Social Security Camera: Facebook chrome edition, Fidia Falaschetti, 2016. Courtesy the artist and Fabien Castanier Gallery.
Me and many other fantastic writers were invited to contribute my thoughts on the most important and least important events of 2016 for The Morning News. Check out what I said below, and read thoughts from other wonderful writers on this post: http://themorningnews.org/article/2016-the-year-that-was-and-wasnt
Alicia Eler
The Electoral College was set up to ensure the free North would not outnumber the slaveholding South.
Most Important: Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.9 million, more votes than any other losing presidential candidate in US history, but still lost the Electoral College vote to Donald J. Trump. Again the question was raised: Isn’t it time to scrap the Electoral College, a system set up during slave times to ensure that the free North would not outnumber the slaveholding South in general elections? Sen. Barbara Boxer of California filed a bill that aims to do just that.
Least Important: Kayne saying he would have voted for Trump if he’d bothered to vote. West released his pro-Trump political rant during a concert in Sacramento, particularly fawning over what he referred to as Trump’s “method of communication,” which he called “very futuristic.” Kanye tweets in a similar way to Trump, as we recall from the gross, inane “Bill Cosby innocent!!!!!” tweet. Shortly after declaring his commitment to Trump, Kanye had a breakdown and was hospitalized. Then he canceled the rest of his Saint Pablo tour.
Alicia Eler is a culture journalist based in Los Angeles. A contributor to New York magazine, the Guardian, VICE, LA Weekly, Hyperallergic, Art21, and Artforum, she is currently working on her first book, The Selfie Generation (Skyhorse).
