Roy Exum
According to Wikipedia, “Zeitgeist” is a word used as the name for “the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought which typifies and influences the culture of a period.” More easily put, it means “the spirit of the age” or “the spirit of the time,” and, according to the ancient German philosopher Georg Hegel, “No man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit.”
Now if that’s a little heavy for you, here is where it gets fun. The people who run the huge Internet search site “Google” have just announced “Zeitgeist 2012.” Their researchers analyzed 1.2 trillion queries – in 142 languages -- to find out what the world searched for the most this year or, if you please, what would be the spirit of 2012.
Whitney Houston, the singer who died in February, was the most searched item of the year and second was Gangnam Style.
(Gangnam Style is a K-pop single by South Korean musician PSY. The song was released on July 15, 2012.) Third was Hurricane Sandy, with iPad 3 and Diablo 3 rounding out the Top 5. (Diablo 3 is an action role-playing video game.)
Rounding out the Top 10 were Kate Middleton, Olympics 2012, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan and BBB12. You know about Kate. Amanda Todd was the Canadian girl who committed suicide Oct 10 after being bullied, Michael Clarke Duncan was the huge black actor who played John Coffey in the movie “The Green Mile” before he died on Sept. 3, and BBB12 is a South American television show originally called “Big Brother Brasil.”)
To simplify things, Google researchers broke down Zeitgeist 2012 by country and – just for fun – here is a peek at the “spirit of the United States” with a sampling – in order of hits -- of what we wanted to know more about:
PEOPLE – Singer Whitney Houston, pro basketball player Jeremy Lin, Amanda Todd, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kate Middleton, English-Irish boy band One Direction, actor Morgan Freeman, pro football player Peyton Manning, former coach Joe Paterno and politician Paul Ryan.
EVENTS – Hurricane Sandy, Presidential election, Super Bowl, Olympics,UEFA Euro 2012 (soccer), The KONY Movement (aimed at a Ugandan rebel leader named Joseph Kony), SOPA Protest (the Stop Online Piracy Act), Aurora shooting, Trayvon Martin Case and Hurricane Isaac.
“HOW TO … ” – How to love, how to rock, how to vote, how to install, how to hate, how to archer, how to wobble, how to calculate, how to root, how to Tebow.
“WHAT IS … ” –What is SOPA, what is scientology, what is KONY, what is Yolo, what is Instagram, what is Pinterest, what is Lent, what is Obamacare, what is iCloud, what is Planking.
ELECTION ISSUES – Abortion, gay marriage, immigration, gas prices, Social Security, national debt, gun control, environment, death penalty, tax cuts.
MOVIES – The Hunger Games, Prometheus, The Avengers, Magic Mike, The Dark Knight Rises, Ted, 21 Jump Street, The Vow, Twilight, Paranormal Activity 4.
TV SHOWS – American Idol, The Voice, Breaking Bad, Games of Thrones, Glee, Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars, The Office, Chuck, How I Met Your Mother.
SHOE BRANDS -- Nike, Toms, Sperry, Chanel, Vans, Asics, Converse, Skechers, DC Shoes, Steve Madden.
HALLOWEEN COSTUMES – Katniss Everdeen, Slender Man, Bane, Gangnam Style, Hawkeye, Ted, Eddie Trinket, Loofah, Playboy bunny, Merida.
COCKTAILS – Margarita, Bloody Mary, Mojito, Pina Colada, Daiquiri, White Russian, Kamikaze, Long Island Iced Tea, Mai Tai, Lemon Drop.
BODY EXERCISES – Abs, shoulder, chest, lower back, tricep, neck, bicep, hamstring, calf, glute.
ANNUAL EVENTS -- Super Bowl, Euro 2012, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, March Madness, Labor Day, Grammys, NFL Draft.
SYMPTOMS – Pregnancy, diabetes, flu, urinary tract infection, mononucleosis, strep throat, HIV, lupus, heart attack, Lyme disease.
PERIODIC ELEMENTS – Gold, silver, iron, mercury, lead, carbon, copper, aluminum, platinum, neon.
ATHLETES – Jeremy Lin, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Tim Tebow, McKayla Maroney, Gabby Douglas, LoLo Jones, Dwight Howard, Sarah Burke.
DONATIONS – Obama, Hurricane Sandy, Romney, KONY Project, Karen Klein, PBS, Red Cross, NASA, Zimmerman, Entrepreneurs.
BOOKS – Fifty Shades Darker, Bared To You, Fifty Shades Freed, The Casual Vacancy, Defending Jacob, The Light Between Oceans, Quiet: The Power Of Introverts, The Serpent’s Shadow, Indivisible: Restoring Faith … , The Psychology of Wealth.
SPORTS – Football, golf, basketball, baseball, soccer, running, fishing, tennis, hockey, swimming.
TOYS – Webcam, Elmo, Codee, Derpy Hooves, Bouncing Trigger, Ted, Mahjongg chest, plastic shovels, Doc McStuffins, Transformers.
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You can see a more complete list on Google’s Zeitgeist site but, you have to admit, the list tells quite a bit about us. Who would have ever guessed Christmas wouldn’t be among our top ten events?
royexum@aol.com