The ‘End of an Ending’: Was 2021 Really The Worst?

Matter of Opinion

New York Times Opinion

Society & Culture, Ross Douthat, News, New York Times, Journalism

4.2 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 December 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As the days left in 2021 dwindle, you may feel that annual tug to judge this calendar year as cruelly as possible. After all, it was yet another year lived in a pandemic, on a warming planet, with teetering democracies and aspirational autocrats (tune in next week for that debate). But is it actually true? Did the world really get worse in 2021? For this Very NYT Opinion New Year’s Eve* episode of “The Argument,” Jane Coaston called upon podcast listeners and Opinion voices like the columnists Michelle Goldberg, Farhad Manjoo and Jamelle Bouie, the editorial board member Michelle Cottle and the musician and contributing writer Tom Morello to make the case for whether the world will enter 2022 a little bit better, or a little bit worse for wear. *close enough

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today on the argument, did the world get better or worse in 2021?
0:08.0	Well, we did it everyone.
0:13.2	We made it through another year, another year, and a pandemic.
0:18.3	Another year, on a planet that's not having a real great time.
0:22.5	Another year of teetering democracies and rising autocrats and conversations about what
0:26.7	exactly we should do about all of it and what it even is.
0:32.2	But that's the debate for next week, for next year.
0:37.7	I'm Jane Kostin, and for the past three years, when the last week in the calendar rolls around,
0:42.6	I feel like we collectively sigh and say, ugh, worst year ever.
0:47.4	But this time, part of me wonders, is that actually true?
0:51.3	Was 2021 the worst year ever?
0:54.4	This week, that is the question we're going to try and answer.
0:57.0	With the help from a lot of my colleagues here at the New York Times opinion section,
1:00.5	and from a lot of you.
1:04.4	Hi, Jane.
1:06.4	I want to respond about your question regarding what I think about 2021.
1:11.2	So are things getting better or are things getting worse?
1:14.4	I guess my first instinct on this is, I don't think about what I'm paying attention to.
1:19.9	I have a great unity around me.
1:22.0	I've married this year and just moved to Texas recently.
1:25.2	We got pregnant with our first child.
1:27.7	I guess that's good.
	...

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