Shot In The Dark: I Shall Remain <i>Time</i>less

December 19, 2005

I Shall Remain Timeless

How limp were Time's choices for "Persons of the Year" - Microsoft mogul Bill Gates, his wife Melinda, and rock star/free-lance lobbyist Bono?

Especially compared with the people that did change the world - the citizens of Iraq, Lebanon and Ukraine, who ushered various degrees of thug and dictator out of power this past year, the most sweeping spread of democracy since the fall of The Wall?

Michelle Malkin says it well:

Time is so out of touch that none of these historic revolutionaries--Purple, Cedar, and Orange--were recognized in its "People Who Mattered" section. Instead, the magazine singles out the likes of Cindy Sheehan, Hillary Clinton mimic Geena Davis, lying Joe Wilson and his wife, race-card rapper Kanye West, and teen golfer Michelle Wie--and devotes space to a 9-photo spread of Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

Lame. Just lame.

Worse than lame; the word you want is "desperate". Time, panicked that any credit go to a policy that they've opposed from the word "go", picked three people whose greatest work is either behind them (Bill Gates), not their own (Melinda Gates), or essentially an appeal for international accounting tricks (Bono), however noble the intent (be advised I'm a big U2 fan).

The cult of the year? Political Correctness. For the 20th straight year.

Posted by Mitch at December 19, 2005 07:12 AM | TrackBack

Comments

With you on the Person of the Year. It should be one person. Not a machine or a trend or a whole bunch of people, but one person. Yushchenko would have been a good choice. Or Jesus. He's always causing trouble and you know he boosts the newsstand sales.

Posted by: angryclown at December 19, 2005 09:27 AM

The question should be "Who cares what Time Magazine thinks?" It's just another dead-tree dinosaur that hasn't laid it carcass down yet.

Posted by: Kermit at December 19, 2005 09:50 AM

How about giving props to the way the people of the world responded to natural disasters. Our collective response to the tsunami, hurricanes and earthquake was nothing short of amazing. I think the Persons of the Year should have been all the people of the Earth. We deserve it.

Posted by: Kevin from Minneapolis at December 19, 2005 09:56 AM

I liked The Joshua Tree. . .

Posted by: Ryan at December 19, 2005 10:10 AM

Yes Mitch. I agree. Time does seem to be in the habit of picking completely illogical and insulting choices for the Person of the Year.

Take the 2004 choice for example...

Posted by: Doug at December 19, 2005 10:48 AM

Yes, Doug, I remember the 2004 Person of the Year. I also remember the article that ran with it, practically dripping with derision.

Posted by: Ryan at December 19, 2005 11:27 AM

From Time's 2004 award, submitted without comment:
"For sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years, George W. Bush is TIME's 2004 Person of the Year"
"Ordinary Presidents have made mistakes and then sought to redeem themselves by admitting them; when Bush was told by some fellow Republicans that his fate depended on confessing his errors, he blew them off."
OK, just one comment: Dripping with derision states it perfectly.
Bill & Melinda do a lot of great work. Bono has overcome a lot of kneejerk liberalism to focus on getting things done. However, TIME bent over backwards to ignore hundreds of more deserving candidates because to do so would mean recognizing the benefits of Bush's policies.

Posted by: chriss at December 19, 2005 01:05 PM

It's kind of funny that Bono features so prominently in ad campaigns for iPod.

Posted by: chriss at December 19, 2005 01:06 PM

"I liked The Joshua Tree. . ."

ditto. Although, I'll take Wide Awake in America as U2's best, albeit a brief EP, its still their best.

and Time Magazine? "If I could, you know I would
If I could, I would Let it go..."

Posted by: Mark at December 19, 2005 08:05 PM

I would have picked the U.S. Navy and Marines. They have done more direct humanitarian relief this year than Bono, Gates, and Canada combined.

Posted by: Lee at December 19, 2005 08:54 PM

Michelle Malkin seems to be saying that Joe Wilson is married to Kanye West.

I will never understand these new age liberals.

Posted by: Dave in Pgh. at December 20, 2005 02:39 AM

Bongo as a "thing" of the year...yah that is telling him...

He was a geek rocker in 1980 when I saw him in a copy of "Trouser Press", very skinny and full of pee and vinegar...but it is just rock and roll.

Now he is everywhere and on any boho cause of the moment.

Gates and spouse...just money there...he ain't wrote any code since early 80's...

Timeless and talentless indeed...

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