is 2016 the worst year in human history?

"Another bombardment? This is definitely the darkest timeline."

The General Government actually issued a tourist guidebook to occupied Poland in '43. And it wasn't unheard of that middle class German families would travel to sites of genocide and point and stare. I'd guess this type of behaviour isn't unprecedented throughout history.

Great Bengal Famine. Good old British Empire, gawd bless you, Ma'am.

"The disaster of global communism also seems to have crushed any energy human beings might have had for collective action, especially on a global scale, "

tris do u really believe that humans have never acted in a collective manner outside of the historically applied frameworks grouped under communism

do u also separately think that humans have been subject to a 'global scale' - if that is any different than any notional scale of magnitude encompassing the attention bounds of yr homo sapiens ito where dinner is coming from on any timeline u wish- for long enough to be making generalities about it as a concept also lads trump is kinda a dead horse will ye fucking stop

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oh ferfuxsake

on the other hand:

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so there you have it, 2016 is clearly more than twice as bad as 1941.

i think it's more like, throughout the cold war capitalism was seen as the economic system that went along with democracy. fighting despotism meant fighting communism. being part of the global community meant embracing certain kinds of free trade ideals, or securing the rights of corporations to do business with each other across state lines. this paradigm has more to offer it than communists would admit -- trade helps secure peace; growth, even when achieved under exploitative conditions, pulls people out of poverty -- but it's not enough to really secure global peace and prosperity in a meaningful way. most people get left out of the decision process, and some things -- like environmental destruction -- just cannot be addressed without hurting profits and growth

most Marxists wouldn't argue that capitalism hasn't enriched people more than earlier forms of economic organization, just so we're clear

no, not marxists, but a lot of anti-globalization adbusters types do

consider that Trump won't be president till 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OO9LloDSJo

when did people start to get interested in assessing individual years in this way?

december 2, 2016

I'm on team An Lushan

probably a media thing, stuff like yearly reviews, time mag etc. but there's been a lot of it about now, things like http://www.foreveryyear.eu/ and in academia too, my fav example being

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51pLy9X8-8L._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

http://www.biography.com/people/groups/died-1941

this shits on your 2016 celeb death list btw fucking babies

― brex yourself before you wrex yourself (Noodle Vague), Saturday, December 3, 2016 6:45 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also try 1977 - http://www.biography.com/people/groups/died-1977 - Elvis, Marc Bolan, Maria Callas, Bing Crosby, Joan Crawford, Groucho Marx, Vladamir Nabokov, Peter Finch, Zero Mostel, Steve Biko, Anais Nin, Howard Hawks, Wehrner Von Braun, Roberto Rossellini

yeah but star wars

there's no way that 1587 book can live up to its title

that's how I justify not reading it

Mary Queen of Scots got hers that year. That's about all I know about 1587.

shakespeare was around

Spoilers!

February 1 – Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, after Mary is implicated in a plot to murder Elizabeth. Seven days later, on the orders of Elizabeth's privy council, Mary is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.
April 29 – "Singeing the King of Spain's Beard": On an expedition against Spain, English privateer Sir Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.
July 22 – Roanoke Colony: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
October 20 – Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry. Joyeuse is killed.
A severe famine breaks out in China during the Ming dynasty.

Bronze age collapse

The Taiping Rebellion

The Mayan Civilisation

Sunni and the Shia split

I have been listening to these audio youtube uploads of the R4 In Our Time program, it was probably this thread that set me off.

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/pessimists-guide-to-2017/

thanks

at least there was some good music this year!

There's also 1947 with Partition of India.

Well, partition was a consequence of the imo more significant event of Indian/Pakistani independence, which I see as a very good thing.

Voted 1618; read the Wedgwood book.

xxp with the bengal famine you could make a case that 47 wasn't even the worst year of the 40s for india

you forgot

1999: The Phantom Menace

Once we zero in on the year, we should work to figure out which particular day or perhaps even twenty minute window of time that was the ultra most concentrated worst part of that year. And then we turn that into a time prison for the worst criminals.

Having recently read Charles C. Mann's 1491, my answer is "Small pox hits the Americas" without hesitation. Basically the whole population and culture of a continent mostly wiped out in a couple of years.

xxxp wasn't even aware of that event, holy christ.

Trail of Tears getting slept on imo

We could probably just poll the Indian sub-continent famines during British rule. 14-15 of them. About 55 million deaths 1765-1947.

Still, cricket, eh?

ye didnt even leave us that

which tbf is something i spose

1982: XTC stop touring

2016: Sting starts touring

2009: Sting releases Christmas album
1985: Sting releases first solo album
1951: Sting born

Seriously though:

2006: Sting releases an album of 16th century lute music

2004-2007 Sting has a single session of tantric sex

What year were the rock and roller cola wars?

Hard to not vote for the holocaust indeed.

where's the out-of-context thread

ILX quoted out of context

Inasmuch as acuteness/suddenness/concentrated evil are criteria, that makes it harder to choose multi-year events like the Holocaust, plague, and Civil War. Like for the Holocaust do you choose Wannsee conference or the height of the killings? For smallpox do you choose the initial introduction or the height of the death toll? Trail of Tears is part of a sustained campaign of displacement and abuse.

Morbidity aficionados may prefer more focused and discrete events like Nanking.

lol wins

The British Empire tried to pay for the East India Company's parliamentary bailout post 1770 famine with the 1773 Tea Act, so at least that went tits up for the arrogant pondlife.

Each candidate arrived at an examination compound with only a few amenities: a water pitcher, a chamber pot, bedding, food (which he had to prepare himself), an inkstone, ink and brushes. Guards verified a student's identity and searched for hidden printed materials. In the Ming and Qing periods, each exam taker spent three days and two nights writing "eight-legged essays" — literary compositions with eight distinct sections — in a tiny room with a makeshift bed, desk and bench. There were no interruptions during those three days, nor were candidates allowed any communication. If a candidate died, officials wrapped his body in a straw mat and tossed it over the high walls that ringed the compound.

I can see how the Imperial Examination system would have completely broke Hong Xiuquan after he failed it 4 times.

1914. All of modern right-wing evil stems from a refusal to get over 1914. We thought we were done paying for 1914, but look who got elected on November 8? The Austrian election only came out ok because Austrians KNOW everything is about 1914 and they're pretty sick of it.

Once we zero in on the year, we should work to figure out which particular day or perhaps even twenty minute window of time that was the ultra most concentrated worst part of that year.

1346: you've watched helplessly as your entire family (and half of everyone you know) dies, as parts of your body rot and blacken and fall off, and have spent all morning vomiting up blood while waiting for the doctor. he finally arrives, only to strap live chickens onto your buboe-covered arms and give you "medicine" which is really just a mixture of various urines and mercury. the doctor visit is probably the worst part of the day.