Top 10 Most Shocking Moments of 2018
2018 was... a year. The kind where you'd blink and miss five headlines, each one more jaw-dropping than the last. Just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder, darker, or more chaotic, the news cycle kicked in the door like, Hold my beer.From global tragedies to viral scandals, jaw-dropping quotes to the kind of content that made you question humanity's decision-making skills, this year packed a punch to the gut more often than not. It wasn't just the big stuff either. Sometimes it was the timing, the reactions, or the sheer audacity of certain moments that made them stand out. You probably remember where you were when some of these stories broke. Others might've slipped your mind until you read them again and muttered, Oh yeah… that actually happened.
This list pulls together some of the wildest, most talked-about, and straight-up shocking events of 2018. Not everything here is the kind of thing you'd want to remember, but ignoring it doesn't make it go away.
This was absolutely terrible. It was just barely worse than Columbine.
Praying for everyone affected. While gun control is partly to blame, I think this comes down to nobody caring about the shooter's behavior despite several warnings that this was going to happen. I'm for the Second Amendment and all, but I think it's time to change the Second Amendment regulations, etc.
Too many lives have been lost in recent shootings to ignore the gun rights controversy.
I'm honestly at a loss for words right now for this event. Not to mention that this is only one of many tragic events to take place in Florida in recent years of this late decade.
I give my condolences to all affected by this high school shooting, and I wish the best of peace to those whose lives were taken in this massacre.
This awful idiot is a horrible man who only gained power because it's shocking how saying you're the best will get you to be president. You can only support him if you're very misguided or if you simply have something deep down in you that's quite racist. That's all there is to it. This awful man is racist, sexist, homophobic, and really discriminatory in absolutely every way. Thank God his years of terrorizing the world are, for the most part, over.
And people say Trump isn't racist. Don't go using the "mainstream media" excuse here now. The fact that Donald Trump let this slip out of his mouth only finally proves how racist and horrible a person he is. And I thought him cutting funding for historically black colleges and attempting to ban transgender people from the army already made him as prejudiced and discriminatory as he could be.
I actually caught the flu, and we didn't realize until it had almost healed. But I remember it, and it was really scary after I found out.
Nearly 100 years after the infamous outbreak and it's still one hell of a problem.
It's a serious event that has killed a lot of people and is among the worst flu outbreaks in U.S. history.
It's not just that he showed a dead body on video for the public to see. It's much more than that. He and his friends were told not to take any film or photo of dead bodies they came across, but they did and disrespected that poor victim and his family. They mocked the suicide victim and made him some kind of sideshow to use for views, which is inhumane.
Imagine being one of the victim's families. You come across the video and see your spouse, sibling, parent, or friend who hanged himself being laughed at by a group of punks. It would crush you to see that someone you were once close to ended up killing himself and was just treated as a joke.
Also, Logan's followers are young kids who watch his videos. They either become terrified by what they've been exposed to or think that it's okay to do what Logan did. An irresponsible role model who doesn't have compassion for the victim is not someone we want to influence kids who may grow up to be like or even worse than him.
At 76. One of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He made us understand more about the known universe. It seems the best people these days always die too soon. R.I.P.
This should be number one! It was so sad. He had so many good books and was so smart! RIP Stephen Hawking.
So sad. He was an amazing man. He had a disability/disorder, but he was still amazing. R.I.P.
Incompetent and negligent government employee makes the worst possible mistake and won't be punished. Tell me again why we want more government employees in charge of more facets of our lives.
I went to Hawaii not long after this happened, and I was scared as hell that they were going to set off the alert again, but this time for real.
Imagine how terrified people were.
I cannot believe how stupid and brainless people are for doing this challenge! People who participate in this are literally risking their lives!
Why do they do it? To prove they're not a wuss? To be popular? It's pure stupidity. DO NOT eat toxic laundry detergent!
First, the cinnamon challenge. And then, the burning and/or eraser challenge. And now, the Tide Pod challenge? What's next? The Stick a Pencil Down Your Throat as Far as You Can Challenge? At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if that challenge did exist.
We're now up to three news stories in the last six months that have messed me up (the others being Steve Paddock and the three 80-year-old pedo-brothers from Seattle). This is absolutely horrible.
That must be terrifying! They probably had no food and could have died of starvation or dehydration!
That's horrible. The worst part is innocent children were involved.
It's one-third due to Amazon because everyone buys online now. One-third is due to Epic Games because lots of money was spent on skins, gliders, pickaxes, and emotes in Fortnite. And one-third is due to Apple because spoiled toddlers are getting iPads and iPhone Xs.
That's where I got all my birthday presents and stuff like that when I was 8, 7, 6, 5, etc.
I really wanted to go to that store, but I never did.
Two suicide bombings occurred, killing at least 38 people and injuring 105.
The Newcomers
This is so much worse, even worse than The Emoji Movie in everyone else's opinion, and just as bad as Fortnite in my opinion. I'd rather watch The Emoji Movie nonstop than watch this ever again.
For years, Justin O. Schmidt stated that the bullet ant was at the top of the insect sting pain index, rated at a 4+, making it the most painful in the world. It's named for being compared to a bullet wound.
He described it as a "pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel."
Near the end of 2018, Coyote Peterson, who could be considered the Steve Irwin of YouTube, intentionally stung himself with the Vespa mandarinia japonica (Japanese giant hornet), the largest hornet in the world (over 2 inches long), and Polistes carnifex (executioner wasp), the largest neotropical paper wasp in the world.
He stated they were more painful than the longtime record-holder, the bullet ant. Not only were they worse in terms of pain, but also more dangerous and damaging, with severe reactions to the stings, such as extreme swelling from the giant hornet and tissue necrosis from the executioner wasp.
He also claimed the executioner wasp ranked at the top of all known insect stings in terms of pain, comparing it to ripping flesh off your body. It put him on the verge of crying (though he's much tougher than many of us), and the pain lingered for nearly a week.
Despite the hype, Schmidt's index hasn't been changed, and these insects didn't make it into the Guinness World Records, as there wasn't enough verification. Additionally, the executioner wasp video was filmed in August 2017 but was saved for last to rank the sting levels in order.
Pain is subjective, and everyone reacts differently to stings, with some experiencing adverse or allergic reactions. Since the rankings don't account for a person's health, both Justin Schmidt's and Coyote Peterson's indexes are technically flawed.
Schmidt's index also doesn't entirely consider the location of stings, although he did give the honeybee a 3 on the tongue and a 2 on the arm from involuntary stings.
Three people have already been killed by these fires. What people need to know is that they should evacuate. Don't stay. You're putting your life at risk, and then people will eventually have to save you while risking their lives.
Please evacuate if you are told to do so.
I know many people who have been affected by these fires, including some people who lived in Paradise. My family lives all over California, so I check the news every day to make sure that the fires aren't too close to them.
The creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, Stephen Hillenburg, died on November 27th at 57 from ALS.
We knew since his diagnosis he wouldn't live much longer, but he died so suddenly. He will never be forgotten.
SpongeBob was getting better after the second movie since his return, but now that he's dead, it's going back downhill and is expected to end, making Nickelodeon lose all its viewers and putting them out of business.
The end of an era. R.I.P.
It was a national holiday. There was no school. I was watching videos until I stumbled upon a video saying that Mr. Hillenburg is dead. At first, I didn't believe it, but a few days later, I found out that it was true.
Rest in peace, the second founding father of my childhood!
Considering this shooting took place so close to a week or two before high school graduation, as a high school senior awaiting graduation, I have to say absolutely no senior, let alone any school student from any grade level, should have to experience a tragedy like this near the end of the school year.
As always, I can only say I give my condolences to those who were affected by yet another school shooting this year.
Ten dead, ten injured - another school shooting this year.
This is the sixth deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. We should help all the people and places involved in this relentless attack. There's no way we'll end gun violence unless we do something serious about it and think carefully about our decisions.
I'm just so sick of these shootings!
And this isn't considered as bad as a YouTuber making insensitive jokes. At least Logan Paul isn't the face of a country.
Donald Trump is the most horrible president in history.
What a monster.
Though he was 95.
He created the Marvel franchise, including Spider-Man and the Avengers. It all started with comic books. He worked hard on everything, and that's how he became who he became.
Though he got accused of sexual misconduct allegations, he will never be forgotten. R.I.P.
R.I.P. He was 96 and had a good life. He was probably ready for it. He was so old.
Sick freak. Anyone who repeatedly violates the sexual boundaries of others deserves everything they will eventually get.
That's a thing! Lord help our poor, rule-breaking planet.
I am devastated. Shattered to pieces inside. His music has brought millions of people together, lifted spirits around the world, and been a huge inspiration for electronic genres as we know them today.
To pass away at just 28, when he should have had so much more to live for, is utterly heartbreaking. May he rest in peace, and my biggest condolences go out to his family, friends, and fans in this extremely difficult time for them.
He was my favorite. I didn't hear about his death until two months after it! I saw it and was like, Wikipedia is trolling me, right? I started crying in my bed! I posted loads of videos on YouTube and TikTok about his death. I was so depressed.
Hopefully all goes well at the meeting.
Welp. I hope WW3 doesn't break out before Gen 8 of Pokemon. This is a little too close.
Boy, is the IOC going to have a lot to say about this! Seriously, they better take all precautions with security if all the athletes and people at the Winter Olympics are going to be safe from the threat of North Korea.
Something tells me North Korea participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics won't be much good news for the Winter Olympics and the safety of everyone participating in the games.
No matter how shocking this was, at least North and South Korean athletes marched together. But the one thing that really caused a huge controversy in Korea before the PyeongChang Olympics was the joint women's hockey team.
Ever since Logan Paul's corpse video, the YouTube community has been starting major drama over Logan Paul's video. The drama also revolves around Shane Dawson's video about pedophilia.
My goodness, is there anything right about our society?!
It shocked me to hear the rumors about Shane. I really like the guy, so it sucks that all of this is going around. I'm not sure how this started or who started it, but whoever did is most likely a scumbag.
YouTuber Shane Dawson made comments about sexual events associated with children, such as "googling babies," and it started a lot of drama among the community.
This surprised me because I really like Shane Dawson. But he apologized, so at least he did that.
I'm just glad this horrific incident has at least gained some awareness in the form of a Wikipedia page and some news outlets. But like CrimsonShark said, it's a shame this poor victim doesn't get as much awareness of her terrifying encounter with her killer as other victims do.
I really hope the Pakistani government will bring this horrid excuse of a human to justice and make him pay dearly for his crime.
UPDATE: The murderer has been caught. He has been identified as Imran Ali, a serial killer who also killed around five other girls in a span of two years.