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Probaway Person of the Year, Review of TIME - Person of the Year, TIME - Person of the Year - 2012, TIME person of the year
TIME magazine’s Person of the Year has had its list of popular world movers since 1929 when Charles Lindbergh was the first one. I got started a little later and this year will be my 6th Probaway Person of the Year, but I do value TIME’s take on what they think is of historical importance. Their view is driven by the popular events of the previous year, and mine is based on what event of the previous year will probably be remembered in 500 years. That of course is speculation, and we will never know personally how accurate those choices can be because we will be long gone. Some things will obviously be remembered, like man’s first step on the Moon, which didn’t get a TIME person of the Year, and many things will be long forgotten, like who got elected President of the USA in a particular year, which frequently does get a cover. Here are the TIME covers from 1927-2011. George W. Bush got three covers. Here is Probaway’s critique from 2011.
Below is TIME’s chart with their links, with added comments based on these individuals’ 500-year fame estimate. All of these people are important today, but the issue here is their memorability in the distant future. Compare to last year’s list.
TIME Person 2012 | Votes 2012/11/28 | 500 year Memorability Comments |
---|---|---|
Mohamed Morsy | 247,559 | Egypt’s new Prime minister. |
Kim Jong Un | 175,468 | N Korea Head of State. |
Malala Yousafzai | 116,563 | A possible Joan of Ark girl. |
Stephen Colbert | 57,674 | King Maker, but not this year. |
Bashar Assad | 54,804 | Civil war national failure. |
Psy | 54,080 | A popular quirky dance style. |
The Mars Rover | 53,246 | If finds life makes it #1 |
Undocumented Immigrants | 49,727 | Nothing new — we are always coming here |
Barack Obama | 49,015 | Successful middle of the roader. |
The Higgs Boson Particle | 40,368 | It has been here all along. |
Felix Baumgartner | 35,475 | Gravity still works. |
Jon Stewart | 33,174 | Keeping people honest via comedy. |
Pussy Riot | 30,844 | Continuing women’s rights. |
Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein | 29,549 | Burma’s civil rights. |
Hillary Clinton | 29,548 | Top US diplomat does job okay. |
Bill Clinton | 26,050 | X-pres still speaks well. |
Michael Phelps | 25,932 | 22 Olympic medals, stops counting. |
Gabby Douglas | 22,652 | Honorable gymnast. |
Ai Weiwei | 21,891 | Dissident Chinese artist. |
Sandra Fluke | 21,642 | Women’s rights advocate. |
Joe Biden | 15,721 | Sometimes a great speaker. |
Chris Christie | 15,521 | A hurricane responder. |
John Roberts | 13,453 | The future of America. |
Mitt Romney | 13,024 | He had it all! Including blunders. |
Marissa Mayer | 12,268 | A top female exec. |
Mo Farah | 12,039 | Multicultural Olympic hero. |
Benjamin Netanyahu | 11,832 | Trapped in a lose/lose decision. |
Michael Bloomberg | 10,961 | NYC mayor bans big pops. |
Paul Ryan | 9,687 | Sidekick this time, presidential next one. |
Jay-Z | 8,044 | Major politically popular rapper. |
Mario Draghi | 6,929 | Europe’s present banker. |
Tim Cook | 6,924 | New head of Apple. |
Xi Jinping | 5,781 | Presides over fabulous new China. |
Bo Xilai | 4,625 | Chinese leader in trouble. |
Sheldon Adelson | 3,665 | Plutocrat buys politicians. |
E.L. James | 3,216 | Sex still sells, big. |
Karl Rove | 3,078 | Political brainchild lost this time. |
Roger Goodell | 2,827 | Own sports in America. |
There is some hope of long term memorability for the Curiosity rover if it discovers life on Mars, for Benjamin Netanyahu if he attacks Iran’s nuclear facilities and Xi Jinping if he continues his next ten years of China’s growth. In a few years we will know the answers to those questions. The others haven’t done anything this 2012 that is going to be remembered in 500 years.
PERSON OR PERSONS OF THE YEAR SHOULD BE THE US MILITARY!
I think they will be talking about Grover Norquist in 500 years. After all, we still talk about Benedict Arnold, and it’s practically the same thing….Why is Grover not even on the list?
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