Plan B Forum

We're just a few weeks away now from when this is traditionally announced...

I think the choice is obvious....

Not an individual; "The Arab Freedom Fighter"....

Those brave men and women throughout the Arab world, from Yemen, to Egypt, to Libya, to Syria...

Who chose 2011 as the year to courageously rise up against decades of oppression and begin to reshape the face of the entire Arab world...

There is no individual, or other group I can think of that had a greater impact on world events this year.

That would be a good choice.

I don't know if they would ever pick a dead person, but Steve Jobs comes to mind, for a lifetime dedicated to a different kind of revolution, which also played a significant role in the Arab spring.

Well, the winner is out now:

'The Protester' Is 'Time' Magazine's Person Of The Year

"The protester" is Time magazine's person of the year, it was just announced on NBC-TV's The Today Show and on Time's website.

That covers, most notably of course, those who went to the streets in the Arab Spring movement that swept across much of North Africa and the Middle East.

But as Time writes, protesters have also had major impacts in Greece, Spain, the U.K. and — via the Occupy Wall Street movement — the United states.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... f-the-year

Frankly I find this somewhat disgusting....

The idea that you can lump together hundreds of thousands of people who have risked their lives and those of their families to over turn autocratic regimes that have been entrenched for decades, (with considerable success) with a few thousand urban campers in the US and window breakers in Europe who's greatest risk has been spritz of pepper spray or tear gas and a night in jail, (and who's political impact, contrary to the TIME Magazine claim has to date been exactly zero) is utterly ridiculous.


It takes an extremely Western cultural-centric view to believe you can find any sort of equivalence whatsoever between these American and European pond ripples and the tsunami that has swept the Mid-East....

If you think the OWS protesters have had 'exactly zero' political impact, your head is buried in the sand, LJ.

If you think the OWS protesters have had 'exactly zero' political impact, your head is buried in the sand, LJ.

Sorry BSG, but if you believe it's been anything other than zero, you've got your head in the clouds...

What specific, tangible political accomplishments do you attribute to the flea baggers?

And also, do you think it is anything other than insulting to equate them with the Mid East Freedom fighters?

FWIW, I think the OWS movement has heightened public awareness and irritation with the phenomenon of the "Worthless Wealthy," who benefit from favorable tax and regulatory treatment, who have been bailed out by Congress after conduct that should have gotten them jail time, and who justify their existence and wealth through specious claims of creating jobs.

It is largely this heightened sensitivity that made Mitt Romney's sophomoric "bet" the other day such a Big Deal.

And the candidates in the coming presidential election will have to be very careful to position themselves as far as possible from "bankers" and "Wall Street," or they will be committing political suicide.

While it's true that one cannot point to a particular political candidate or initiative that resulted from this movement, I think they have impacted the public attitude in advance of this major election cycle.

dgs49 wrote:FWIW, I think the OWS movement has heightened public awareness and irritation with the phenomenon of the "Worthless Wealthy," who benefit from favorable tax and regulatory treatment, who have been bailed out by Congress after conduct that should have gotten them jail time, and who justify their existence and wealth through specious claims of creating jobs.

It is largely this heightened sensitivity that made Mitt Romney's sophomoric "bet" the other day such a Big Deal.

And the candidates in the coming presidential election will have to be very careful to position themselves as far as possible from "bankers" and "Wall Street," or they will be committing political suicide.

While it's true that one cannot point to a particular political candidate or initiative that resulted from this movement, I think they have impacted the public attitude in advance of this major election cycle.

Ok, that's twice in two days I've agreed with dgs49.

the candidates in the coming presidential election will have to be very careful to position themselves as far as possible from "bankers" and "Wall Street," or they will be committing political suicide.

As opposed to all those elections cycles where it's been a good idea to position yourself as closely as possible with "bankers" and "Wall Street"?

I must have missed those...

While it's true that one cannot point to a particular political candidate or initiative that resulted from this movement

That's sort of my central point...

And why I find it so insulting and trivializing for TIME to lump these folks together with people who have braved machine gun fire bringing about real historical change.

By what conceivable yardstick does it make any kind of rational sense to equate the protestors in the US with what the protestors in the Mid East have done? Courage? Risk? Sacrifice? Accomplishment?

Come on...

Jim
while I'll agree woth you that comparing OWS to the Arab spring is tenuous at best it is also disengenuous to say OWS accomplshed nothing (at least at this point)

Lord Jim wrote:By what conceivable yardstick does it make any kind of rational sense to equate the protestors in the US with what the protestors in the Mid East have done? Courage? Risk? Sacrifice? Accomplishment?

News coverage. Which is the only criterion by which potential Persons of the Year have ever been measured. Why else would Kate Middleton have made it to the short list, FFS?

edited for spelling

Because her sister has a great ass

Seconded!

Thirded!

Is that a word? Well, it is now!

News coverage. Which is the only criterion by which potential Persons of the Year have ever been measured

That may very well be the case, but it's not their stated criteria:

Since 1927, TIME Magazine has chosen a man, woman, or idea that "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year."

Using that criteria, there is no way that the flea baggers and the European protestors, whatever "influence" they may or may not have in the future, deserve to be included with the Mid-East protestors, who unleashed the greatest multinational political change since the collapse of the Soviet Bloc...

They simply do not deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence....

Why else would Kate Middleton have made it to the short list, FFS?*

That's an excellent point. I have to say I laughed when I saw that. It shows just how shallow and meaningless the selection process has become. If Kate could be a finalist, why not Lady Gaga?








*I just wanted to point out for the benefit of several posters, that nowhere in the criteria for this selection could I find, "her sister has a great ass"....

Lord Jim wrote:*I just wanted to point out for the benefit of several posters, that nowhere in the criteria for this selection could I find, "her sister has a great ass"....

It was implied Jim...

Lord Jim wrote:*I just wanted to point out for the benefit of several posters, that nowhere in the criteria for this selection could I find, "her sister has a great ass"....

A hot ass trumps all other criteria!

"The Protestor" is a brilliant choice.

While the protests in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, and (was it a year ago?) Iran had to have more physical courage than those in the US and Europe it is too soon to know what any of their real achievements will be. Some old rascals have been thrown out but we will not know for some time whether they will be replaced by newer and possibly worse rascals. Its early days for all of them but I think we can all celebrate the personal sacrifices they have made to be agents of positive change.

yrs,
rubato

Reminds me of a Trevanian quote; "Her ass was just a little too big to be perfect, which was perfect."

Or even "Pippa's Arse is like a J.K Rowling Book, Because.....You Know Harry is going to be in it."

I've seen better.

A good ass, but not a great ass....

Can't tell properly from that angle anyway...