2009: A Bad Year to be a Celebrity, Closing the Door on an Ugly Decade in American History
Is it just me or was 2009 a particularly bad year to be a celebrity?
It seems like more than a few of them met an untimely end. Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, Natasha Richardson, Steve McNair, Billy Mays, and now Brittany Murphy. Were any of them over the age of 60? And that's not to mention the ones who, let's face it, were getting on a bit in years: John Updike, Bea Arthur, Ted Kennedy, Ed McMahon, Dom DeLuise, Jack Kemp. I know I've left somebody out.
Then of course you got your Bombshell Sex Scandals, like what Tiger Woods and Dave Letterman found themselves involved in this year. I don't even OWN A T.V. and still these things popped up on my radar screen.
I'm sure a lot of people are going to be glad to see 2009 go. The financial crisis didn't improve so much as it just failed to get worse after a certain point. You or at least someone you know lost a job this year. Obama seemed to have stemmed the blood flow early on with the stimulus, but it remains to be seen whether it'll get any better any time soon. Public Healthcare was basically defeated in Congress. Swine Flu raged. Wars went on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're now sending more troops to Afghanistan. Yowza! Need I continue? I don't really want to.
I'm not gonna draw any vast conclusions such as: The End of the World is Coming. But I think it's safe to say, we as a nation are at an entirely different place than we were on the eve of 2000, ten years ago. But then again, considering what followed (Tech Bubble, Sept. 11, Afghanistan & Iraq Wars, Financial Crisis), maybe that's okay. Maybe the '10s are going to be better than the '00s. In fact, I sure as hell hope so. I think the '00s started pretty well, but are going to be remembered, perhaps as the worst decade in American history. Or, if not the worst, then one of the ugliest.
It seems like more than a few of them met an untimely end. Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, Natasha Richardson, Steve McNair, Billy Mays, and now Brittany Murphy. Were any of them over the age of 60? And that's not to mention the ones who, let's face it, were getting on a bit in years: John Updike, Bea Arthur, Ted Kennedy, Ed McMahon, Dom DeLuise, Jack Kemp. I know I've left somebody out.
Then of course you got your Bombshell Sex Scandals, like what Tiger Woods and Dave Letterman found themselves involved in this year. I don't even OWN A T.V. and still these things popped up on my radar screen.
I'm sure a lot of people are going to be glad to see 2009 go. The financial crisis didn't improve so much as it just failed to get worse after a certain point. You or at least someone you know lost a job this year. Obama seemed to have stemmed the blood flow early on with the stimulus, but it remains to be seen whether it'll get any better any time soon. Public Healthcare was basically defeated in Congress. Swine Flu raged. Wars went on in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we're now sending more troops to Afghanistan. Yowza! Need I continue? I don't really want to.
I'm not gonna draw any vast conclusions such as: The End of the World is Coming. But I think it's safe to say, we as a nation are at an entirely different place than we were on the eve of 2000, ten years ago. But then again, considering what followed (Tech Bubble, Sept. 11, Afghanistan & Iraq Wars, Financial Crisis), maybe that's okay. Maybe the '10s are going to be better than the '00s. In fact, I sure as hell hope so. I think the '00s started pretty well, but are going to be remembered, perhaps as the worst decade in American history. Or, if not the worst, then one of the ugliest.
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