Well, here we are again: it’s Christmas 2022. Another year draws to a close.
2022 was a bit of a blurry blemish despite several significant events in my personal life.
If it wasn’t for calendars, one could be forgiven for feeling that we’re still in 2020 or went way back to the year 1920. Indeed, 2022 may be remembered as the fuzzy period during which the world turned into a steaming pile of shit – but only in part due to pollution or climate change: it’s humanity that’s lagging behind its own technological advances.
In 2022 it became illegal to have sex in Indonesia – unless you’re married. The Iranian morality police also stepped up their game and took to beating women to death for not wearing their hijab correctly while the Taliban decided that Afghani women need not be educated. American women’s constitutional right to an abortion was revoked.
Of course there were the usual mass shootings and hurricanes in the USA.
Microplastics have been discovered in humans’ blood.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday 24. February in an attack that plunged Europe into one of its deepest military crises since World War II. This, combined with the after-effects of the coronavirus pandemic and a shortage of Ukrainian truck drivers, pushed up prices of food, fuel, and sunflower oil.
Inflation is rising, as are temperatures: the UK recorded its highest ever at 40.3°C.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused millions of deaths and severely hampered efforts to immunize children. Russia’s war on Ukraine is inflicting terrible suffering in Eastern Europe and driving up food and energy prices around the world. Rich countries are cutting foreign aid, partly because they need to spend more on the military, electricity subsidies, and support for refugees displaced by the war. Inflation is rising and economic growth is slowing. Climate change is leading to more frequent extreme weather. And in the United States, our politics are more polarized than ever. […]the only other period that felt this turbulent was the 1960s. — Bill Gates
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their catalogues from Spotify following Joe Rogan’s anti-vaxxer comments on the platform. Apple announced the end of its iPod line.
We lost singers/musicians Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac), Dan McCafferty (Nazareth), Irene Cara, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jet Black (The Stranglers), Julee Cruise, Lata Mangeshkar (the most prolific Indian playback songstress ever), Maxi Jazz (Faithless), Meat Loaf, Olivia Newton-John, Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) as well as electronic music pioneers Klaus Schulze and Vangelis.
The curtain closed on actors Angela Lansbury, David Warner, James Caan, Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), Ray Liotta, Sidney Poitier, and William Hurt. South African media/radio personalities Barry Ronge and John Berks also passed away.
In April my father died. One month later my dog had puppies.
Will Smith smacked Chris Rock in the face. Then he won an Oscar.
Elon Musk unseats Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person and buys Twitter for $44 Billion. Users flock to Mastodon. Epic Games buys Bandcamp.
NASA deliberately crashed a probe into an asteroid, and the James Webb Space Telescope starts sending back spectacular images of the vast and expanding space around us.
Germany again got booted out in the first round of the FIFA World Cup held in Qatar – although people cared more about the host country’s human rights violations against migrant workers and queers.
A key scene in Season 4 of Stranger Things propelled Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill” to the top of the UK charts – 37 years after it was first released!
England’s Queen Elizabeth II died, aged 96, after 70 years on the throne.
Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnson as the UK’s prime minister. Her tenure was outlasted by a lettuce; she was followed by an Indian fella. Meanwhile, in Italy, Giorgia Meloni becomes the country’s first female prime minister while Finnish PM Sanna Marin was seen dancing at a private party. Some were aghast until DALL·E 2, Stable Diffusion, Midjourney and ChatGPT completely blew our collective minds.
We’ve become 8 billion bored apes banging on little shiny screens.
Here’s the traditional and appropriate X-mas Babe for the year.
See you in 2023. Or not.
Hover for image credits.
