Forum Post: Congratulations OWS: you have been selected TIME Person of the Year 2011
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 14, 2011, 8:10 a.m. EST by qazxsw123
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TIME magazine reveals its Person of the Year 2011
Magazine’s editors choose ‘The Protester’ as figure having the greatest impact
Don't let it go to your head. Just because something influences people doesn't guarantee it's going to be a success. Jimmy Carter in '76 and the Hungarian Patriot in '56. The Arab Spring may end in more repressive governments and OWS hasn't accomplished any change yet.
Many of the movements you mention "civil rights, women's rights, workers' rights, the planet's rights, animals' rights" got their cover too. They also all worked to get supporters elected to make change happen. They didn't stop at just raising awareness.
You said it. .... raising awareness is the first step to getting yourself heard and taken seriously.
Plus, OWS has made a huge impact in the political landscape, the pundits' narrative. Hence the Time selection.
I think the Arab protests figured more in Time's decision. OWS just gives it the added boost of a US flavor also. The awareness has been raised now it's time to do the actual work within the system.
I agree, especially with the very last addition: "...and dissent from the Putin regime in Russia."
As for doing the actual work within the system, that needs to be debated. What does 'within' mean? Of course, by default, we belong to the system, but I do not think that reform is what we want. What we want is to rethink, recreate, redesign that system, so that it is ... inclusive, for a start.
It means recruiting candidates running them and getting them elected to carry out your goals. Occupy would have to have some clear goals and the most effective way of getting people elected is through one of the existing political parties.
There is nowhere near the discontent in the country needed for a total overhaul or scrapping of the current system of government. Too many people getting government checks and too many doing well enough to be content with the governing method we have.
Surely not OWS.
a quote from the article...
The stakes are very different in different places. In North America and most of Europe, there are no dictators, and dissidents don't get tortured. Any day that Tunisians, Egyptians or Syrians occupy streets and squares, they know that some of them might be beaten or shot, not just pepper-sprayed or flex-cuffed. The protesters in the Middle East and North Africa are literally dying to get political systems that roughly resemble the ones that seem intolerably undemocratic to protesters in Madrid, Athens, London and New York City.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101745_2102132,00.html
Another quote that shows that, culture aside, people are clamoring for justice anywhere they perceive injustice, NYC included: "So in the end, it was the image of The Protester — summarizing mass actions against dictators in the Middle East, anti-drug cartel sentiment in Mexico, marches against unaccountable leaders in Greece, the America-spawned Occupy movement, and dissent from the Putin regime in Russia."
Great. Along with Hitler, Stalin x2, Kruschev, Khomeini.
time magazine, owned by the same people that own cnn. More propaganda. They seemed to have missed the TEA party that worked to give republicans a majority in the US congress along with govenors and state houses.
Who cares! Take even the crumbs if it can get you closer to your goal.
Time magazine was shrewd in selecting the Protester; it makes good business (marketing) sense, and it's definitely news, i.e., the definition being 'who made the most impact in the world this year.' Regardless if it is for good or evil. If I recall, Hitler made the list once.
Fandango has a point in there, a major one,that Occupy continues to ignore. The tea party got people elected. It's time for Occupy to begin that process and make changes like the other successful movements mentioned in the initial post.
@JPB950 - exactly. But OWS won't take the necessary steps to affect change. No leadership and no consensus of beliefs = failure.
I stand corrected: The Tea Party movement should have been mentioned, no doubt about that.
ows crapping on a police car in nyc makes a great impact. The "protesters" of tahir square have given egypt a totalitarian theocracy.
Excellent!
I just viewed the list of candidates for person of the year........Casey Anthony was on that list. There is truly something in the water that is dumbing-down the masses. Seriously, this is pathetic. What sort of impact could that woman have other than to raise the ratings of the Nancy Grace show?????
SO GLAD THAT THE PROTESTER WON THE ACCOLADE!!!!! Yeeeha! They certainly deserve it and if I could, I would put a gold star on each of your lapels.
Yeah, and Obama won the Nobel Peace prize.
Journalism is officially dead. Another useless college degree
In general, you are right, Journalism isn't doing its job, but in this instance it is right. Protesters around the planet are impacting their society, their culture, the world. So, they fit the definition of Time magazine. Full stop.
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The Protester, we, all of us, had the most impact, just like those who fought for civil rights, women's rights, workers' rights, the planet's rights, animals' rights, and now?
Whose rights? Our rights!
You are getting a little carried away with this, OWS hasn't gotten any change yet. If all they do is make noise they will fail as a movement. The arab protests got results.
None of these rights are a given by any means and we are lagging far behind in animal and environmental rights.
Yes, we are, but, you need a start, and if you recall, the first Greenpeace activists had to do a lot of gymnastics, noise, etc., to be noticed and to be heard. Now, the environment has become mainstream (at least until the Republicans are still out of reach of the WH); we have an EPA, and environment reporters in the media. Soon, there will be a critical mass of people refusing to eat meat. Just wait and see ...!
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