Poll of the Day > What does it take for a year to be good/bad/significant?

(+) Yeah! (+)

"That was a crazy year! In a bad way. I can't wait for the new year! Good riddance to a year that fuckin' sucked."

We say that a lot nowayears. But what goes into the substance of a year to make it notable at all? What has to happen? What would a good year look like?

the less controversial the year, the more people like it

trump, covid death toll, and masking inconvenience are probably the deciding factors on whether the last 5~ years sucked or not for the majority of people

There's a personal and a general level. A year can be horrible on a personal level, yet unremarkable outside the personal level. Conversely, things can go a direction people dislike and it's the worst year ever in a general sense.

With the exception of people profiting from the pandemic (or somehow benefiting), the past few years have been generally terrible for that alone. However, something like a global pandemic is a pretty rare thing.

agesboy posted...

the less controversial the year, the more people like it

trump, covid death toll, and masking inconvenience are probably the deciding factors on whether the last 5~ years sucked or not for the majority of people

Count_Drachma posted...

There's a personal and a general level. A year can be horrible on a personal level, yet unremarkable outside the personal level. Conversely, things can go a direction people dislike and it's the worst year ever in a general sense.

With the exception of people profiting from the pandemic (or somehow benefiting), the past few years have been generally terrible for that alone. However, something like a global pandemic is a pretty rare thing.

So what would a good year look like? Did we ever have one?

pick any of the obama years

even if you hated the guy, you probably liked the years more than what we have right now

agesboy posted...

pick any of the obama years

even if you hated the guy, you probably liked the years more than what we have right now

I prefer the Bush Jr. years. But these years, like the Obama years, weren't good or bad because of who the President was.

I think it gets voted on by the poll of the day and that decides

ItsKaljinyuTime posted...

So what would a good year look like? Did we ever have one?

I feel like on a global level there are only okay and bad years, where any good comes from things not being bad. But it's also easier for a global bad to happen than a global good, given that bad things can be universal whereas good things are often limited. For example, it's unlikely that there'll ever be a year when every single nation prospers, but it's not terribly hard to have a year when every single nation suffers (which we saw with COVID)

agesboy posted...

pick any of the obama years

even if you hated the guy, you probably liked the years more than what we have right now

Those were pretty lousy years. And keep in mind that timeframe includes the Great Recession.

ItsKaljinyuTime posted...

I prefer the Bush Jr. years. But these years, like the Obama years, weren't good or bad because of who the President was.

And that time-frame includes the previous recession... as well as the Great Recession. And 9/11. But, beyond that, the years were kinda okay. Far fewer race riots, anyway. The Obama years sometimes felt like things were constantly being set on fire. And the Obama administration always waited as long as possible before doing any kind of intervention.

Count_Drachma posted...

I feel like on a global level there are only okay and bad years, where any good comes from things not being bad. But it's also easier for a global bad to happen than a global good, given that bad things can be universal whereas good things are often limited. For example, it's unlikely that there'll ever be a year when every single nation prospers, but it's not terribly hard to have a year when every single nation suffers (which we saw with COVID)

Those were pretty lousy years. And keep in mind that timeframe includes the Great Recession.

And that time-frame includes the previous recession... as well as the Great Recession. And 9/11. But, beyond that, the years were kinda okay. Far fewer race riots, anyway. The Obama years sometimes felt like things were constantly being set on fire. And the Obama administration always waited as long as possible before doing any kind of intervention.

9/11 united a nation. Even the pot smokingest hippies wanted to kill Bin Laden.

A good year for me would have been me being in better health than I am now

I thought this year was super shitty and it had nothing to do with politics.

Was 2022 good? I dunno: the Ukraine war, while horrible, has given me some hope for Western society. American life was fairly unaffected by COVID.

But inflation sucked. And the slow decline of rational politics/civilization is a continuing bummer. Meh.