We're close to completely through Barack Obama's presidency, and while he may have reformed healthcare and idk some other stuff I guess, he's failed to deliver in at least one important way. There's a serious lack of unimportant elements being removed from the periodic table: namely manganese. Manganese is some bullshit man. For 241 years, it's been the scum of the transition metals. We have to memorize it just like actually important metals like zinc and iron, but I honestly don't think it even exists. I've certainly never seen it in a reaction and I'm already halfway through chem1, so it can't be that important. Seriously, you know how in 8th grade they told you that if Oxygen or Carbon or Nitrogen didn't exist then you'd die or cease to exist? They're not making shit up, those elements are super important which is why I capitalized them. I'm not sure if you're actually supposed to do that but damn me if it doesn't show that they're really important. Did you know that the existence of manganese actually has a negative effect on the world too, or at least America? Just look at this graph: since the discovery of Manganese, Americans began dying, and the rate has continued to rise. After the discovery of Manganese in 1774, the first American died just 2 years later and the trend of dying Americans has continued ever since. Do Barack Obama and congress wish to support the needless deaths of Americans? There exists a clearly identifiable correlation between American deaths and the recognition of manganese, yet here we sit, continuing to acknowledge, balance, and work with the pinkish-grey, easily oxidized metal. We can fix this. If Barack Obama or Dmitri Mendeleev stood up for the eradication of manganese, chemists around the world would stand up in agreement. Nobody wants to memorize another fucking element jesus christ there's like 116 even without it. I want a world where in addition to asking me why the periodic table goes from 2 columns to 8 to 18 he/she also inquires as to the big fucking hole between Chromium and Iron. A world in which I can humbly brag about my valor in the Manganese removal wars of 2016. Let's stand up for a world without manganese, a world that looks like this