Who Should Be Person of the Year?

-->

            Time Magazine has an honored tradition of selecting a person of the year. This endorsement goes to the person, item, or thing that has, for better or worse, most influenced the news this year. Time editors select the Person of the Year, but voting is going on right now on the website. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 12. The winner will be announced on Dec. 14.

There is a long list of candidates that affected a wide range of issues from sports to human rights, and the results so far are interesting. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is winning the race with 93 percent of respondents saying he should definitely be Person of the Year. Less than a year after his father died, Un has consolidated his power, ousted rivals from his country and taken a firm line with both the U.S. and China. I can understand Kim Jong Un being in first place, after all news coverage of his ascension to the helm of his country was great and the political implications of the event are far reaching. I can fathom any of the top three finishers as great representations of the Person of the Year, Malala Yousafzai, and The Mars Rover. However, the next highest vote getter is The Higgs Boson followed by Stephen Colbert. In what popularity contest world does this voting make sense? Psy is right near the top, and although the splash he has made on the music world has been great, his story is not news. There are other surprises on the list. Gabrielle Douglas is ranked in the middle of the pack right now, but in my opinion she should be closer to the top. Also, President Obama is ranked in the middle, but like him or not he made top news this year. His continued news presence should win him that spot. There are others who polled favorably among Time readers perhaps just because they seemed like names or bios that should be important, regardless of receiving less media coverage than others. Those votes might have come from a desire by the voter to feel more important or worldly. In addition, some rather noteworthy figures scored low, landing them at the end of the pack even though their influence on the year’s news was greater. However, they're losers of this popularity contest Among those names are Roger Goodell and E.L. James. In no way do I think they should be at the front of the horse race for Person of the Year, but I believe there is some funny business going on with the voting and those who have responded are not necessarily selecting the person, item or thing that most influenced news this year.

            When voting, I tended toward casting my opinion for those who more favorably contributed to society this year instead of those who just made negative news. I gave my support to The Mars Rover, President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Gabrielle Douglas. I hope one of them wins instead of Psy. Luckily the Time editors select the actual winner and I don’t think they would saddle us with such a joke of a Person of the Year, but make sure you vote just in case they need some help deciding a tiebreaker.

Who Should Be Person of the Year?

Vote Here