Just like the year that preceded it, 2009 was a year that
did not like human beings very
much. Everything from the world's economy to people's morals seemed to be on
the decline, and even microscopic virulent creatures appeared to be
conspiring against us. But throughout the resulting mishmash, there were
certain things that kept coming up over and over again some rightfully so
as they
genuinely warranted our attention, and others that simply
refused to go away, despite the fact that we really wanted them to. So, in an
effort to help us understand what this year was all about, here is a look at
the people and events that we could not escape hearing about during 2009:
Swat and Waziristan Operations
"Terror is an idea. You don't fight an idea with a
conventional army. To win a war on terror you have to win the hearts and
minds of people."
--Imran Khan (on Enough Rope with Andrew Denton)
The U.S. might have replaced the term "War on
Terror" with the phrase "Overseas Contingency Operation", but
that didn't change the fact that the underlying problem itself remains
unaffected. While the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq still continue, the issue
unfortunately spilled over into our country, with north-western Pakistan
ending up at the forefront. Army operations against the insurgents focused on
Swat and South Waziristan, displacing nearly two million people in the NWFP;
the IDPs figure still remains at around one million according to the
Internally Displacement Monitoring Centre. And in retaliation, the Taliban
have started a string of militant attacks across Pakistan, killing hundreds
of people across the country.
Barack Obama
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as
Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better
future."
--Norwegian Nobel Committee
The world enthusiastically welcomed the government change
in the U.S. as Barack Obama became the first African American President of
the United States of America, taking the oath of office in an inauguration
ceremony watched by millions of international viewers. Ever since, and
despite the fall in his ratings, the world has been captivated by all things
Obama. Whether he is attending an annual meeting of people who annually meet,
making teleprompter-assisted speeches about all the things he plans to do in
the future, or, umm, killing a fly, none of his actions fail to make
headlines; his every move is scrutinised, every word analysed. Even his
family can't escape the spotlight from first lady Michelle
Obama's fashion sense, to the choice of the family's new puppy, Bo (as had
been promised to daughters Malia and Sasha during the victory speech), no
topic has been left undiscussed. Such is the degree of the world's
infatuation with the new U.S. President that he has even been awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize (despite still overseeing two wars); the Nobel Committee
bestowed this honour on him for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen
international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples", presumably
including his efforts to engage on a global platform with multiple
international visits, as well as plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention
camp and aim to withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Pakistani Judiciary and NRO
"And justice for some."
Politics, as usual, dominated global news throughout the
year the Iran and Afghanistan elections, North Korea's nuclear tests,
U.S. health care reforms
the talking heads never
ran out of things to talk about. Meanwhile, in the little part of the world
that we like to call home, Pakistanis were on a mission to fulfil last year's
mission the reinstatement of the judiciary, and this time their efforts
yielded success. In the midst of a long march, the government finally
announced that the deposed judges would be reinstated and Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry would be restored as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. It might be
interesting to note that it is quite possible that we've heard the word
"judiciary" more times since last year than we had in the rest of
our lives put together; now if everyone starts chanting the word
"electricity", then maybe
Anyway, the next topic on our political issues list was
the NRO the National Reconciliation Ordinance that was issued in 2007 by
the then President Pervez Musharraf. The Ordinance was finally declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court this month, and leaves current
President Asif Ali Zardari in hot water. Make sure you stay tuned for the
next episode of our exciting political reality series Deal or No Deal.
H1N1
"Despite the hysteria, the risk to Britons' health is
tiny but that news won't sell papers or drugs, or justify the WHO's
budget" --Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
As the H1N1 influenza virus made its presence known,
concerns about its virulence started to increase, followed by the media's
completely disproportionate reaction that made it seem like the virus was
going to tear a hole in the fabric of space and time, and signalled the end
of all life in the universe. Panic evidently ensued, further fuelled by
several misconceptions and misinformation, but then someone noticed that the
H1N1 casualty rate was only a small fraction of the annual number of deaths
from seasonal flu worldwide more than 208 countries and territories
reported "laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1
2009" (according to the World Health Organization), and the mortality
rate from the virus has been around 0.026% (according to a report in the
British Medical Journal). So, unless the virus makes a mutated comeback
seeking revenge over these findings, chances are that humankind will endure.
As for the media, they are now in search of something else to panic about.
Twitter
"I tweet so much, sometimes I annoy myself." --Demi
Lovato (@ddlovato)
A few years ago, a bunch of Californians co-founders
Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone in particular decided the world was in need of
another blogging service, only this one would limit the length of updates to
140 characters and basically restrict the updates in every possible way. In
short, they decided to take the status message idea and run with it, and so
in 2006, Twitter was born: a micro-blogging service that merges two recent
fads texting and social networking. Within a year of its launch, the
service had started to gain popularity, but it really started to gain
momentum last year, and then into this year, powered by the presence of
high-profile personalities and being embraced by celebrities (including actor
Ashton Kutcher's much publicized bid to become the first user to amass a
million followers) and the media (to the point where it seems like CNN might
have sold itself to Twitter). And now that we can all find out what Calvin
Harris just had for dinner, all is right with the world. Except that it's
not, and that is where Twitter surprisingly comes in, yet again. The website
has actually helped by serving as a platform to rally against political and
social issues (including the Iranian presidential election protests), and
even brought global attention to issues that might've otherwise gone
unnoticed.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
"But this was no dream, and, unlike the nightmare, I
wasn't running for my life; I was racing to save something infinitely more
precious." --New Moon
It's plain to see that Stephenie Meyer has hit the jackpot
with the Twilight series. It's one big star-crossed love story, featuring a
protagonist who seems to have traded rationality for obsession. Plus it
features vampires and werewolves, therefore it must be amazing. So, following
in the path of the novels that engrossed a whole generation of teenage girls,
the movies too are offering an entertaining way to waste a few hours on an
idle weekend evening. As the latest The Twilight Saga: New Moon was to be
released in November, the year round anticipation by its crazed fans made it
an Internet conversation and search staple throughout the year (it was the
second most searched term of the year according to Yahoo!). With its release,
the second film in the franchise that has propelled Robert Pattinson, Kristen
Stewart, Taylor Lautner to stardom, broke box-office records, despite being
derided by movie critics, and added even more hype to a phenomenon that was
hard to ignore in the first place. Yet, despite its being incessantly
mentioned on the Internet, television and in magazines, New Moon is the sixth
highest grossing film of 2009; the year's top five most successful films (as
of the writing of these words) are: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, 2012,
and Up.
Susan Boyle
"Mediocrity at its finest."
In an industry ruled by talent-challenged pop goddesses
content with using raunchiness to sell records comes the latest annual
media-hyped moneymaking counter-expectations scam from Simon Cowell: Susan
Boyle! The Scottish singer became an overnight global sensation after
appearing on Britain's Got Talent, despite (or perhaps because of) her homely
appearance, much like Paul Potts before her, resulting in her BGT clip on
YouTube getting nearly 2.5 million views in the first 72 hours (it went on to
get nearly 120 million hits during 2009, becoming YouTube's most watched
video of the year). By the finale, though, the audience had presumably moved
on; Susan lost to dance troupe Diversity. But her ugly-duckling story was far
from over; a hospital stay and a makeover later, the singer released her
debut album I Dreamed a Dream, which, according to the record-tracking folks,
has sold a hellovalotov copies, despite boring critics to sleep.
2009 ICC World Twenty20
"It won't be a disaster even if we exit before the
Super Eights. It would be sad if we don't make it, but I have never attached
too much importance to Twenty20 cricket, as it is fun cricket." --Younis
Khan, a few days before Pakistan won the T20 tournament.
I'll be the first to concede that people in 90% of the
world's countries probably have no idea what T20 even stands for, and the
majority of the remaining 10% aren't willing to show more than a cursory
interest in this cricketing format. But as soon as your team actually wins
something, all such considerations go out the window, replaced by irrational
jubilant euphoria. So pardon me for mentioning something here that clearly
wasn't one of the most talked about topics of this or any other year, but how
could I not? We won something. We actually won something, and
wait, it's
unimportant, just-for-fun cricket? Never mind then. :(
Global Economy
"The story of the year was a weak economy that could
have been much, much weaker." --TIME magazine
A handful of economists had been trying to raise concerns
about this for years, but apparently their warnings weren't followed by
enough exclamation points. And so last year, the effect of the reckless
lending practices led to several issues that needed to be translated from
economic English into human English before anyone could make head or tail of
them. The result was an outbreak of economic crises, sending the global
economy into a financial tailspin. Companies failed, jobs were lost,
inflation reached historic levels. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that
the economy became one of the most talked about subjects around the world. As
the year draws to a close, the world seems to be coming out of its financial
hangover, following bailouts of failing businesses and stimulus plans to
combat the economic downturn, and according to analysts, global economic
collapse has been averted. *confetti toss*
Michael Jackson
"Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best
father you could ever imagine. And I just want to say that I love him... so
much" --Paris Katherine Jackson
There was no bigger news this year than the death of
Michael Jackson. The biggest name in the world of music forever changed the
entertainment industry, and despite all his problems and dysfunctions,
remained a pop favourite. As the news of his death emerged, MJ's fans mourned
his talents, but sadly the rumour mills started to spin out of control,
fuelled by tabloids hoping to (as usual) cash in on someone else's
misfortunes, and even further by the public's unfortunate tendency to further
propagate every misinformed detail. A lot of ink and bandwidth was wasted on
farfetched untruths and half-truths about his personal life and children. But
thankfully there were many who chose to ignore the rumours, focus on the
talent, and honour his musical excellence. An estimated worldwide audience of
nearly one billion tuned in to watch MJ's memorial service, and his film This
Is It became the most successful documentary and concert movie of all time.
Other famous people who passed away during the year
include:
- Adam Michael Goldstein, a.k.a. DJ AM (36) musician,
former member of Crazy Town.
- Corazon Aquino (76) politician, 11th President of
the Philippines, first woman to hold the office.
- David Carradine (72) actor, starred in the '70s
television series Kung Fu and the Kill Bill movies.
- Farrah Leni Fawcett (62) actress, best known for her
role as Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels and for her famous hairstyle.
- Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (77)
politician, long serving U.S. senator, youngest brother of John F. Kennedy
and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver (88) sister of Ted Kennedy,
founded the movement that became the Special Olympics.
- Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (27) British reality TV
celebrity.
- Les Paul (94) American guitarist and pioneer
electric guitar developer.
- Natasha Richardson (45) British actress, daughter of
actress Vanessa Redgrave and director/producer Tony Richardson, and wife of
Irish actor Liam Neeson.
- Patrick Wayne Swayze (57) actor, famous for his
performance in the film Dirty Dancing.
- Rob Gauntlet (21) adventurer and mountaineer,
youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest.
- Robert Enke (32) German football goalkeeper.
- Stephen Patrick David Gately (33) singer, member of
Irish band Boyzone.
- Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. (92) broadcast
journalist, known as "the most trusted man in America", ended each
of his CBS Evening News broadcasts with the phrase "...and that's the
way it is" followed by the date.
