In a move sure to send up massive groans and eye-rolling from its subscribers, Time magazine has released its Person of the Year issue. The person this year? You.
The annual honor for 2006 went to each and every one of us, as Time cited the shift from institutions to individuals — citizens of the new digital democracy, as the magazine put it. The winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web.
"If you choose an individual, you have to justify how that person affected millions of people," said Richard Stengel, who took over as Time's managing editor earlier this year. "But if you choose millions of people, you don't have to justify it to anyone."
Seems like a cheesy cop-out to me.
The magazine did cite 26 "People Who Mattered," from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il to Pope Benedict XVI to the troika of President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
And Stengel said if the magazine had decided to go with an individual, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the likely choice. "It just felt to me a little off selecting him," Stengel said.
I don't know why Time would flinch at make Ahmadinejad Person of the Year. They didn't mind giving that distinction to Mikhail Gorbechev...twice.
I like seeing generalizations in everything, but Stengel's statement seems to exemplify the attitude of a lot of people--governmental, entertainment, or otherwise--in this country. Let's not make a hard decision. Just do something that makes people feel good.
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