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Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

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Re: Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

#121

Post by Crito »

stackcollision wrote: post #112
yen223 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hitler and Stalin were each a Times Person of the Year. They're selecting important people, not benevolent ones. At least, in theory.

I thought Hitler was Time's POTY when he was still propelling Germany out of abject poverty, and before he, you know, started a war. Is my timing off here?

1936 was pre-Kristallnacht and Poland wasn't getting invaded yet, though conscription in Germany began in 1936. The Night of the Long Knives had already established Hitler and the Nazis as rather unpleasant people.

Re: Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

#125

Post by brdrak »

PixelPusher wrote: post #22
orik wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah because how dare any citizen question it's government, right? /s

Are you serious? You can question everything you want as an ordinary citizen. The moment you sign a contract, specially for the military, you agree to keep your word. So, right, how dare the government hold someone to their word? You're basically advocating lying and not honoring your promises. BTW - I basically make a living honoring promises and contracts, otherwise we wouldn't have customers ;)

How far does this go for you? If, let's say, you witness wrongdoing performed by your employer, would you go along because, well, you promised to do a good job when you interviewed?

Re: Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

#126

Post by selmnoo »

Tloewald wrote: post #114
beaker52 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess they're trying to be objective, "Boston Bombers" Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev are on the list.

Person (previously "Man") of the year has never been a moral judgment. Hitler was "man of the year" in 1936. It's a question of who had the most impact -- for good or ill.

> Person (previously "Man") of the year has never been a moral judgment. Hitler was "man of the year" in 1936.

Well, originally. But now? No, absolutely not. See recent persons of the year (of the past few decades): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year#Persons...

There's a connotation of greatness in the phrase 'person of the year', that's there whether you like it or not, and Time magazine is certainly not going to get itself in rough waters by nominating a controversial figure and then substantiating a pick by the reason you cite -- that it's a person who had the most impact. If that really were true, Guiliani wouldn't have been picked as the POY, Osama would have, Zuck wouldn't have been picked, Assange would have.

But all of this aside, what I want to say most is that Time magazine is just a terrible tabloid at this point that's only been getting more terrible with each passing year. It's designed to appeal to the LCD audience, it's filled with FUD full up their necks. See this recent cover for example: http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2013/1310/360_cover_1111.j...

I really hope we all start ignoring Time soon.

Re: Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

#127

Post by ThePinion »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #120
lignuist wrote: post #19

Poll 2010: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,288... And then it became: http://content.time.com/time/person-of-the-year/2010/ So probably this year it will be Miley Cyrus...

Wait... Julian Assange won, but didn't? Or am I misunderstanding how this PoY contest works (in the sense that, the votes are symbolic, and Time chooses whoever they want as PoY)?

This is exactly it. When Moot won it was heavily talked about how Time wasn't going to actually choose him over Obama or whoever it was. I think there was enough backlash and fear of pissing off Anonymous that they actually stuck to that one. Here's to hoping they stick to what the people voted for with no hesitation this time. but who knows, maybe they'll be forced under gag order into not using Snowden because it will honor him instead of marking him as the most evil person ever.

Re: Vote Now: Who Should Be Time's Person of the Year? Edward Snowden

#130

Post by cdmoyer »

mydpy wrote: post #129

Miley Cyrus has more votes than Edward Snowden. How can that be?

I just asked three people near me if they knew who Snowden and Cyrus were. Guess who was recognized by all three and who was vaguely acknowledged by 1.

Not a scientific study, but I'd put money on it being repeatable outside the workplaces of hacker news readers.

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