FacebookApparently someone switched the default setting of 2016 to ‘Shit Show’.
We can all agree it’s been a pretty tumultuous year. We’ve seen divisive political upheaval and the loss of many beloved talents. We’ve seen humanitarian crisis upon conflict upon killing.
While it all feels pretty bleak on a global scale, one man has had enough of the world’s whining and has taken to Facebook in a profanity-filled rage to remind us all about the good things that happened in 2016.
Right, Fuck it, I'm done with 'OMG 2016 was terrible', here's some fucking awesome things that happened, you're welcome,…
Posted by Matt Strange on Saturday, 24 December 2016
Wishing us all a ‘Merry fucking Christmas’, Matt Strange writes about all the wonderful things the world witnessed – or chose to ignore – in 2016.
He paints a picture of a healthier, happier world where technological advancements save lives, people respect the planet and wild giant pandas gamble around China falling off things and getting turned into viral videos.
GIPHYMoreover, these aren’t the ramblings of a drunk man sitting in an armchair in the corner, watching his family enjoy Christmas… Strange makes a good point, well, and he’s done his research.
According to the World Health Organisation:
Globally, the child mortality rate has decreased by 53 per cent, from an estimated rate of 91 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990 to 43 deaths per 1000 live births in 2015.
The numbers of children under five-years-old dying continued to fall in 2016.
A recent study conducted by Cancer Research UK presented data showing that long-term survival for patients with pancreatic cancer could indeed be increased from 16 per cent to 29 per cent; an even more compelling figure than the one Strange cautiously points out in his rant.
It has also been a great year for foreign aid, with Obama pledging a record-breaking $38 billion in military aid over a decade to Isreal.
While some of Strange’s assertions are true, and backed up with evidence, we can’t confirm the validity of everything he says.
Some are more difficult to quantify such as global suicide rates and China’s commitment to being ‘completely renewable’.
But there’s always something else to be happy about…
https://www.facebook.com/matt.strange.142/posts/10157986411460187?pnref=story
The Christmas Eve festive rant has since gone viral, with nearly 50,000 reactions and 26,000 shares at the time of writing; and you can see why.
Strange held up a mirror to our moaning and called time on it.
Actually, the worst thing about 2016 – and perhaps why the year felt so terrible – was our universally outraged, upset and hate-filled reactions to anything and everything.
GIPHYSo perhaps when people talk about the year in which Donald Trump was elected President and Leonardo DiCaprio finally won his Oscar, they’ll talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.
After all, while 2016 feels pretty dark, the world has gone through worse and come out of it stronger. Just be grateful it’s not 1939 again.
Cheers to 2016… You’re not all bad.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.