Is it just us or has 2010 been a major drag? In honor of our cynicism, Metro counts down a list of all the terrible things that happened over the past year.
Keep in mind this list is relative to our experiences. For instance: If you were killed in the Chile earthquake-tsunami one-two punch, you’d probably rank that incident as worse than, say, the Gibson rant. But we weren’t, so there.
10 Haiti
The island nation due south of the United States is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, so did they really need to be hit by a massive earthquake, followed not too much later by a cholera epidemic? C’mon, universe, cholera??That’s a punchline, not a real disease.
9 Toyota recall
Toyota used to be quite the reputable little car company. Then all their cars broke. Then more broke, somehow, and then later, even more. This news story haunted us for months.
8 Icelandic volcano
For most Americans, the most noteworthy thing about this story was how impossible it is to correctly pronounce the name of the offending volcano: Say it with us now, “AY-yah-fyah-lah-YOH-kuul.” Also, no one in Europe could travel. Ouch.
7 TSA
First they body-scanned us. Then it was the too-close-for-comfort pat downs. And you thought it couldn’t get any worse than the liquids restriction! They only one hefting more packages this year was Santa.
6 Lost
Remember that show we loved so much? Then it ended and we were all: “Wha?”
5 Chile disasters
Some 800 people died in the wake of a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that then became a tsunami. Sucks.
4 Bullying
We’ve all been bullied at one point in our lives, but 2010 really brought the issue to the forefront following the suicide of gay Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi.
3 Mel Gibson
Mad Max has gone well and truly mad. The hateful, invective-filled rant to ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva was the last straw.
2 Bristol Palin on ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Not too get all hate-y on the Palin crew, but the simple fact is that Bristol dances worse than a one-legged man with ants in his pants.
And the worst thing of the year …
1 BP?oil spill
Was there ever any doubt that the event described repeatedly as “the worst ecological disaster in U.S. history” would take the No. 1 spot in this list? Did you even have any idea how many pelicans there were in the Gulf? Now imagine two solid months of writing head-lines that basically just repeat the idea that all animal life in the seas between the U.S. and Mexico has been extinguished. Whereas 2009 was the year of “drill, baby, drill,” 2010 was dominated with cries to end the practice. And in the end, nothing changed.
