[KillerRAK]

Stop with the 2016 nonsense... get a grip. Death is the next baby-boomer surge. Because there are so many celebrities in this group, we'll see daily death announcements in the coming years that will make 2016 look like a picnic.

[the_af]

I think everyone understands this. It's simply a way to grieve for the many things that some us think went horribly wrong in 2016, including -- but not limited to -- the deaths of some high profile and well-loved artists, musicians and actors. Personally I'm also lumping some political events in 2016's trainwreck.

Call it dark humor. No-one truly believes 2016 is sentient and murdering people.

[jedberg]

Thank you. And honestly if you look at wikipedia's notable deaths and IMDB's, 2016 was actually a light year. 2015 and 2014 both had more per day.

[egillie]

I think what happened was that Bowie and Alan Rickman both died in the first two weeks of 2016 so the meme started then and everything after was just confirmation bias.

[thrillgore]

I'd say it a mix of confirmation bias and the number of high profile events with negative correlation that have occurred (that aren't celebrities/fame worthy individuals dying).

Personally its the number of outright confusing/heartbreaking global events such as Aleppo, Brexit, the Trump election/"presidency," that has made the year seem particularly unbearable. Losing Carrie Fisher, George Michael, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, among others just gives more reflection to how bad it's felt, not if its actually a bad year statistically.