2016 was quite a rough road as a year, and looking back over our archives I see hope and optimism, sharp pop culture commentary, worry, and confrontation of some of the year’s darkest events. Picking just seven posts isn’t entirely fair to all of the great work we published this year, but I had a go anyway. Following are some reader favourites of 2016, and a few of ours as well.
1. Taxing opiates will not fix America’s addiction problems
With the legalisation of marijuana across multiple states and a complicated conversation about opioid use in America underway, drug policy is going to be big next year. We seek out commentary from writers like Anna Hamilton, who sees a side of opioid use that is unfamiliar to many Americans and writes compellingly on the case for sensible, evidence-based opioid policy.
The collapsing of two separate issues—opiate abuse and addiction versus the correct use of opiates in treating chronic pain—into one seems problematic. Ignoring the differences between these issues is not a new thing; politicians, heads of government agencies such as the CDC and FDA, and the media have been turning the focus to the pain pill addiction that, we are told, has been affecting “ordinary Americans” for years, while leaving out Americans with chronic pain who use opiate medications to responsibly manage physical pain.
2. No Sex Please, We’re British: Pandora Blake Battles UK Censorship
Correspondent Lauren Wissot regularly interviews some of the best and brightest in documentary filmmaking and beyond. The subject matter Wissot explores ranges from transgender wrestlers to, well, sexy movies. And in Britain this year, there was a great deal of controversy over the government’s attempt to censor what kind of sex pornographers were allowed to show.
It starts to make sense when you look at it in the context of comments made by Pete Johnson, CEO of the Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD) – the video on demand regulator that oversaw the introduction of the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) regulations, and zealously enforced them. He noted that even sites based overseas might be illegal if downloaded in the UK. He seemed to be paving the way for a system under which all international websites available to view from the UK would need to register with ATVOD – effectively creating a Great Firewall for the UK.
3. What “The Worst Tweet” tells us about internet culture
Feminist commentator and critic Sady Doyle is a powerful voice to watch — she’s going to be on feminist theory bookshelves everywhere by the end of the decade, and her debut book, Trainwreck, came out earlier this year. One cause that’s been particularly close to her throughout her career is the abuse of women online, and how quickly something like an offhand comment on Twitter can spiral out of control.
I’m supposed to come in here with a moral. Right? Here’s the part where I give you my analysis. I tell you what’s wrong. I tell you that sexism is very bad, and harassment isn’t a price you should have to pay for existing online. But I can’t. I have said those two things, over and over, for years, and my friends still keep getting doxed. It doesn’t matter what I tell you. Very few facts will change because of what I say. The real fact is, as I type this, I am shaking. I can’t tell what’s making me shake. It’s rage, maybe. Or disgust. Or simple guilt. I can’t get it out of my head. What I could have done differently, to protect my friend.
4. It’s not just a cartoon: why satire should come of age
In hideously dark times, satire can be a wonderful way to comment on the world around us, because sometimes, everything is so awful that all you can really do to cope is laugh about it. But not all satire is created equal, and writer Naima Morelli argues that artists confronting the new age need to think more carefully about how they craft satire, lest it become a tool of oppression.
I’m suggesting that cartoonists must evolve. Or, if they keep on being in denial of the times we are facing and their complexities, they should just be pushed aside. Change is needed because in today’s visually-led society, cartoonists have an unprecedented power of communicating with everyone with an internet connection. For this very reason, they can’t afford to be irresponsible, sloppy, complacent, cynical, generic, naïve. Cartoonists are required to acknowledge their power, role and responsibility in society. This calls for much more than simply having drawing skills. It calls for empathy.
5. 7 things straight people aren’t understanding about Orlando
After the devastating Pulse Nightclub shooting this summer, columnist Philippa Willits wrote what went on to become one of our most read posts of all time — she certainly struck a nerve with readers who wanted something that resonated with their experience of profound grief, or wanted to learn more about how to support the LGBQT community.
In a discussion with friends, the same themes about LGBT venues came up repeatedly: you don’t have to hide yourself, that DIY scenes deal with intersections, male dominance and other oppressions more effectively, you can avoid *those* men, they are places where you can be who you are, they are often the only spaces we have that serve that purpose, they are often inaccessible to disabled people, and they were hard fought-for and hard won by previous generations of LGBT activists.
6. We have a precedent for a Muslim registry: The Japanese internment camps
Writer Louise Hung undertook a heroic and detailed project with this piece, which explored how America teaches about the Japanese internment camps of the 1940s. She talked to people from across the United States, of all ages, to get a sense of how the country confronts — or doesn’t — its dark past. As we face conversations about whether the nation should have a ‘Muslim registry,’ (hint: it shouldn’t), this piece is a particularly important look at what isn’t just the past, but also a potential future.
Of course, some tried to rationalize that the reason it wasn’t properly taught in American schools was because it is such a shameful part of our history; that “America” wants to “understandably” sweep it under the rug. While it was pretty unanimous that the internment was an atrocity enacted upon Americans whose only crime was being of Japanese descent, some voiced a sympathetic understanding of why it usually isn’t taught properly in schools. “Our [non-Japanese] parents and grandparents lived with the Japanese camps, observed it firsthand,” one person reasoned. “Maybe people are embarrassed? Do we judge them? [past generations] They were told to be afraid, as Americans.”
7. I’ve only caught one Pokémon, and not just due to server issues
Who could forget the way Pokémon Go captivated the nation? The highly interactive, engaging game spurred endless reams of newsprint on all manner of happenings. But, gaming journalist Josh Boykin notes, there was a world beyond the game, and sometimes it existed in tension with pure enjoyment.
But this close to these two shootings…as a black man, it just somehow felt irresponsible, irreverent to lose myself in childhood nostalgia. Each Pokémon GO post I saw also brought up a twinge of resentment, as if, for some, yesterday was just another day. It felt as if in some people’s minds, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile made the final, fast-paced journey from person to hashtag, making them roughly as important as leaks about the new Samsung Galaxy phone (maybe). A certain part of me resented the idea that there were people who could not take these shootings personally, that learning about the events and reading the reactions online didn’t make them feel less safe in the world.
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Photo: Gideon Tsang/Creative Commons