2010: The Year in Mistakes

A funny thing happens at the end of every year: We human beings experience a collective outpouring of optimism about our species. Impressed by our own excellence, we compile and consume countless ”Best Of” lists: the best new books, movies, ideas, TV shows, sports performances, photographs, toys, cars, and kitchen utensils of two thousand-whatever. But they hardly do justice to the reality of the average year of human history. Herewith, then, a different way to reflect on 2010: not through our greatest accomplishments or our hopes for the future, but through some of the year’s most egregious, interesting, comical, and all-around notable mistakes.

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By Kathryn Schulz
A funny thing happens at the end of every year: We human beings experience a collective outpouring of optimism about our species. Impressed by our own excellence, we compile and consume countless ”Best Of” lists: the best new books, movies, ideas, TV shows, sports performances, photographs, toys, cars, and kitchen utensils of two thousand-whatever.

But they hardly do justice to the reality of the average year of human history. Herewith, then, a different way to reflect on 2010: not through our greatest accomplishments or our hopes for the future, but through some of the year’s most egregious, interesting, comical, and all-around notable mistakes.