The Up-side Of 2020

I think that most people would agree that 2020 was not the best of years.  Aside from causing millions of deaths and sicknesses, COVID-19 has ravaged the world economy, throwing countless people out of work and causing the closure of countless businesses.  And yet, the Halmanator, being an eternal optimist, can find silver linings among even these ponderous clouds.  Here are some positive things that have come out of 2020.

The Environment

At their peak, daily global CO₂ emissions decreased by 26% compared with the mean 2019 levels, according to Nature Climate Change.  During the spring lock-downs, stories abounded about wildlife appearing in deserted city streets.  Aside from finally moving the carbon footprint in the right direction, this also refutes, once and for all, the argument that global warming is not caused by human activity.  The moment human activity is reduced, the carbon footprint decreases.  One couldn't ask for a clearer indication of cause and effect than that.  Perhaps more importantly, this has shown us that we can reduce carbon emissions.  It's not an unattainable goal.  We simply need the collective will to change our energy consumption habits.  The move from gasoline-powered cars to electric cars has been accelerated in many countries, promising a much-needed reduction in fossil fuel consumption within the next decade or so.  That's a definite step in the right direction.

Sharing the Wealth

Because of increased unemployment, many governments introduced some form of government income support until businesses could re-open and resume their activities.  This has shown us the benefits of a universal income program, something which had already been suggested before the pandemic, but which the pandemic may have accelerated.  Several countries are now looking much more seriously at this idea.  It's an improvement over traditional welfare because the recipient isn't penalized for improving his or her financial situation.

In This Together

Most people followed the new health and safety protocols, from wearing masks and frequent hand washing to staying home as much as possible to keeping a safe distance from others.  Many employers adopted a "work from home" policy and made it possible for employees to do so.  Front line workers including health care professionals, police, fire fighters, farmers, truck drivers and even common store clerks and food servers braved and continue to brave the risk of infection on a daily basis so that essential services can be provided.  Many of those with the financial means have donated to charities and food banks to help the less fortunate.  In many cases, the pandemic has brought out the best in people and has reminded us that we're stronger and more effective when we work together.

Trump Dumped

Yes, Donald Trump, that narcissistic, misogynistic, racist, vacuous, soulless, arrogant, jingoistic, narrow-minded, deceitful, elitist charlatan, the worst excuse for a man ever to occupy the office of President of the United States of America, has been voted out of that office.  Even so, he still refuses to accept defeat graciously, which in itself speaks volumes about his deplorable dearth of character.  No matter, the American people have spoken and the word is "go", and don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.  To quote Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka, "You get nothing!  You lose!  Good day sir!"

COVID-19 Vaccines

Not only have several viable COVID-19 vaccines been developed, but this has been accomplished in record time.  Perhaps this signals a new scientific approach that may herald similarly speedy cures for future diseases.  And lets not forget the brave volunteers who helped with early testing by agreeing to receive what was then an as yet untested vaccine so that it could be proven safe and effective.

2020 came with more than its share of challenges.  On that there can be no argument.  Yet it also reminded us of the indomitably of the human spirit, and what we can accomplish when we work together with goodwill and cooperation.  That's a message worth hearing.

Mad As Hell

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a recession. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth. Jobs are going to India. Cops are being gunned down in the street. Terrorists are running wild and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had three suicide bombers and sixty-three people were gunned down on the street, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. 

We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my smart phone and my reality TV and my Pokémon Go and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' 

Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the recession and the inflation and the ISIS and the terrorists in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say: 'I'm a human being, god-dammit! My life has value!'

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. In November, I want you to go to the polls and tell them: 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!'

I want you to get up right now. Sit up. Go to your windows. Open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!...You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the Mexicans and the terrorists and the trade agreements. But first, get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!'

I am, of course, paraphrasing the words of the character Howard Beale; a news announcer from the 1976 movie Network, who was fired because his ratings dwindled, and managed to rebuild his following and keep his job by first announcing that he was going to kill himself on live TV and later giving tirades like the one above.  I am also paraphrasing Donald Trump almost every time he opens his mouth.  Like Howard Beale, Trump has managed to parlay peoples' fear, insecurity and frustration into an unlikely, but surprisingly large, following.  Like Beale, everybody laughed at Trump at first.  They're not laughing anymore.


We do live in troubled times and it is, perhaps, tempting to place our trust in someone who claims that he knows how to fix everything.  It happened in Germany in 1933.  Germany was suffering in the throes of the Great Depression.  Many Germans were unemployed.  The Deutschmark was practically worthless.  A man named Adolph Hitler said that he had the solution to the country's woes.  He promised the people that he would make Germany great again.  "Deutschland muss leben!" he shouted.  And he blamed the economic woes that troubled the land on the "others"; the rich, Jewish bankers who prospered at the expense of the common German people.  His uncommon oratory skills and his fiery, charismatic persona won over much of the German population and propelled him to the head of the Nazi party.  And he did it by playing to peoples' fears and legitimate frustrations.


I am not suggesting that Donald Trump is anything like Adolph Hitler; only that he is borrowing much the same formula that helped Hitler to achieve power.  I do suggest that it behoves those who look on Trump as a straight-talking savior who will make America great again to remember that Howard Beale was indeed "mad as hell".  He was insane.


George Bernard Shaw once quipped that democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve.  American voters may want to keep those words in mind come November.