Time’s Person of the Year this year is officially “The Protester.” I can see what they’re getting at, but it does seem like something of a cop-out, right? I mean, “The Protester” is more like a Type-of-Person of the Year, or maybe the Class-Loadout of the Year. Besides that, Steve Jobs sure did spend a giant portion of the year dominating headlines. Of course, he might not have been a great person exactly, but that is up for debate. Also, let me remind you that Hitler (yes, that Hitler) was once Time’s Person of the Year, and Stalin was twice. They aren’t all heroes. On that note, as lame as “The Protester” might feel, there are way, way lamer ones in the past. Let’s take a look, shall we?
Starting from the beggining, here are some of the lamest, cop-outiest Person’s of the Year:
- 1950: The American Fighting-man
- 1956: The Hungarian Freedom Fighter
- 1960: American Scientists
- 1966: Baby Boomers
- 1969: The Middle Americans
- 1982: The Computer (Machine of the Year)
- 1988: The Endangered Earth (Planet of the Year)
- 2002: The Whistleblowers
- 2003: The American Soldier
- 2005: The Good Samaritans
- 2006: You
So, Time’s Person of the Year has never really been the arbiter of making complete sense. Of course, I’m not saying that “good samaritans” shouldn’t be thanked or anything. It’s just sort of, well, duh.
(via Boing Boing, Wikipedia)
- How about this genius 17-year-old for Person of the Year, eh?
- Baby octopus of the year
- Giant insect of the year
