It’s Time–that is, it’s time for Time,
If I could make that clear
For me to plead for votes, in rhyme,
For Person Of The Year.
Yep, Time Magazine is getting ready to name their Person of the Year. There are the usual politicians (failed and successful), the usual power brokers (failed and successful), the usual celebrities, the obligatory quirky mentions (Higgs-Boson Particle and Mars Rover) and (this being an Olympic year) the occasional Olympic athlete.
And there is Malala Yousafzai.
You can vote people up or vote them down. I was surprised and pleased to see her name at the top of the list after I voted, but there are many days to go.
I can’t pharyngulate a poll, but I can certainly try to Sepiate one.
(And yes, you can vote for more than one, so the Rover can be runner-up…)
Malala is currently in second place, behind current Egyptian leader Morsy.
Dammit… I need flying monkeys! Malala must win!
(holy crap–Morsy doubled her count! He wasn’t even close when I voted!)
By the rules, the “Person of the Year” is supposed to be the one who did the most to influence the world, or at least make news, during the past year. By that standard Malala doesn’t qualify. And I don’t think the editors pay very much attention to public voting.
I wouldn’t be too surprised, however, to see one of their generic winners as “The Muslim Woman” or some such.
Of course, to meet their criteria they’d pretty much have to choose the President of the US every year. Since he just got reelected, they might just do that.
Having thought for just a couple of minutes, I think I’ll go way out on a skinny limb and make a prediction for “Persons of the Year.” It’ll be “The 47%”. Who, as we all know, turned out to be the 53%.
Call me a bigoted cyberphobe, but I believe Time should stick to the traditional definition of personhood; biologicals only. Sorry you’re feeling left out, Curiosity, but we did give you a one-way trip to another planet after all. That should give you a hint to how welcome you should feel in our little club.
As for Higgs: if we need a 7$bn machine just to find the bugger, maybe he simply doesn’t want the attention. Leave the poor particle alone.
@Trebuchet
“By the rules, the “Person of the Year” is supposed to be the one who did the most to influence the world, or at least make news, during the past year. By that standard Malala doesn’t qualify.”
Actually it’s the person who’s influenced the news most that year, for better or worse. Publicly advocating for women’s rights and education in rural Pakistan and being shot in the head for it and surviving… I’d say that counts.
There is a petition floating around the nets for giving her the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought that was a bit much til I read her CV… At 14… And doing all those things in the most antagonistic environment not only for women but for the things she is fighting for. Needless to say, I signed it.