encyclopedia entry from 2120.
The year 2020:
2020 has been marked by a global pandemic called COVID-19, which is responsible for the deaths of nearly 2 million people worldwide. 2020 has since been dubbed “The Lost Year”, due to nationwide closures to travel, business, school and life as it was previously called.
While some countries have responded quickly to the virus, progress in controlling the outbreak in the United States has been hampered by several factors, primarily incompetence at the highest levels of the federal government. President Donald Trump’s early denial of the severity of the virus, his rank politicization of science and health, and his decision to shift blame onto individual states have had a catastrophic impact on US mitigation efforts .
The president, motivated by a fateful combination of arrogance and ignorance, has led many Americans [See: “Covidiots”] reject basic public health and safety sciences, including recommendations to wear masks and stay socially aloof. As health experts pleaded with Americans to take these simple, common-sense steps to stay healthy and avoid dying, many responded reflexively, “You can’t force me” and “I know you are. , but what am I? “
The denial of science has led to countless unnecessary deaths. Historians often refer to this epoch of proud ignorance as Anno Americae Cacas in Scientia, or “The Year America Defecated on Science”.
There were other quirks related to living in a pandemic. The digital gatherings known as “Zoom Meetings” have simultaneously led to a boom in the tech industry and deflation in the pants industry.
Virtual education, curbside pickup, contactless delivery, pet adoption, home improvement, bread baking, and overwhelming anxiety all benefited from boomlets around this time.
Some people called “TikTokers” have thrived in this new world. They put to use their honed skills – previously known as ‘hobbies’ – of dancing in place, putting cream cheese on green peppers, creating a perfect eye shadow crease, and skateboarding while drinking wine. cranberry juice.
2020 also marked the rise of “Karen”, the generic name for women with one or more of these common characteristics: an asymmetrical bob, a request to speak to the manager, “Live, Laugh, Love” signs in their home. , a penchant for calling the police on blacks, and an aversion to masks and public safety.
In 2020, racial tensions came to a head with the death of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. In the weeks and months that followed, protests calling for police and criminal justice reform spread across the country, as did increased calls for the removal of Confederate statues. [See: “Civil War, losers.”]
Significantly, 2020 also marked the end of Trump’s first and only term, the result of a landslide electoral defeat by Democrat Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
Trump, who has since earned the nickname “the biggest loser” among historians and world leaders, has claimed for months that he is the real winner of this election, even cajoling a group of dubiously accredited lawyers and members of his own party. [now defunct — See: “Republican Party 1854-2016”] in defense of delusional demand. Although he would eventually cede the White House to the incoming administration, he spray painted “Trimp 4evr” (sic) on the wall of the Lincoln Room, a piece of which is in the National Museum of Regrets in County. of Miami-Dade, Florida. ., as well as the film adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” nullifies culture, televangelism, daylight saving time and New Coke.
Trump spent his final years delivering speeches in increasingly empty arenas, and by the time of his death he would claim he was also the 46th, 47th and 51st President of the United States – and the “inventor” of space.
2020 has also seen bizarre arrivals in America: murderous hornets, Tiger King, a fictional cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles, a once-royal British couple, demon sperm, things made of cake, Quibi and UFO videos.
Finally, 2020 has been known as the year America lost a number of beloved leaders and celebrities including Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, Alex Trebek, Eddie Van Halen, Rep. John Lewis, Regis Philbin, Wilford Brimley, Kelly Preston, Jerry Stiller, Kenny Rogers and Carl Reiner – who have become collectively known as “Everyone We Ever Loved, Thank You Very Much 2020”.
SE Cupp is the host of “SE Cupp Unfiltered” on CNN.
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