The year 2012 has been filled with the likes of Honey Boo Boo, elections, sex scandals, movies and the impending apocalypse. For the lack of better words, this year has left its mark in history.
We started off the year with the fear of not being able to access the illegal content distributed on foreign websites. The Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) were two nearly identical bills that attempted to stop the spreading of copyrighted content. On Jan. 18, over 7,000 websites, including all 3.8 million English Wikipedia articles, participated in a 24-hour web site blackout in protest of SOPA/PIPA. On January 20, a decision was postponed and nothing ever came from the proposed bills.
At the 84th Academy Awards on Feb. 26, the black and white French film, The Artist, was nominated for 10 awards and won five: Film of the Year, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Costume Design and Best Original Score.
The same night of the Academy Awards, George Zimmerman, the appointed neighborhood watch coordinator of a gated community in Florida, shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African-American. The shooting received national and international attention. The trial for Zimmerman is set for June 10, 2013.
On March 5, Invisible Children Inc. released a short film entitled Kony 2012. The film was to promote the “Stop Kony” movement by making Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan cult, well known enough to have him arrested by the end of the year. The film went viral and collected over 94 million views and even gained support from 37 American senators.
On March 23, the film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games was released. Worldwide, the film earned $686,533,290 and in North America, it became the highest-grossing film released outside the summer or holiday period.
On April 2, the 2012 NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball tournament was concluded with Kentucky beating Kansas 67-59 in New Orleans.
A dozen Secret Service officers, agents and supervisors were involved in the Colombia prostitution scandal on April 12. The prostitution scandal created a serious stir in the media for much of the year.
Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering on May 18. The IPO was the biggest in Internet history. Now, Facebook is a public entity and company stock can be bought.
Former Penn State University assistant football coach, Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 of 48 child molestation charges. The case led to the downfall of long-term head coach Joe Paterno.
The Supreme Court upheld Obama’s health care law, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as Obamacare), on June 28. The law has been described as the most “sweeping change” in America’s healthcare system for over 50 years. The mandate requires Americans to buy health insurance before 2014 or they’ll face a fine. In response, 26 states sued because they felt the requirement was unconstitutional.
Gangnam Style swept the world on July 15 when it was released on YouTube. By November, the South Korean song became the most viewed music video in the history of the site.
During the midnight screening of The Dark Night Rises July 20, a mass shooting occurred at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colo. James Eagan Holmes was arrested after setting off tear gas grenades and shooting into the audience with multiple firearms. Holmes was dressed as “The Joker” and killed 12 people, injuring 58.
From July 27- Aug. 12, the Summer Olympics were held in London. The United States was represented by 530 athletes. The U.S. came home with 46 Gold medals, 29 Silver medals and 29 Bronze medals. Michael Phelps returned as the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with a total of 22 medals, and 16-year-old gymnast Gabby Douglas became the fourth U.S. female to win the individual all-around.
Honey Boo Boo invaded cable television on Aug. 8 with her show Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The series was one of TLC’s highest rated shows in its first season and gained over 2.2 million viewers.
Former Missouri Congressman, Todd Akin, stirred controversy during his Senate race by stating that if a woman is “legitimately raped” then her body will shut the “whole thing down” and rarely get pregnant. His comments led to his loss to the Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill for the Senate.
After the Chicago Teachers Union failed to expand art and music programs for inner-city schools, 29,000 teachers began a strike on Sept. 10. The teachers also hoped for contract negotiations for an increase in pay, better benefits and protection from losing jobs to school closures. By Sept. 14, the teachers finally reached an agreement with the city and students began to return to schools on Sept. 19.
During the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, a heavily-armed group attacked the U.S. group in Libya on Sept. 11. U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, three members of the mission, U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith and U.S. embassy security personnel Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods were murdered. Although the attacks were strongly condemned by the U.S. government, criticism surrounded the U.S. government response accusing them of overplaying the role of protests against a trailer for the controversial anti-Islamic movie and the government reluctance to label it as a terrorist attack.
The NFL and the NFL Referees Association continued their labor dispute until an agreement was settled on Sept. 26. Due to the lockout, the NFL resorted to the use of replacement officials for the start of the 2012 season that had previously worked as high school, college, arena and lingerie league referees. The inexperienced referees made quite a few officiating errors spurring negative reactions and ultimately speeding up the lockout process.
Apple released the iPhone 5 on Sept. 21 and the demand, despite the $649 starting price, was through the roof.
Children education activist, 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck by Taliban gunmen as she was returning home from school on a school bus in Pakistan. Malala has been a symbol for the United Nations to promote the demand that children worldwide be in school by 2015.
On Oct. 22, cycling legend Lance Armstrong was stripped of all seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport’s governing body due to the use of steroids. Armstrong denies the allegations but has lost longtime sponsors Nike, Trek Bicycles and Anheuser-Busch. He has also stepped down from his cancer awareness charity, Livestrong.
Also on Oct. 22, Hurricane Sandy, a hurricane that devastated portions of the Caribbean and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, formed. The storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record and is considered the second most costly Atlantic hurricane, behind Hurricane Katrina.
The presidential election was held Nov. 6 where the Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden were elected to a second term. Obama carried 26 states and Washington D.C. as well as receiving 65,464,068 popular votes (51.0 percent) and getting 332 Electoral votes. The major challenger, Republican and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was able to carry 24 states, 60,781,275 popular votes (47.3 percent) and earned 206 electoral votes. The election was regarded as the most expensive in history The election was filled with mudslinging comments and advertisements. Notable points that stirred public attention were Obama’s sub-par performance in the first debate, Romney’s out-of-context comment about having “binders full of women,” as well as Donald Trump’s public challenges over Obama’s eligibility and citizenship.
The election produced ground-breaking steps as voters endorsed same-sex marriage in four states and the legalization of marijuana in two. The legalization of gay marriage and recreational marijuana use is a big change in American society and foreshadows upcoming dramatic changes in policy.
CIA Director David Petraeus resigned Nov. 9 after citing his affair with the principal author of his biography, Paula Broadwell. The affair was discovered following an FBI investigation after a family friend of the Petraeuses received some threatening emails later traced to Broadwell.
The last of the Twilight movies was released Nov. 16 with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2. The release of the last film has earned an estimate of $751,135,000 worldwide. It had a $340.9 million worldwide opening, the eighth largest opening ever.
Also on Nov. 16, Hostess Brands announced that it was ceasing plant operations and laying off most of its 18,500 employees. Hostess intends to sell off all its assets, brand names and liquidate.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher died on Dec. 1 after a murder-suicide where he killed his girlfriend and mother of his 3-month-old child before driving to the Chiefs training facility and killing himself after thanking general manager Scot Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel. Belcher’s death raised national attention after NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas spoke of gun control while discussing the murder-suicide.
The next generation born this year have unique names to say the least with “Blue Ivy Carter,” “Lorenzo Dominic,” “Penelope Scotland,” “Hashtag Jameson,” “Tennessee,” and “Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence”.
As a year, it’s been real. See you all next year, unless we all die on Dec. 21 when the Mayan calendar ends. Then, c’est la vie!