Gates Part Of Time’s “Person of the Year”. Get Real.

It used to be that media hounds like me looked forward to Time Magazine’s annual “Man of the Year” award. Since 1927, Popes and Presidents, Judges and Generations, have made it to the top of Time’s list.

Politically correct Time has fallen into disrepute and disrepair. Bono? Bill Gates? Take my subscription. Please. When will the nonsense end?

Don’t get me wrong. Anyone who donates $20-billion or $30-billion to charitable works has a soft spot, a need for tax breaks, or more money than God.

I’d like to think that those in Time Magazine’s “Persons of the Year” for 2005 have more of the former, as I’m sure a couple of them have more of the latter.

Time’s Persons of the Year are rock star Bono, Bill Gates, and his wife Melinda Gates. We’re just a few years into the new century, and Time Magazine has gone fully politically correct.

Since 1927, Time has bestowed notoriety, if not honor, on the single person who’s made the greatest impact in the news each year.

The list is peppered with famous names. Charles Lindberg in 1927 (the first). Mohandas K. Gandhi in 1930. Adolf Hitler in 1938, and Joseph Stalin in both 1939 and 1942.

Obviously, the award is not for the humanitarian of the year. Harry Truman received the award in 1945 and again in 1948. Nikita Kruschev in 1957. See? Can you guess how old I am?

The first non-person came to the list in 1960 as “US Scientists” took the top spot. In 1966 it was the generation “Twenty Five and Under”. I made it!!

That break from tradition ("Man" of the Year) continued as “The Middle Americans” came in 1969, “American Women” in 1975. In 1990, it was the “Two George Bushes” (not father and son, but George H. W. Bush’s multiple personality disorder).

As expected, Bill Clinton was “Man of the Year” in 1990 and he made it to the top again eight years later in 1998-- though he shared the honor with special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Following the terrorist events of September, 2001, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was Time’s Man of the Year.

2005 was a catastrophic year for natural disasters; earthquakes, tsunami, world hunger, hurricanes. I almost expected “weather” to be named Man of the Year.

The only computer guru to hit the Time list was Intel co-founder and then head, Andrew Grove in 1997. Astronauts have made the list. So have generals. And Ted Turner, founder of CNN.

But this year it’s Bill Gates and his wife, and Bono. Why? “For being shrewd about doing good, for rewiring politics and re-engineering justice, for making mercy smarter and hope strategic and then daring the rest of us to follow, Bill and Melinda Gates and Bono are TIME’s Persons of the Year.”

That’s why.

Former US President Jimmy Carter builds houses for the needy. Bill Gates built a fortune or two or three the old fashioned way. He didn’t earn it. His criminal company earned it by engaging in illegal business actions and activities for a few decades.

While Gates’ money is of benefit to the needy, and there’s no shortage of them in the world these days, his monetary gifts should not garner such respect when the product which accounted for that fortune is reviled by so many millions of people throughout the earth.

Bono? An aging rock star who gets along great with Gates (who’s always wanted to be as cool as a Mac or Steve Jobs or both). Bill Gates should be TIME’s “Man of the Year” for the same reason other bad guys in the past received the honor. He’s caused so much grief to so many.

Click Here for TIME’s details, and Click Here for the full list since 1927.

Bambi Hambi
Don’t mince your words, Tera. Tell us what you really think of TIME’s choice.

Jack D. Miller
Actually, that brings up a good point. Why didn’t Gates win just for being Gates and head of a company whose product is hated by so many, needed by so many?

Carol Mary Miller
I think it sends the wrong message. Money buys notoriety and fame. Hmmm. Never mind.

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