The Dumbest Controversies of 2022

Very few of my apocalypse fantasies qualify as cheerful, but there’s one that brings a smile to my face: It’s a few years into the future, and the world is ravaged by war and wildfires. A solemn-looking young boy and his determined father push a rusted shopping cart down a desolate street. Think Cormac McCarthy’s The Road but real, and therefore tacky. The boy tugs at his dad’s sleeve. “Father,” he asks, “were you alive before everything fell apart?” The man nods. “What did you do to stop it?” The man crouches down, puts his hand on his son’s shoulder, and—his eyes watering from emotion and ash—says, “I wrote a brutal one-star Yelp review for an animal shelter because they had a drag-queen story hour for rescue dogs.” We are facing disaster in about 60 different ways. Climate devastation? You bet. Fascism? On the rise. Nuclear war? Throw it on the pile. A new Red Hot Chili Peppers album? No: This year, we got two. Life in 2022 felt like waiting for the other shoe to drop, in a bed next to a space heater, in a building that could implode at any moment with no warning.   [View in Browser]( [Esquire]( [SHOP]( EXCLUSIVE [SUBSCRIBE]( [Farewell, 2022, You Were Annoying]( [Farewell, 2022, You Were Annoying]( Very few of my apocalypse fantasies qualify as cheerful, but there’s one that brings a smile to my face: It’s a few years into the future, and the world is ravaged by war and wildfires. A solemn-looking young boy and his determined father push a rusted shopping cart down a desolate street. Think Cormac McCarthy’s The Road but real, and therefore tacky. The boy tugs at his dad’s sleeve. “Father,” he asks, “were you alive before everything fell apart?” The man nods. “What did you do to stop it?” The man crouches down, puts his hand on his son’s shoulder, and—his eyes watering from emotion and ash—says, “I wrote a brutal one-star Yelp review for an animal shelter because they had a drag-queen story hour for rescue dogs.” We are facing disaster in about 60 different ways. Climate devastation? You bet. Fascism? On the rise. Nuclear war? Throw it on the pile. A new Red Hot Chili Peppers album? No: This year, we got two. Life in 2022 felt like waiting for the other shoe to drop, in a bed next to a space heater, in a building that could implode at any moment with no warning. [Read More](   [The 30 Best Podcasts of 2022]( [The 30 Best Podcasts of 2022]( Need to tune out the world? There’s a podcast for that. Need to tune into the world? There’s plenty to cover you there, too. [Read More]( [3 Can't-Miss Outfit Ideas for Every Kind of New Year's Eve]( [3 Can't-Miss Outfit Ideas for Every Kind of New Year's Eve]( From balling out to staying in. [Read More](     [Celebrities Hitting the Slopes: The Photos]( [Celebrities Hitting the Slopes: The Photos]( When famous people aren't vacationing at the beach, they tend to be passing the time on the ski slopes. It's a time honored tradition, in fact, as these images show. Your favorite stars of decades past have all taken their turn on the snowy slopes including, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, and even Ernest Hemingway. [Read More](   [De’Longhi's New Machine Offers More Than Just Espresso. Literally.]( [De’Longhi's New Machine Offers More Than Just Espresso. Literally.]( Cappuccinos, lattes, flat whites, iced cappuccinos (!), iced lattes, americanos, doppios, and more. All at the press of a button. [Read More]( [35 Best Affordable Clothing Stores for Stylish (and Savvy) Men to Shop Online]( [35 Best Affordable Clothing Stores for Stylish (and Savvy) Men to Shop Online]( Remember: Fiscal responsibility was, is, and always will be the coolest look of them all. [Read More](     [I'm Never Taking My Oura Ring Off]( [I'm Never Taking My Oura Ring Off]( Don’t worry, if you don’t know what an Oura Ring is—you aren’t out of the loop yet, but I’ll fill you in, because you will be soon. Put simply: It’s a ring with sensors on the inside that track your wellness stats (things like calories burned in a day, BPM, body temperature, sleep cycle, and more) and deliver them neatly to an app on your phone. It had all the benefits of Apple Health and a Fitbit in one, with the even greater benefit of being smaller, sleeker, more detailed, and all around cooler. Let me tell you why. [Read More](   [Join Esquire The Select for $40/Year. Learn More!]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( esquire.com ©2022 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019