December 27, 2024: 2024 in Review: Moo Deng

[I wasinitially trying to decide whether to focus my annual Year in Review series on heavyor light topics, but then I realized this was 2024—we had it all, from the seriousto the surreal, the absurd to the awesome. So I’ll start with a couple toughsubjects and move toward some happier ones. I’d love your end-of-yearreflections as well!]

“Becausehe’s a better hippo than America deserves, but he was the one we needed rightnow. So we’ll harass him. Because he can take it, although he shouldn’t have to.”Not sure I need to say anything more than that paraphrased, misquoted yet stillto my mind pitch-perfectly applicable, allusion to Commissioner Gordon’sclosing speech in The Dark Knight. From what I can tell, a ton of peopletreated this cute baby hippo like crap for social media views and clout, andthat’s unquestionably one level of reflection of where we all here at the endof 2024. But at the same time, the intertubes gave us all (most of us, I hopeand believe, better than that worst) a chance to meet this delightfulbaby hippo. And also to watch this equally delightful SNL portrayal of him. Let’s carry that energy into 2025,and see if we can’t leave some of the worst behind as we do.

DecemberRecap this weekend,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think? What stands out from this decades-long year?