The Don Gives 2021 a Barely Passing Grade
Jacobin troll Donald Hughes sent in 18,000 words grading major events in 2021. What follows are brief selections from his treatise. The verdict: 2021 sent in some poor work, but he's letting it through.
Not a great year for most people, but life goes on. Could have been better, could have been worse. (Skynesher / Getty Images)
A large number of events happened this year, and I’d like to take a moment to reflect on a handful of the bigger stories. These grades are just my impressions of the overall topic. I can’t claim to have used the rigors of scientific socialism to investigate all of them. But I think you’ll agree I did a pretty good job.
Vaccines – Grade: A-
2021 was the Year of the Sore Arm as billions of people underwent experimental medical treatments for COVID-19. Kudos to eggheads on this one. I’m giving this a high score because I’d have a hard time developing a vaccine myself. I’m not getting up off my couch to fabricate mRNA sequences. And I love anarchist collectives, but they have a hard enough time running a coffee shop in a college town. They weren’t going to knock this one out.
Climate Change – Grade: D
Politicians leaned hard into the “I feel your pain” rhetoric around climate change. There was a lot of emphatic rejection of climate denial. It was followed up by some pretty lame plans. The centerpiece was the growth of “green finance” and other attempts to marketize the climate crisis. I’m giving this a D because I smell fear here. The heightened rhetoric and the greenwashing points toward a growing sense that something must be done. That’s a consolation prize, but it avoids a flat F.
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