2017 has been an abysmal year, worse than 2016. What with all the celebrity sexual harassment scandals and rape and pedophile accusations, the continued celebrity deaths, Incompetent politicians being brought into power, [and the Annoying Orange in the US, what’s up with that?] Brexit continues to be f-king useless, the hunt for Joseph Kony has wrapped up despite the f-ker still being at large, Manchester arena was bombed leaving twenty-two dead, [not counting the piece of excrement who bombed the arena] 307 mass shootings in the US alone including the Las Vegas shooting which not only left 58 dead [again not counting the piece of excrement behind the shooting] but is the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the US ever, Hurricane Harvey hit causing at least 91 confirmed deaths, Hurricane Irma followed and caused at least 134 deaths, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico with at least 547 killed with dozens still missing and catastrophic damage done that may take years to recover from, and FEMA responded with Skittles. Chechnya has been torturing and mass murdering people suspected of being gay, ISIS remains at large, Neo-Nazis are walking around protesting and few arrests are occurring [I REPEAT, THE FRIGGING NAZIS ARE WALKING AROUND!!!] oh and the Emoji Movie.
So yeah, the year’s been a tad shite and not much good has come of it, however has there been any good? Has there been one single solitary act that could grant us some hope for both the future and humanity?
[Also last year this blog did a list of good things that happened in 2016, it’s not too late to check it out]
Well let’s see:
Germany, Finland, Taiwan, Malta and Australia all voted to legalize same-sex marriage
Zimbabwe put a ban on the beating of all children in the country
Tunisia abolished ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslims and passed a law banning violence against women
Denmark became debt-free for the first time in 183 years
Child labor rates have been cut by almost half
84 children were rescued from human traffickers in one go along with the arrest of 120 traffickers
In-fact, MASSIVE amounts of human traffickers were busted in the US alone this year, it’s appalling that there are so many, but so damn satisfying that so much scum is getting taken down
Pakistan opened their first ever Violence against Women center
The following 10 death rates have been going down this year
New Zealand announced a plan to plant 1 Billion Trees
This year’s Children In Need appeal raised £50 million
While Comic Relief’s raised £71.3 million
India declared freedom of sexual orientation a fundamental right
The hot pepper challenge has raised thousands of ALS this year
J.J. Watts Hurricane Harvey relief raised 37.1 million
Lego reaches 100% renewable energy goal 3 years early
The Guinea Worm disease is near eradication
As is disfiguring disease
Enterprise Rent-A-Car donated £30 million to protect and preserve rivers internationally
The Ontario government offered free tuition to 200,000 students
The world’s largest reforestation project will see 73 million trees planted in the Amazon
Six British soldiers imprisoned in India for four years were finally released
Sweden opened the world’s first mall for repaired and recycled goods
A physician has invented reconstructive surgery for female genital mutilation
Germany wiped a clean slate for 50,000 men convicted under gay law
AIDS is no longer the leading cause of death in Africa
Plastic Bags are now banned along one of the world’s longest coastlines
Snow leopards are no longer an endangered species
A solution for food waste has been found - turning it into wine
A church in Utah has a charity vending machine where people can buy things for people living in third-world countries and have them sent
A baby born with half a heart got a second chance at life
A six year old girl defied doctors who said she’d never walk again by completing triathlon
India banned circuses from using wild animals for exhibition
An all-girl Afghanistan robotics team won award after almost being denied Visas
The first Zero Waste shop opened up in the UK
Charles Manson finally did the world a favor and died
Iceland is now the first country that requires equal pay
Walgreens now sells a drug that can reverse a heroin overdose
Re: Scam an AI that is designed to get back at scammers trying to con people was launched
Scientists managed to reverse brain damage in a baby toddler
Google became the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy
The UAE finally outlawed owning exotic animals as pets
The UK held first quiet shopping hour for people with autism
Bad news, a passenger plane crashed and burned. the good news? Everyone survived
Different religious communities came together to help after mosque burned down
The first ultra-accessible water-park for the disabled opened it’s doors
Scientists have managed to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s in animals
Rakko Mladic ‘The Butcher of Bosnia’ was sentenced to life in prison
A man created a free Minecraft server specifically dedicated for autistic kids
Volunteers removed 160 tons of filth from Indian beach
The world’s first Museum Of Happiness opened up in the UK
Vending machines for the homeless have launched in the UK [using handed-out key cards instead of money]
Abusive shit DaddyoFive got two of his kids taken away from him, unfortunately he only got probation so the news is sort of half and half
British Columbia banned grizzly bear trophy hunting
A girl with Down syndrome became the first to graduate high school in DC with honors
Britain announced plan to abandon antique ivory trade in a stance against elephant poaching
This 101 year old broke world running record
Adventure toy ship sailed all the way from Scotland to Scandinavia
Vancouver has banned the use of whales/dolphins in aquariums
Mexico City passed dolphin captivity ban
Starbucks now offers parental leave for fathers and has increased maternity leave benefits
An Interracial couple split by racist laws finally married
A New Jersey man paid off £10,000 worth of layaway orders at Toys, R, Us
Wild horses have returned to their native Mongolia 50 years after they vanished
A supermarket in Brazil now accepts recyclables as payment
Man wrongfully accused has become a lawyer
A woman who has turned her life around will be permitted to take bar exam
Denver has passed legislation banning cat declawing
Engineers have created a spacesuit that could save lost astronauts
A memorial statue went up for hero 9-11 dog Bretagne
This marine kept a promise he made to a fellow soldier to meet up every New Years
NASA offered hope in a reply to self-styled 9 year old Guardian of the Galaxy
China has been working to end water pollution
A flight attendant by the name of Shelia Frederick rescued a teenage girl from human trafficking
The Good Samaritans of Hurricane Harvey:
A doctor who traveled through the flood to perform surgeries
‘Mattress Mack’ sheltered victims in his store
Austin Pets Alive went through the flood to save hundreds of animals
The Cajun Navy brought boats to rescue survivors from the flood
One Love Manchester brought people together in face of a tragedy
Not to mention the many people from Manchester kind enough to offer free taxi rides, hotel rooms, phones and blood to donor banks for the injured
Celebrity chef Jose Andres traveled to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and has cooked thousands of meals a day
Postmen in Puerto Rico delivered letters to people to bridge communication gap
Man stole truck to save lives in the Las Vegas shooting
People raised 9 million to Las Vegas survivors
A group of New Yorkers banded together to remove Nazi-supporting graffiti from subway
A 4 year old used his allowance to sponsor pit bulls at local shelters
These men posed in a merman-themed calendar to raise money for charity
These people have rescued over 2,000 cats from trees
NFL Player Justin Long is donating all of his 2017 game checks to city kids
Two women and their dogs were rescued after 5 months at sea
A driver saved 56 kids from a school bus on fire
A groom jumped into a river to save a drowning child
A cop held onto dangling van until man inside was saved
A student in Florida started a club so that no one would have to eat lunch alone again
This couple saved a dog stranded on top of a mountain for six weeks
This teacher couldn’t afford a holiday gift for sick son, so his students surprised him
Military mom sent 10,000 care packages to the US Military after learning not all of them get care packages from their families
Strangers donated DVDs to help man with Down syndrome who lost his beloved film collection in fire
In wake of unpleasant events, People have been posting nice things about celebrities online
Teens volunteered to serve at funeral for veteran
Man married woman who talked him out of suicide ten years prior
Soul Soup – a Scottish mental health charity won a cash boost from The People’s Project [As a attendee, this is a personal victory]
Ok now the important stuff is out of the way lets get to the good things in pop culture this year:
Good news for House Of Cards fans - the show will continue without Kevin Spacey and with Robin Wright as the lead
Viola Davis in addition to her well deserved Oscar this year, now has a well-earned star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame
The documentary Bean was released on a woman whose girlfriend gave her a kidney
The women of NASA were honored in Lego set
In A Heartbeat was released and it is f-king beautiful
Star Wars celebrated it’s 40th birthday
As for TV this year: Blue Planet II, Tangled the series, Game Of Thrones Season 7, American Gods, Castlevania, Stranger Things Season 2, Gunpowder, Ducktales reboot, The Defenders, GLOW, the return of Twin Peaks and SEASON 2 OF ATTACK ON TITAN!!! FINALLY!!!
Hamilton came to the West End
Arch Enemy released their new album!!!
Plus Rhapsody of Fire’s compilation album
The first issue of The Legend of Korra comic series was released along with the next Walking Dead comic, As well as the graphic novels The Best We Could Do, Autumnlands Volume 2, Seven to Eternity, Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat Vol 3…
Nostalgia Critic celebrated 10 years
Gail Simone’s epic ComicBooksHateNazis thread
Fantastic year for films: Get Out, Lego Batman, Logan, GOTG2, WONDER WOMAN, Captain Underpants, Girl’s Trip, Spiderman: Homecoming, Dunkirk, The Breadwinner, Thor Ragnarok, Coco, The Shape Of Water, The new Black Butler film, Mary And The Witch’s Flower, The Big Sick, John Wick 2, Blade Runner 2049, The Disaster Artist….
Also BOOKS! Good news is that books still smell nice!!!
Harry Potter celebrated its 20th birthday
And announced the Harry Potter version of Pokemon Go
Where’s Waldo celebrated it’s 30th anniversary
While the Goosebumps series celebrated it’s 25th anniversary
Rick Riordan released a new Magnus Chase novel, a new Trials of Apollo novel and two new graphic novels
Marissa Meyer – the woman behind The Lunar Chronicles released a new book called Renegades
N.K. Jemisin released the third and final book in her Broken Earth series
The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
The sequel to Ian Mcdonald’s Luna: New Moon was released: Luna: Wolf Moon
Brandon Sanderson’s third Stormlight Archive novel Oathbringer was released
A garbage man has created a free library out of books found in the garbage
Awesome video games we got this year: Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Horizon: Zero Dawn, CUPHEAD!!! Super Mario Odyssey, The Evil Within 2, South Park: The Fractured And The Whole, Nier Automata, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the Life Is Strange prequel, the wide release of Persona 5 plus the confirmation of a Toy Story world in Kingdom Hearts 3 along with FINALLY something that resembles a release date.
Not to mention the Game Awards had some pretty awesome announcements [Death Stranding, In the Valley of the Gods, Bayonetta 3, DREAMS!!!!, Soulcaliber VI]
And we still have things to look forward to like Christmas and STAR WARS EPISODE 8!!!!
Anything counts. The smallest gesture counts. These are stories that remind me that not everything this year was complete shit. There WILL be good things to come in 2018 from Prince Harry’s wedding to the Sense8 two-hour series finale. And there are good things that happened this year that i haven’t heard about that you have. So please share your stories because for the love of all that is decent we NEED this in this terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad year. Whether it be a personal success, an act of kindness, a good event in the world or punching a Nazi, PLEASE share it. Let’s try to make 2017 go out with some hope.
Also i got a lot of these stories from Good News Network, a site that posts nothing but good news throughout the year. And since we’re about to move into 2018 you might want to keep an eye on it because we have no idea what the hell the new year will bring……
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