NEWS

12 Of The Most ‘Peak 2018’ Things That Have Happened, So Far

This is the longest year I’ve ever endured, and we’re only six months in. Judging from the general atmosphere on Twitter, I’m not alone.

Here are some of the most iconic moments of the year (so far) which truly capture the essence of 2018: a heady mixture of political unrest, rampant racism, trolls, social media and gaudy celebrities.

We’re living in the end times — but at least there’s plenty of comedic material.

12. Dennis Rodman visiting North Korea for Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un’s summit.

The fact that Rodman later gave an emotional and tear-filled interview about how pleased he was that his longtime pal Kim Jong-un was finally being acknowledged by the United States was just the cherry on top of one of the year’s weirdest news moments.

11. Trolls lying about injuries they supposedly received from Black Panther audience members — and getting called out for it.

I don’t know what’s more classically “2018”: A.) the blatant racism, B.) the sheer frenzy surrounding Black Panther, or C.) the fact that all of these liars got their asses called out on Twitter. Either way, this story is very 2018, in both the best and worst possible ways.

10. Everyone’s weird sexual obsession with the creature from The Shape of Water.

Even though Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water won the Oscar for Best Picture this year, the movie was definitely somewhat divisive among viewers: either you were creeped out by the idea of having sex with an amphibious creature, or … you were super into it. And I am here to remind you that a fair number of people were SUPER. INTO. THE FISH F**KING.

9. Teenagers joking about wanting to eat Tide Pods and the media’s subsequent frantic coverage of the “trend.”

https://lemonshaped.tumblr.com/post/168742303396/my-heart-is-saying-they-taste-like-gushers-but-my

I don’t feel like revisiting this in detail, but suffice it to say: what started out as a Tumblr joke among teens soon turned into a bizarre and inexplicable fad during which people both joked about and actually went through with eating Tide Pods. The company eventually released a statement telling everybody to cut it out, and that Tide Pods were not meant for consumption. Because people are terrible (and maybe deserve to eat soap if they’re so inclined).

8. Kanye West declaring that slavery was “a choice.”

Kanye spouted off some pretty racist sh*t this year, in addition to speaking out in support of Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, the public responded to the new incendiary Kanye but giving one giant collective shrug when his new album came out in June.

7. 3 Doors Down getting a White House commemorative coin for their performance at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Remember when Trump couldn’t find any actual musicians willing to perform at his inauguration, so 3 Doors Down was the final choice for the job? Well, the band now has a commemorative White Houe coin in honor of their performance.

We are living in hell.

6. Fox News maligning the Parkland shooting survivors simply because they called for gun control.

Fox News hosts did a fair amount of moral gymnastics after the Parkland shooting in an attempt to appease their NRA-lovin’ viwers — this involved taunting the Parkland student survivors who vocalized their support for gun control. Always a weird move to mock the victims of gun violence, but if anyone’s gonna do it, it’s Fox News!

5. Everyone getting angry about Michelle Wolf’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

When Michelle Wolf dared to imply that Sarah Huckabee Sanders was perhaps complicit in the Trump administration’s lies (saying that her makeup look was achieved by burning facts and using the ashes to create a “perfect smokey eye”), many people made quite a show of clutching their pearls. On the other hand, um, saying that someone is wearing smokey eye makeup is not an insult, nor is it completely off-base to say that Sanders disregards facts. So, I’m not sure why everyone got so fussy about these jokes, but the whole debacle seemed like a decidedly “snowflake” reaction.

4. A self-driving Uber hitting and killing a pedestrian.

Yep: we’re living in the future and self-driving cars are now yet another thing we get to worry about being listed as our “Cause of Death.”

3. The manufacturers of Ambien refuting Roseanne’s claims that taking the drug somehow made her racist.

Seriously, brand Twitter is killing it this year — and the best example of this is when the manufacturers of Ambien shut down Roseanne Barr’s excuse that her racially insensitive comments on Twitter were the result of taking the drug. Sorry, girl — that excuse is as flimsy as your career prospects right now.