TIME "Person of The Year" - Me?
Sunday, December 17, 2006

WHO IS NEXT IN 2006?

YOU! Congratulations to us! Yeah, you and me! We are the Time magazine “Person of the Year” Time has decided to honor us in 2006.

Time has selected million of us as the Person of the Year! The cover shows a white keyboard with a mirror for a computer screen where buyers can see their reflection.

Quotes from writers and editors

“Time cited the shift from institutions to individuals – citizens of the new digital democracy, as the magazine put it. The winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web"

Larry McShane, Associated Press Writer

"If you choose an individual, you have to justify how that person affected millions of people. But if you choose millions of people, you don't have to justify it to anyone."

Richard Stengel, Time's managing editor

This time, Time is not focusing about conflict or great men.
“It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.”

Lev Grossman in Cover Story

Link to TIME video: Person-Of-The-Year

Why YOU?

You made Facebook profiles
You made Second Life avatars
You reviewed books at Amazon
You recorded podcasts
You blogged
You camcordered bombing runs
You built open-source software

“Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?” Lev Grossman

The answer is, you do!

Anyway, I've gone through the website, Time did cite 26 “People Who Mattered”: Just to name a few:

Kim Jong II - North Korean Dictator
Pope Benedict XVI
US President Bush
Donald Rumsfeld – US former Defense Secretary

Who will it be if not YOU?

The Magazine will most probably choose Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Lastly, I think it is important to note that, it’s not the first time TIME went away from naming an actual person for its ‘Person of the Year.” For example:

1966: the 25-and under generation
1975: American women
1982: the computer was chosen!

Link to TIME video: Person-Of-The-Year