Thursday, December 31, 2015

"News" of 2015

Since my blog has been degrading over the last few years, I decided to do something a bit different that might be more interesting to read.  Over the course of this year, I have been keeping track of various news topics that is I felt were getting an greater than usual amount of coverage or attention.

Looking back, some of these stories were probably deserving of the coverage, and some were clearly just "news" in attempt to get people outraged.  It's weird to look back on this and how irrelevant some of these are, or or quickly everybody just forgot about it.

Thank me for not making this a shitty slideshow that you have to click through.


2015.01.17
Terrorist shooting in Paris at a magazine office, killing numerous staff at Charlie Hebdo.

2015.01.18
Deflategate.  Patriots are cheaters (along with all NFL teams) and were called out on under-inflated balls, supposedly giving an extra advantage.

2015.01.27
Super Mega Blizzard hits area of country that normally gets hit by winter storms, State of Emergency declared before storm hits.

2015.02.??
Disney Land and other parts of the country are having outbreaks of measles because some people are afraid of vaccines.  Luckily this appears to be over.

2015.02.02
Nobody can believe that a football team might do a passing play from the 1-yard line.

2015.02.13
A movie released made from a book that was an adaptation/fan-fiction version of a teeny-bopper book.  50 Shades of Grey, which could be described as a porno disguised as film/literature. released just in time for Valentine's Day.  Make sure you give thanks if you forced your significant other in to this.

2015.02.??
ISIS burns a guy alive.  Media emphasizing the event to make lots of people upset.

2015.02.27
Everybody is colorblind and can't agree on the colors of a fucking dress.  I still cannot believe how crazy this was.

2015.02.26
Net Neutrality was passed, some big companies put out bitter statements, while smaller companies put out statements of joy and welcome.  People on the internet say the war has just begun.

2015.05.17
Waco biker gang shooting happens at a restaurant, lots of people killed and injured.  Media spinning this to have people outraged at biker gangs, or outraged at SWAT/police, or outraged at the coverage by the media.  Outrages for everybody.

2015.05.23
Hefty storms rolling through Texas, now dubbed the "Memorial Day Floods".  Tons of water falling from the skies at a higher rate than the landscape can handle.  Lots of damages.  On the plus side, the lakes are getting back to normal levels.

Lake Levels of the previous 5 years


2015.06.10
I probably spend too much time surfing the internet, and one of the portals I frequent is reddit.  Early June, reddit decided it was time to start rolling out subreddit bans for "behavior" issues.  Tons of people are threatening to leave the site.  (Many do end up leaving.)  Many people openly expressing how much they hate the subreddit that hates on _____.  I really don't get this, as I see hate as hate.  You can't fix hate with hate.  Furthermore, suppressing thoughts and ideas is seen as terrorism when it is an attempt to shut down a magazine (see above), but seen as heroism when shutting down a website.  I don't get it.

2015.07.17
Cobra loose in Austin... then found dead.

2015.07.07
Jared accused of inappropriate conduct related to pornography and children.  Further solidifying his fade into obscurity.

2015.07.15
Amazon Prime Day was hyped as "a new black Friday" and turned out to be a garage sale of junk, with little or no discernible discount.  I didn't actually participate; part of my gut instinct to go against the norm.

2015.08.26
News journalists killed during live reporting by crazy person.

2015.09.14
Irving student gets taken out of school due to electronics project, also called "bomb clock".  (Hey, I have that NASA shirt too!)  Student is non-white, allowing the media to latch on and turn this into a racism/stereotyping event, but also a safety-for-everybody-always thing.   The part that upsets me the most is the lack of understanding of electronics.

2015.10.09
Dog bites unattended child. "Irresponsible parents" want dog put down.  "Animal activists" want parents put down.

2015.10.27
Black female student gets pulled out of her chair aggressively by a white male cop.  We are presented a whopping 15 second video, and get to judge and analyze the entire situation.  People upset about police brutality, and violence in schools.  Yay everybody, let's get outraged.

2015.11.04
The media tells us ISIS brings down a flight, attacks France.  France sends missiles to ISIS.  Merry Christmas.

2015.11.17
A person that the majority of humans will never interact with, announces on TV that he has had HIV for years (but not AIDS). People have no sympathy and start the blame game.

2015.12.02
San Bernardino experienced a mass shooting at a company holiday party.  First reaction is to play the blame game (guns, FBI, encryption(?), mental illness, Obama, etc.)  Obama actually made a public statement in response to this because of all the outrage. -- I personally tried to really get away from the media around this time, as I was wrapping up class and work projects, eliminating anything that wasn't crucial to life.  It is highly likely that there is a ton of misinformation going around.



That wraps up everything that I got wind of.  There are likely missed stories as you can see from the gaps in dates... or maybe outrageous news is seasonal... or maybe the media floods us with junk news to hide the real good stuff.

What do you remember from 2015?
Do you think any of the above stories are worthy of our history books?
Have I made a good argument for turning off the TV and getting some fresh air?

1 comment:

Kelcey said...

"Thank me for not making this a shitty slideshow that you have to click through." Yes. That is very annoying. But buzzfeed does at least edit their articles before publishing ;)