Last year around this time, I published a post detailing all of the things I wished would stop in the year 2012.  The fact that none of these things stopped happening kind of hurts my feelings.  The Kardashians are still famous and somehow the celebrity gods found something even more annoying than them in Honey Boo Boo and her rotten cow family.  We’ve added even more reality TV shows and now watch with baited breath to find out what the hillbilly duck callers will do next and which poor sap will get humiliated the most at a pawn shop.  Since no one of any authority will listen to me regarding things we didn’t need more of, here’s some things we learned in 2012 that will hopefully make us better in 2013.

Never has the above been so true as it was during the presidential elections this past year.  Social media has given every American with access to WiFi and a modicum of “knowledge”  to blast their opinion all over the internet, and wow, did this election make us ugly.  On one hand, in my mind it’s a good thing that so many were talking about the issues, interested in the outcome, and genuinely vested in the election of our President.  On the other, I am absolutely gobsmacked horrified that so many of the public have the mental capacity to cast a vote for the leader of the free world without having a damn concept of the English language. And from everything I saw, the more vitriolic the hate, the more atrocious the spelling.  Facebook and Twitter gives everyone a platform, and I’m pretty sure this election proved that NOT EVERYONE DESERVES ONE.  “obamas sucks!”  “Hey Mitt Rouamney, no one wants a mormom president,” “baracks an idiot, i didn’t get no free phone,” and “romneys totes winning this debacle,” are some things I saw in Facebook posts and Twitter feeds.  The tweets from this election alone should convince all leaders — fuck everything else, we really, really need better education.  Because I am seeing the future, it does not contain apostrophes and I. Am. Frightened.

Aw, honey, I hope your diamonds don’t scratch your eyes while you’re wiping away tears.

My new favorite person in the world may be Jon Hendren.  He took some time this Christmas to retweet some extremely ungrateful (what I have to assume is) teenagers’ horrified responses to their Christmas presents.  What I took from it is that teenagers?  Pretty much suck.  We are apparently raising the most entitled, poor-me generation to ever walk the Earth and the proof?  Is in Twitter.  From the above picture to the lovely Beliebers venting their extreme frustration at the Newtown shooting interrupting the Ellen show with their idol, Twitter is proof that if you are under 18, you really shouldn’t have a platform.  Granted, plenty of folks over 18 (and 21, and 31, and 40,) probably shouldn’t either, but at least they are old enough to be accountable.  I have to hope that those of you sending this crap across the internet will be embarrassed at yourselves later in life and wish that perhaps you hadn’t published such a self-centered thought.  ( I hope.  Please, please, be better.)

There’s an ecard for everything.  EVERYTHING.  Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been known to post them occasionally on my own facebook as they do make me laugh.  But we have gotten to the point that every. single. fucking. situation. IN THE WORLD can now be pared down to a cartoon and a clever saying.  Drink too much?  There’s an ecard for that.  Kids driving you crazy?  There’s an ecard for that.  Husband’s a stereotypical male?  Ecard.  Stepmother’s pet monkey keeps borrowing your rainbow sweater?  Ecard.  Bipolar neighbor’s pet ferret keeping you up at night?  Ecard.  Have to flip your pillow over in the middle of the night?  Ecard.  Tired of the rodeo clown riding a unicycle down your street with a lasso?  Ecard.  It’s out of hand, folks.  Out. Of. Hand.

The above?  Are the top Google searches, by category, in 2012.  I’m skipping over the fact that when it comes to the TV show category I don’t even know the first two and the third makes me want to stab my eyes with hot forks because, well, if I think about it too long I want to stab everyone in the eyes with hot forks.  But the rest – seriously?  Is there one thing on this list – ONE THING – that has made an actual difference in anyone’s lives?  Of course, to any of those close with the celebrities who have passed, and those affected by the storms, these were life-changing events.  But the rest of us?  The general public?  How stupid and superficial are we??  Is anyone else concerned that there is not one political figure, not one search on gay marriage laws, not one argument about health care, nor one search on education?

We need to smarten up, folks.  Let’s make 2013 the year that we stop glorifying hot messes and start jumping into actual reality, not TV reality.  Reality is not pawn shops making millions on a television show.  Reality is not neatly explained in a cartoon.  Reality is not supported by twitter feeds of our favorite celebrities. The line between reality and social media is markedly different and we need to realize that before Honey Boo Boo is the goddamn president by fucking default.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!