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Time Person of the Year 2013

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Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#41

Post by jheriko »

r0h1n wrote: post #14

For crying out loud! What difference has the Pope made to the world (and do remember, the world does include non-Christian countries...or roughly 5 billion out of 7 billion people...and I'm not even getting into Catholics vs. non-Catholics here). Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And…

my reason: he only enlightened very naive people with massive blinkers on their vision.

although i'm inclined to agree he is a very good choice...

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#42

Post by kamaal »

philtar wrote: post #24
r0h1n wrote: post #14

For crying out loud! What difference has the Pope made to the world (and do remember, the world does include non-Christian countries...or roughly 5 billion out of 7 billion people...and I'm not even getting into Catholics vs. non-Catholics here). Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And…

Sure Snowden opened up a dialog when it comes to privacy etc. and that's a big deal for us because we live on the internet. This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level. Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. P.S I'm muslim.

>>Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is.

Symbolically yes. But the world has moved on. Power these days comes in the form of a well developed economy, powerful armies, weapons, lobbies etc.

Spiritual power by and large means nothing in the current world.

Its all power, wealth and interests that move around them.

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#44

Post by huherto »

beloch wrote: post #5

He shows promise but, like awarding Obama the Nobel peace prize, this is just too soon.

This unlike the nobel price is given for influencing the events of the year, not so much for being good or great. Even Hitler and Stalin were selected.

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#45

Post by JonnieCache »

smackfu wrote: post #9
calvin_c wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They always do that. The polls have never been to determine who the POTY will be, but just to see who people vote for. Time picks whoever they want regardless of the polls.

Yeah, the poll is essentially just to generate another story about "who the people want".

These days it just seems to provide something to keep 4chan occupied for a week.

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#46

Post by macspoofing »

philtar wrote: post #24
r0h1n wrote: post #14

For crying out loud! What difference has the Pope made to the world (and do remember, the world does include non-Christian countries...or roughly 5 billion out of 7 billion people...and I'm not even getting into Catholics vs. non-Catholics here). Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And…

Sure Snowden opened up a dialog when it comes to privacy etc. and that's a big deal for us because we live on the internet. This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level. Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. P.S I'm muslim.

I like this pope, but anything coming out of Vatican is essentially white-noise when it comes to national and international policies. No world leader actually cares.

So how does he bring peace to the world?

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#47

Post by dak1 »

philtar wrote: post #24
r0h1n wrote: post #14

For crying out loud! What difference has the Pope made to the world (and do remember, the world does include non-Christian countries...or roughly 5 billion out of 7 billion people...and I'm not even getting into Catholics vs. non-Catholics here). Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And…

Sure Snowden opened up a dialog when it comes to privacy etc. and that's a big deal for us because we live on the internet. This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level. Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. P.S I'm muslim.

Agreed. When I saw the link on Hacker News, my gut reaction was that it was probably Snowden; however, I have to say I think the Pope was the far better choice (and I'm an atheist).

He's the first Pope from what is often called the Global South, and really brings a different perspective and emphasis on cultural and economic issues that could have massive implications for the entire world (whether you're Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, atheist, etc) -- reaching far beyond the debate Snowden started.

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#48

Post by skwirl »

philtar wrote: post #24
r0h1n wrote: post #14

For crying out loud! What difference has the Pope made to the world (and do remember, the world does include non-Christian countries...or roughly 5 billion out of 7 billion people...and I'm not even getting into Catholics vs. non-Catholics here). Colour me cynical, but any publication that declares anyone other than Edward Snowden as the Person of the Year in 2013 has to have some pretty BIG reasons for doing so. And…

Sure Snowden opened up a dialog when it comes to privacy etc. and that's a big deal for us because we live on the internet. This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level. Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. P.S I'm muslim.

Exactly. If your life is lived online, especially in the tech community echo chamber, Snowden is going to mean a lot more to you than he does to most people.

There are 1.2 billion Catholics in the world. I attended Catholic church growing up, and the pope has a lot of influence on Catholics. Many of these people have portraits of the pope (at the time it was John Paul II) in central areas of their homes. If you aren't part of that community, maybe it is hard to see how much of a difference the pope can make, although I think this pope has been hard to ignore, no matter who you are. When he speaks, hundreds of millions closely listen. And action happens.

He may not really have changed the church on the topics of contraception and abortion, but that's also not what he is really out there talking about. The topic is humility, compassion, and charity. When is the last time these topics really had a globally influential champion?

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#49

Post by TheRealBabibi »

nalsh wrote: post #33

I think that some of you guys are missing the point by being a bit too America-centric. The new Pope is a gamechanger for a ton of people and has effected more lives directly than Snowden has (at least in those peoples' perspective).

How? He cant even stop his own priests from fucking kids.

Re: Time Person of the Year 2013

#50

Post by kohanz »

kamaal wrote: post #42
philtar wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure Snowden opened up a dialog when it comes to privacy etc. and that's a big deal for us because we live on the internet. This pope however is so transformational he could seriously do a lot to bring peace to the world. Potential wise, this guy trumps Snowden on every level. Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. P.S I'm muslim.

>>Take a moment to think about how powerful this guy really is. Symbolically yes. But the world has moved on. Power these days comes in the form of a well developed economy, powerful armies, weapons, lobbies etc. Spiritual power by and large means nothing in the current world. Its all power, wealth and interests that move around them.

Which of the above factors did Nelson Mandela possess?
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