Person of the Year 2011

Who do you think should have won person of the year? Do you think the protesters deserved it? Comment, video response and engage!

If you have any longer comments you want to share with me, or a suggestion for topic for a video that we can discuss, send me an email at

rhymingwithoranges@gmail.com

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• TIME
• magazine
• Person
• of
• the
• Year
• protestors
• riots
• 2011
• #awesome2012

[Seamalicous]

I would've picked the man who resisted when everyone told him he was crazy. The man who stood tall and defiant when everyone thought he was wrong. For sheer resistance against public opinion, Ghaddifi is my person of the year.

[rhymingwithoranges]

@Seamalicous ps, make a video!

[mrjohnnylipps]

Jazza I've missed you! I read that article as well.

[rhymingwithoranges]

@mrjohnnylipps Thanks, what did you think of it?

[andrsdtz]

good video as always Jazza. I think it was a perfect choice as you can see from the mostly peacefull Protests in Tunisia to the most recent Protests in Russia and the still ongoing Syria Uprising. Maybe protesting women should have gotten an extra notice cause in many islamic countries they face much greater dangers than in western societies. Have a great New Years my friend :)

[rhymingwithoranges]

@andrsdtz Thanks and thanks for your input. They did, to be fair, make the front cover look like a woman. Your point is right about them.

[rhymingwithoranges]

@nablus0is0nablus I've been making them every two weeks or so for the last three months. Tram Lady, We 7 Billion etc. Look in the related videos.

[lanush22]

I'm waiting on YouTube to be person of the year.

[charlyandjosh]

It's certainly a lot better than their pick for last year, Mark Zuckerberg. I might've agreed with that choice back in, say, 2007, but no-one made a bigger impact on the news during 2010 than Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Unfortunately, there was no overly-hyped, Aaron Sorkin-directed, Justin Timberlake-starrig biopic about Assange out that year, so he was snubbed.

[charlyandjosh]

The Guardian and the LSE determined that that London riots were sparked by protests against social injustice? Surely that can't be right - the majority of the rioters seemed to simply be criminal opportunists, looting whatever they could find.

I agree with TIME's pick. The thing with their Person of the Year award is that it's not whomever was the "best" person of 2011, but more the person/people/object who made the biggest impact on the news, and the various protestors certainly did that.

[ViewRenz]

My thoughts:

-shouldn't person of the year just be one person?

-anyone could be a protester, technically if i stood outside my school with a sign saying please close i could say i won this title (as a protester)

Who do you think should have won Jazza? :)

[Marcomanseckisax]

may I have a second go? "Person of the Year" is for me Colin Crouch, because in his analysis of the economic MALAISE affecting all of us he is acknowledged both in Britain and Germany, which goes a long way to bridging that huge rather Balkan divide between us. His book is titled "Post-Democracy" - worth reading.

[OrgasmandTea]

Personally, I'm a fan of Julian Assange. I can understand choosing protesters over him, but the reason(s) are an interesting debate in themselves... didn't some of the protests in the Middle East start because of Wikileaks, or were these claims false/exaggerated?

That aside, if I were editor of Time Mag, I'd have probably gone along the lines of 'Protesters everywhere, except the UK', but then again I'm not afraid of a good scrap with the establishment (he says through the anonymity of the web)

[Beffinee]

How did Charlie Sheen not win this?

[1marchk1]

The award is given to the person who "for better or for worse, has done the most to influence the events of the year.". An wether you agree with the protesters or not, they have thrown over a government, which is kind of a big deal.

Whatever, the person of the year should probably just be "You" every year, since whoever influenced anything is a part of everyone, which is what they mean by "You", as far as i understand it. I don't like concepts or multiple people being called "Person", though.

[straightfromschool]

The UK 'protests' - as in the summer riots, not the students or Occupy movement - severely bring down the significance of this award. One could go so far as to say the average UK protester doesn't deserve this selection! As many deserving protesters there are in the UK who did get involved this year, the award does raise the question of whether we are effective in our protests, particulary if the Government doesn't respond.

[GingerandNuts]

I am glad that the protesters recieved recognition.

Those in the middle east fought for something most of us in the western world take for granted, the right to vote.Also they did this in appaling and terrifying conditions. These people ought to be applauded and remembered by history.

However the riots in my opinion was a disproportionate reaction to a single event and many of those looting did so out of vain opportunism. This award should not include them in my opinion.

[sl1993locko]

Christopher Hitchens, who died in December but who stood against the ills of the world all his life.