If you thought the Year of the Pig was gonna be pie in the sky, then you thought wrong. Y’know, I feel like every time I write these retrospectives, the world just gets crazier and crazier, but goddammit all, 2019 really porked us. I mean, it took the shittiest of things: totalitarianism, mass death, social inequality, climate change, apocalyptic weather events and IMPEACHMENT, rolled it ALL into a ball and slammed it over our heads. Yeah. That’s 2019 for ya. After last year, I thought, “Hey, a Vox video would be fine,” but NO. This year was bad. This year was terrible, and I have to at least write SOMETHING, ANYTHING that’ll at least say that, “Hey, I saw it, and it sucked.” Here’s my spiel about 2019….good, bad and, most of all, ugly.
Impeachment & The Road to 2020: Thought I was fucking around, did ya? No no no mutherfucker. I’m going right to what’s coming head-first to the U-S-of friggin’ A, and the most batshit thing right now is something called QUID-PRO-QUO! Mueller Time didn’t amount to much in the realm of collusion, but this new development of the Ukranian kind is, in my opinion, so much more damning. The phone call transcripts, the testimonies and even the shameful pushback from Rethuglicans (like Nunes) all point to a White House on fire, and our duly-elected Idiot-in-Chief yelling out “It’s ALL FINE”. Trump totally withheld aid to the Ukraine in exchange for dirt on the Bidens. Think about that. Even if it ‘weren’t true’, the fact that its even implicated (from a whistle blower mind you) is already a terrible thought. It’s a self-serving, petty, and undemocratic action, and despite Donald’s bickering, he is now the third U.S. president to have ever been impeached. And he did this all for 2020. A 2020 littered with Democratic candidates, both good and so-so. And if you’ve been watching the debates like I have, you’ll know that the agenda is all about beating the Donald (whether we admit this or not). I”m all for revolution and upending the status quo, but we’ll need to keep watching to see who’ll be the one to symbolize this with the intended goal of defeating Trump.
Wildfires & The Outrage over Climate Inaction: Wildfires have continued to rage across the state of California while rainforests in both the Amazon and in Indonesia are devastated thanks to the evils of deforestation. Moreover, episodes of drought have hit Australia’s bushland so hard that even koalas aren’t safe. And at the other end of the spectrum, typhoons and hurricanes were at their deadliest in places like the Bahamas and the Pacific. Despite these chaotic events, it’s heartening to see children from all over the world skip school to protest against climate inaction. From the UK to South Africa, kids were leading the lines as we saw wave after wave of young girls and boys giving no fucks about the grown-ups in charge and their handling of our climate crisis. Prior to this, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who came for the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York by sailboat, gave a searing speech that denounced world leaders who thirsted for wealth at the expense of our ecosystem. With so much of our planet’s health facing a fraught future, it’s high time for us all to turn the tide…before it’s too late.
OK BOOMER – Protesting against the Status Quo: I admit it – I LOVE OK BOOMER. It’s the kind of take-down that’s easy to say, hard to miss and it makes our elders rage. The focus so far about the meme has always been about the boomers’ anger over it instead of the reasons why we’re resorting to it: because well-to-do boomers worldwide are eating their young. That’s not hyperbole, folks. That’s facts. They are living with half the education we’ve achieved and double the wealth that you, a young person approaching middle-age, may never get. And when the majority of these older, white and out-of-touch boomers vote, they’ll vote for shit that will ream you clean of what’s been owed to you. This kinda leads me to what we’ve been seeing throughout the world this past year, which is a ferocious eruption of protests aimed at giving the status quo a middle finger. Despite their individual differences, these Movements in Chile, Sudan, Ecuador, the Amazon, Bolivia, India, Lebanon, Indonesia, Iraq and, yes, Hong Kong, are all aimed at political establishments that have turned a blind eye to the realities that youths are encountering worldwide. Whether it’s related to inequality, corruption, the environment, costs of living, discrimination, social justice or universal suffrage, these universal issues all stem from entrenched elites who haven’t the brains, heart or foresight to see out the problems that they’ve created. That sounds pretty ‘boomer’ to me, doesn’t it?
The Violence of Nationalism: Since we’re talking about unrest, it’s about time we discuss the rise of nationalist violence raging across the West. The most egregious of these incidents is, unfortunately, the tragedy at Christchurch, New Zealand. March, to me, was the indicator that Islamophobia is reaching critical mass out here in the western world, and it needs all of our attention if we’re intent on curbing it. And if that wasn’t enough, August’s shooting in El Paso, Texas had all the hallmarks of violent white nationalism, which was widely seen as the largest anti-latino attack in recent U.S. history. I remember coming back from my vacation where I found myself reeling about how a racist was able to hurt people at a Walmart. A Walmart- of all places! Who the hell goes out for groceries and expects death!? All because you’re Brown!? Whether you’re a Latina woman hanging out with friends, a Muslim in the middle of prayers or a Jewish American disturbed by rising acts of anti-semitism, please look out for one another, and let’s hope we can find some commonality in a world that’s swept up in right wing hysteria. This is especially so here in the States, where our own government is conducting its own campaign of nationalist violence at our southern border.
1619: One of the biggest pieces of writing that I’ve yet to read fully is the New York Times’ 1619 Project. 2019 marked 400 years since the first slave ship carrying 20 to 30 enslaved Africans arrived on the shores of Jamestown, Virginia, and the New York Times created an amazing set of articles that aim to dispel the many myths that surround America’s greatest sin. I’ve seen lots of love on Twitter for this entire project, and yet I’m dumbfounded by the critics who refuse to see how deep the scars run when it comes to racism, and how tightly this wound is weaved into the very fabric of American life. The nation needs a wake-up call from the white lies of our nation’s founding, and the 1619 Project is a good place to start.
Arsenal in Decline: It’s sad that I’m even writing this, but, frankly, the writing’s on the wall. Arsenal have been terrible for the last 3 years. It’s so bad that I’ve stopped writing about them all together! Yes, we have Auba and Laca, who I profess are astounding, but only when the team actually plays football. I still miss Le Prof obviously, but there’s something going on with the way this club is run, and its appointment of Unai Emery was only the beginning. Player meltdowns, terrible build-up play, shambolic defending and Emery’s preference for faces when he clearly had no strategy were all painful to witness, and with a fanbase as bipolar as ours, who the fuck would want to come play for us now? I’m relieved that Mikel Arteta’s arrived, and, despite our recent loss to Chelsea, I’m a bit buoyed by our newfound sense of urgency. Yet old problems, especially in defense, remain, and if we’re to survive this season, then we better man-up fast.
Franchise Finale: 2019 will probably go down as the year that all the big boys on TV and Film said goodbye. From Games of Thrones to the Avengers, notable IPs that have garnered millions of viewers took a bow, some better than others. For me, Endgame was the cream of the crop when it comes to this, capping off the hit-or-miss Avengers franchise with an ending that sends off Cap and Stark in the best possible way. The biggest disappointment for me is reserved for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which took all the narrative jewels that The Last Jedi dug up and threw them out the window. Frantic, wasteful and hollow, Rise is the kind of finale you do NOT want to witness, the kind that forgets its roots by making shallow references to its byproducts. I’ll not hide my disappointment with Rise, but let me at least say that the one thing saving this franchise may be in the hands of a tiny Yoda. So yeah, lots of media properties that defined the decade have come to end (while others, like Supernatural, are on their way to a close), and it’ll be exciting to see what we’ll have in store for 2020.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup: Do I even need to write about this? Do I? Were you even watching? Thailand’s mauling by the U.S., an excellent Japan, a thrilling Italian team and VAR? And Megan Rapinoe snubbing the Trump AND getting the Ballon D’or? Where the hell have you been? Go rewatch that shit NOW!
The First in Asia: If there was a feel good story that I think captures the faint glimmer of hope that resides in us all, I look no further than to Taiwan’s victory for marriage equality. 20 years of campaigning, votes and referendums later, Taiwan achieved something that Asia still has trouble grasping, and did so with tears, cheers, and wedding bells. If you couple this with South Korea’s recent court ruling stating that its current abortion ban is unconstitutional, we can see that some areas of Asia, despite deep-seated issues with regionalism, patriarchy and inequality, are trying their hardest to push for progress. It takes brave people to fight for their rights, and I’m hoping that this victory for Taiwan’s LGBTQ+ community will have reverberations throughout the rest of the region. Maybe one day, we’ll finally see this in Southeast Asia too.
Saint Seiya’s on NETFLIX!!!: No, I’m not talking about the CGI Knights of the Zodiac, I’m talking about the 1986 anime from Toei that graced the world long before it came to the U.S. as a butchered offering in the 2000s. It’s definitely remastered, with crystal clear color and sound, but we got SUBS peeps. DECENT SUBS! The final chapter of the Sanctuary arc is now on Netflix as of January 1st and I AM STOKED. I’ve never been able to see a pristine version of Saint Seiya, but now that it’s on Netflix, I think I’m all good!
So there you have it folks. My roundup of 2019. Please check out Vox’s video below to glimpse the other things that I may have missed. Obituaries and so forth can be found here, while other events that defined 2019 for me personally will probably left up for reviews for another time in 2020 (I just finished watching Watchmen…which has blown me away). All in all, I’m left saddened by 2019. It happened. It flattened us. And now, it’s 2020. I want to hope guys, I want to hope bad. There’s so much that happened last year, so let’s ‘hope’ that we can do better in a brand new decade.
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