10 Most Impactful Events From 2014

Bob Giusti

Depending on how your year went, 2014 was either another one for the books or a memory defined by singular (or perhaps multiple) event(s) that will serve to trigger a moment when you remember where you were when “it” happened. Just like those annoying algorithmically generated year in review posts on Facebook, you can’t help but be partially defined by the era of your ways (pun intended).

Let’s take a look at some of the top stories and events that may serve as a backdrop for your future nostalgic pondering.

Those We Lost

The notable deaths of the year past include Lauren Bacall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ben Bradlee, Harold Ramis, Joe Cocker, Maya Angelou, and Pete Seeger (to name a few) who will all be sorrily missed; but it was the shocking suicide of Robin Williams and the accidental death of Joan Rivers that stood out in 2014.

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ISIS 

This year brought about a new era of terrorism in ISIS (or ISIL -- AKA: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant), as they became the new boogie men of terrorism, boasting thousands of mass executions of men women and children; including the broadcasting of the grizzly beheadings of captured American journalists.

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Outbreak

Could it be the beginning of modern plague that can spread globally through air travel? 2014 saw the disease -- normally only found in the poorest regions of Western Africa -- in the United States for the first time. Yet another reason to be screened at the airport!

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Political Science

Even though the economy nationally is improving steadily, and Obama’s second term showed he was not going to lie down as a lame duck, the red states ruled the midterms, and once again the GOP holds the majority in both houses come 2015.

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Futbol

Its called football everywhere but here, but even the US got into the frenzy of soccer’s World Cup when Mario Gotze scored a stunning extra­ time goal to settle the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final in Germany's favor crowning the Europeans as champions with a 1­0 victory over Argentina.

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Buckets of Ice

In social media’s most effective campaign of the year, thousands of people from all walks of life and celebrity participated in video showing participants being subjected to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. The dousing ritual encouraged a huge amount of attention (and funding) for the disease formally referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease. The New York Times reported that the ALS Association had received $41.8 million in donations from July 29 until August 21.

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Missing Planes

This was also the year of the Malaysia Flight 370 disappearance that had water cooler theorists speculating what really happened to the (still) un-recovered jet. As we go to press, another airliner (Air Asia) has lost their Flight 8501 in a similar sudden shut down of communication although its trajectory will be easier to track. The Air Asia plane disappeared from radar suddenly, a clue that severe weather may have been a factor. In contrast, Flight 370 was tracked by radar for another hour before disappearing.

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Pirate Aweigh

While Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Meghan Trainor topped the charts, the real music story of the year was U2’s decision to give away their latest LP (ironically titled Songs of Innocence) to anyone with an Apple product, by having it magically appear in peoples’ iTune app. The obtrusive nature of the download caused many (including some of the bands fans) to decry the act as a big brother anti-privacy tactic and at the very least showed an arrogance on the side of a band already known for generating a sense of entitlement. Poor Bono.

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Killer Cops?

Trying to sum up the events of Ferguson’s Michael Brown case or the New York City strangle hold homicide of Eric Garner is above my pay grade. With the latest retaliatory violence against police (including assassination) clouding the dialog of racial inequality in law enforcement, this may be the largest civil rights event since the turbulent 60’s. We have not seen the last of this polarizing issue in 2014.

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Hack Attack

If you were told about a movie which led to the hacking of a major motion picture company’s intranet by the North Koreans in retaliation for the studio putting out a buddy picture about two guys on a mission to kill their imperial leader, well you probably wouldn’t believe it. Well, Sony Pictures suffered that fate, which nearly caused the studio to cancel the film's release. Instead, the company, in an act of patriotism (kind of), released the movie digitally for pennies, and still grossed $18 million in downloads during its opening weekend. 

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