TIME made its call.. the yearly ritual of waiting to see who a nearly irreverent magazine will decide was the most important person of the year is here again. This one was out of left field for me.. I did not expect them to choose a series of people, ‘the Ebola fighters,’ as the person that mattered.. I thought for sure TIME would focus in on the Ferguson story and name the ‘protester’ as the person—though they did that in 2011.. I was wrong.
Perhaps if EBOLA gets really, really bad, next year’s person could be the EBOLA patient. And then TIME could just include another mirror on the cover like they did for the ‘You’ as the person of the year in 2006.
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This could also be a clever way to sell magazine—five covers?? I have always been aware of the theory that local newspapers utilize local sports to sell fishwrappers—every high school football player, baseball player, or track star buys up the issue when they are featured. As do their family members and friends.
In this regard, TIME will sell at least 5 magazine this year, and maybe a few dozen more will buy because they know the person on the cover.
But seriously..The reception for TIME’s choice has been positives, according to the TWITTER feeds I follow. People are roundly applauding TIME for picking brave people who fought Ebola and risked their own safety..
I personally think this is a safe choice for TIME to make—one that will have no opponents and be affectionately thought of as a positive decision for the corporate magazine..Nurses and doctors could get the choice as person of the year every year.. As could police officers and others.
I think my choice for person of the year—the one who most influenced the news and changed the course of history over the past 12 months (by definition, this is how TIME decides) would be: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the soccer playing Ph.D. who became the leader of ISIS.