Well it’s that time of year again. Cold winds are blowing, Christmas carols are belting out from department store sound systems, and Time Magazine will soon pick one person (or two or three people, or one organization or event or trend) and designate him/her/them/it as the most newsworthy of the year. Last year being an election year there were plenty of prominent people, noisy debates and memorable moments. This year, by contrast, there seems to be a shortage of good candidates.
The big event of the year was certainly Hurricane Katrina. I doubt Time will spring for “Hurricane of the Year”. The only person really pushed into the spotlight by the hurricane was Brownie, and despite doing a hell of a job, I doubt he’ll get the cover spot.
Hugo Chavez was in the news time after time this year, and obviously he’s at the center of the political storm caused by rising oil prices. I would love to see him chosen, mainly because of the looks it would produce on right wing bloggers’ faces, but I doubt that Time will have the courage.
Beyond that, though, we lack even a feel-good choice. Nothing spectacular happened in entertainment, sports, or science and technology.
You know, many Americans other than just “right wing bloggers” are anti-Chavez. The guy is little more than a criminal and a thug. And most people I’ve seen in the press and encountered in my personal life (that even know about him) aren’t supportive of him. I’m really not sure where this idea that being against Chavez was a bastion of the right came from.
The one that I’ve seen proposed is to cover all natural disasters that happened this year (both inside and outside the US) and give the award to “Mother Nature”.
I can’t say that I’d be satisfied by such a choice, but I’m having trouble at the moment thinking of a better one.
Yes, it is so unlike the right wing to condemn socialist troublemakers, even if they were legally elected.
Anyone think it might be Jon Stewart?
They gave it to “Planet Earth” some years back. I think it would feel derivative, but maybe they’ll do it.
I think Patrick Fitzgerald is another option.
If you actually read my post, which I think it’s highly apparent you didn’t, I’m saying that the right wing IS condeming him, but so is basically everyone else I’ve heard talking about the subject for the last few months. Chavez has been condemned in every op-ed I’ve seen written about him, whether it’s in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times.
And it’s not because he’s a socialist, it’s because he’s accused of holding political prisoners, extensive human right’s violations, and vast electoral fraud.
I guess only on the SDMB is it okay to support a dictator in the making just because he happens to be a socialist.
I heard they might pick JK Rowling for the entertainment one.
Where did you get that idea?
What do you propose?
What about The Red Cross? That name was everywhere on a couple of occasions.
Man of the year will be a woman.
Cindy Sheehan.
Jon Stewart (and other snappy intelligent young political commentators) would be an interesting choice, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Time wussed out and went with Bush again.
They did that last year. I don’t think they’d give it to him three times in five or six years.
I nominate Terri Schiavo.
It’s nominally supposed to be a world award, so I’m wracking my brain to find less America-centric figures. Bono, maybe? Live8 was a pretty big deal.
Cancer-surviror Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour de France woud be a good choice. He would be a shoo-in were the TdF was held in November, instead of July.
Another possible group winner might be Iraqi voters. Iraqis will have gone to the polls 3 times in 2005.
If they go with a Katrina theme, they may look for a semi-heroic angle, and nominate Russell Honore.
They should finally give it to Osama bin Laden, as they should have done in 2001. Remember, the title goes to the person who, “for better or for worse” has most influenced the events of the preceding year. When they gave the title to Adolf Hitler, they weren’t complimenting him. I understand why they didn’t give it to bin Laden, but it was still a big copout.
Anyways, that polemic aside, it really hasn’t been bin Laden’s year, so I wouldn’t say him. Cindy Sheehan’s an interesting choice, as a representative of the anti-war movement. George Bush might technically deserve the award yet again, since he’s still the biggest newsmaker…for better or for worse. If you can give it to a group of people, how about the Iraqi people? They’ve certainly continued to make headlines, and what they ultimately decide to do with their country is going to make a lot of difference in the Middle East and the world.
Someone less Americentric, hmm… maybe some of the people involved in the rejection of the EU constitution? Was there a figurehead for that movement? If there had been a breakthrough in Turkey’s admission to the EU, someone involved in that might have been a candidate.
And of course, there’s always Oprah Winfrey. She was, after all, recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 
I think I can make a good case for Schiavo as having had a huge impact on the news as well as an influence on political directions during the year. It marked what was arguably the beginning of a downturn for the political influence of social conservatives. Jeb Bush, Congressional Republicans, and the White House were all stampeded into a lot of stupid political grandstanding and ill-advised legal gambits by a vocal minority of religious conservatives in their base. It all backfired on them and it backfired from both sides. They were perceived as being too activist and invasive by the majority of Americans and were resented for not being activist enough by the religious right. They are still trying to live down the embarrassment of the circus that was Schiavo.
Aside from all that, though, is the fact that a functionally brain dead woman was able to defeat the concerted efforts of the Governor of Florida, the US Congress and the President of the United States and still win the right to die on her own terms. I think it was a great symbolic victory for civil rights and for the sanctity of the indivual to make her own decisions in America. It was a triumph of a nobody over the most powerful people in the country.