Almost everyone in the world will agree that for many different reasons, 2020 sucks. We are only halfway through the year, but, there have been so many awful events that have occurred that have made the year 2020 horrible.
The reasons why 2020 has sucked so far vary from the effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic to Natural Disasters happening around the world to Tragic Deaths of celebrities (whether it was due to COVID-19 or not) to fallouts from major scandals to the ongoing events and protests against Police Brutality, to name a few.
Now, in no particular order, take a look down below and check out 20 Reasons Why 2020 Has Sucked So Far:
Although I stated earlier that the order I listed all of the reasons why this year has been awful so far were in no particular order, there’s no doubt that everyone would cite the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic as the MAIN REASON why 2020 has the been WORST year ever!
For many reasons, the coronavirus pandemic will go down in history as an event that affected everyone and everything in the world and how life changed drastically for a temporary period of time. Some of the impacts of the coronavirus are also included among the reasons why 2020 has been horrible. As of June 21, there have been nearly 9,044,563 cases and 470,665 deaths worldwide so far due to COVID-19.
One of the more recent events to have occurred that is also among the reasons why this year sucks is the murder of George Floyd, an African-American man. It has been _ days since George Floyd was killed in broad daylight after Derek Chauvin (and three other officers at the scene just stood by, watched, & did nothing to stop Chauvin) knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. The encounter was filmed by multiple witnesses at the scene and once the videos showing Floyd’s gruesome and horrific death were posted on social media, they generated global attention as many were left feeling irate about another murder of an African-American by a white police officer.
Floyd’s death sparked a series of ongoing protests (elaborated more in Sections #3 and #4) around the world against police brutality, lack of police accountability, and racism in policing.
George Floyd’s murder is not the only death of an African-American at the hands of white police officers that has sparked outrage. On June 12th, Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed by Garrett Rolfe, an Atlanta Police Department officer, following a fight and escape after a complaint about Brooks asleep in a car blocking a Wendy’s drive-thru.
Once videos of the entire incident and Brooks’s murder were posted on social media, it fueled even more anger around the nation about racism and police brutality. The videos depicting the horrific murders of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks, in addition to the culture of police departments, are among the reasons why people are demanding drastic changes to be made in the justice system.
Police Brutality has been an issue going on for many years in the United States. However, one of the main reasons why this issue has made 2020 suck is due to horrific manners in which several African Americans like George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor, Ahmed Arbery, etc. were murdered by white police officers and citizens.
Floyd’s death sparked a series of protests (which are currently in its 28th day of protesting, as of June 21, the day that this article was written) around the world against police brutality, lack of police accountability, and racism in policing.
Like with police brutality (see above), Racism has been a massive problem in our country (and around the world too) that has been going on far too long. The photo below isBesides educating ourselves on racial justice & antiracism, signing petitions, & having discussions with family and friends, there are still more things that need to be done for these changes to be made.
While we always condemn any racist incidents or remarks that become viral on social media (for the wrong reasons of course), I believe George Floyd’s murder is the straw that broke the camel’s back and I pray that can help make 2020 better by making a plethora of CULTURAL CHANGES across all walks of life.
From the ongoing protests, many videos have circulated on social media of police officers and citizens doing several appalling things that resulted in more anger. From the police officers in Buffalo shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground to cops in Atlanta using excessive force on two black teenagers to racist “Karens”, those are just a few of the many appalling incidents that have brought negative reactions.
Click here to see this list of police brutality videos from the George Floyd protests on Twitter that was compiled by Lawyer T. Greg Doucette and mathematician Jason Miller.
Unless you are a Houston Astros Fan, one of the main reasons why 2020 sucked for baseball fans was due to the results and aftermath of the sign-stealing scandal. An MLB Investigation released in January 2020 revealed that The Astros used technology to steal signs from opposing teams and had an elaborate system set up to alert Astros hitters what kind of pitch was coming from opposing pitchers during the 2017 and 2018 MLB Seasons.
The worst part of the whole thing is the fact that The Astros were able to cheat their way to winning the 2017 World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a result of the MLB’s findings, several people affiliated with The Astros from the 2017-2018 have lost their jobs and some of the apologies made by members of the Astros’ 2017 World Series Winning Team were not sincere.
The scandal dominated the 2019–2020 offseason and the start of 2020 spring training as players and managers of other MLB Teams openly expressed their anger about the whole ordeal and the Astros’ ‘apologies’. Before the coronavirus pandemic resulted in the MLB Season coming to a complete halt during spring training, t fallout of the Houston Astros Sign Stealing Scandal is was what everyone was talking about.
I’m not much of a baseball fan, but due to the fallout from The Sign-Stealing Scandal, I was actually looking forward to see what would happen whenever the Astros played on the road during the 2020 MLB Season.
Even if the coronavirus pandemic didn’t happen, every single person would agree that one of the major reasons why this year really sucked is due to the shocking and tragic death of Kobe Bryant. On January 26, 2020, the NBA Legend, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others, were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas.
The 5-Time NBA Champion’s unexpected death sent massive shockwaves as the entire world mourned his death. The newly inducted NBA Hall of Famer (he is part of the stacked Class of 2020) is survived by his wife Vanessa and their other three daughters Natalia (17-years-old), Bianka (three-years-old), and Capri (turned one on June 20).
The 2019-20 Australian bushfire season took place from June 2019-May 2020. By January 2020, things were turning into the worst in the state of New South Wales (NSW) as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian called for a third state of emergency due to the deadly blazes.
One of the main reasons why The Australian Bushfires were included in this article was due to its horrific impacts as the deadly wildfires burned tens of millions of acres and prompted many cities to evacuate. The deadly wildfires also killed 34 people. Furthermore, it was reported that at least one billion animals were believed to have died in the fires as more than 100 species were in need of “emergency intervention” in order to survive.
Another one of the reasons why 2020 hasn’t been a good year so far is the Stock Market Drop. Amid the growing fears surrounding the coronavirus, US Stocks took a huge plunge on March 16. The Dow fell a sharp 2,997 points, which was the biggest drop since 1987.
Given the fact that President Trump as a history of being a racist (there’s even an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to his racial views), (as much I hate to say this) I am not surprised by his response to George Floyd’s murder and the ongoing protests and events related to racial tensions and police brutality.
The president of our country tweeted conspiracy theories about a 75-year-old man being shoved to the ground by police officers and has police and National Guard troops used tear gas and other riot control tactics to forcefully clear peaceful protesters so he could have a clear path to walk to a church for a photo opp (see the photo below) with the Bible. Both incidents are not only appaling, but are also further dividing our country and making racism in our country much worse.
Along with how he has handled the ongoing protests and events related to racial tensions and police brutality, how President Trump has handled the coronavirus pandemic is appalling.
From calling the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus” (which has led to an increase in hate crimes towards Asian Americans) to not wearing a mask in public to hosting a campaign rally (which has been condemned by the media and public for various reasons) as the number of COVID-19 cases spiked, those are just a couple of the incidents that make Trump’s response to the pandemic one of the reasons why 2020 has sucked so far.
Another one of the reasons why 2020 has sucked so far that’s related to the coronavirus is the postponement and/or cancellation of many music festivals and concerts, which fall under the category of events with large gatherings. The reasons for these measures are due to the need of keeping up with social distancing practices and minimizing potential exposure to the coronavirus.
Many artists and bands have canceled and postponed their concerts and/or tours. In addition, popular music festivals such as Coachella (see the photo below) and Stagecoach, which are normally held in April, were initially rescheduled to take place in October. However, public health officers from Riverside County (where Indio, the city that both events take place in) stated earlier this month that both Coachella 2020 and Stagecoach 2020 will be canceled altogether. Furthermore, other popular summer music festivals that were canceled due to reasons related to COVID-19 include Lollapalooza, Gov Ball, and Summerfest, to name a few.
Another one of the reasons why 2020 has sucked and is related to The Coronavirus Pandemic is the restrictions on traveling. When the coronavirus began spreading all over the world, many countries, such as Italy, The United States, Spain, Plans, and El Salvador, to name a few, issued national lockdowns and travel restrictions. The reasons for these measures were to slow the spread of the disease.
While some countries and parts of the United States are easing these restrictions and slowly reopening, it is still a huge risk to go on vacation. As a result, hardly anyone will be going on summer vacation during the coming months.
Many professional sports leagues and sports events around the world have been suspended, postponed, or canceled in the wake of the coronavirus. Although some professional sports leagues and competitions are slowly returning, there are still many concerns as too when or if the other professional sports leagues will come back.
As I said earlier, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had major effects on professional sports. Along with The Copa America and The UEFA EURO Football (Soccer in The United States) Tournaments now taking place in 2021, another one of this year’s major sporting events being postponed to the dismay of sports fans is The 2020 Summer Olympics.
The Olympic Games (both Summer and Winter) are watched by billions of people around the world. Among the reasons why people are heavily invested in The Olympics include the personal stories of the competing athletes, the Opening Ceremony, upsets occurring, and seeing some of our favorite athletes win The Olympic Gold Medal, to name a few.
The upcoming Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were originally supposed to be held from July 24 to August 9, will now take place during next summer from July 23 to August 8, 2020. Although The Olympics will now be held during Summer 2021, it will still retain the name Tokyo 2020 for marketing and branding reasons.
The Tokyo Olympics will feature 339 events in 33 different sports, encompassing a total of 50 disciplines. It is expected that around 206 countries and 11,091 athletes (male and female) will compete. Although everyone (especially the athletes) is upset about the delay of The Olympics, one of the positives to come from the postponement is that the athletes who already qualified for the 2020 Summer Games will get to retain their spot in 2021.
The US military, acting under the orders of Donald Trump, Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed via a drone strike on January 2. As reported by Business Insider: “The US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani (the man in the portrait below), the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,” the Pentagon said in a statement at the time, adding that the strike was “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
Tensions between the two nations increased six days later when Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched missile attacks against two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. soldiers in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani. Although there were no casualties, one of the reasons why these two incidents have made 2020 awful was that it almost resulted in World War III.
The Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 crash happened on May 22 after the plane crashed in Model Colony, a heavily populated residential area near Jinnah International Airport (the flight’s destination). Of the 99 people (eight crew members and 91 passengers) on board the aircraft, 97 were killed and only two people survived with injuries. Eight people on the ground were also injured, and only one of them died (the death occurred ten days after the plane crash).
In the months leading up to the 45th César Awards (the French equivalent of The Oscars) the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma had to deal with the controversy and protests that lead to the resignation of the entire board of The César Academy two weeks before the ceremony. In an open letter that was signed by 400 of France’s leading filmmakers and actors, signees were upset over the César Academy’s dysfunctional leadership as its’ members can only vote for the awards the academy hands out, not for the organization’s leadership.
Also, another one of the main reasons that this year’s César Awards caused so much controversy was due to the fact that Roman Polanski’s film J’accuse earned the most nominations with 12, which caused outrage amongst those working in the French Film Industry and French Feminists. The reasons for this outrage was due to the Oscar-winning director being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl and fleeing the US in 1978 before he could be sentenced. Polanski has been living in exile in France since. Leading up to the ceremony, more women came forward with allegations accusing the director of rape.
Although Polanski didn’t attend the 45th César Awards (to avoid a ‘public lynching’ by feminist activists), that didn’t stop protesters gathering outside of the venue where the ceremony was held to express their anger. When it was announced that Polanski won The Best Director Award, many people walked out in disgust (see the video below), including Actress Adèle Haenel (who was nominated for Best Actress for her role in Portrait of a Lady on Fire), who was reportedly heard saying “Bravo, pedophilia!”, as she walked out.
Although The Election isn’t until November, I am still including it as one of my reasons why this year as gone wrong due to how unclear the race will turn out. I don’t want to cause any controversy on this website by explaining why the “Unknown” of what the results of the 2020 Presidential Election might bring will be bad.
However, I will recommend that readers to go back read Reasons #2-6, 11, and 12 as they give enough thoughts (without expressing it directly) as to how the unknown results of the election could potentially be bad.
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