Time Magazine will announce tomorrow their 2015 “Person of the Year.” Originating in 1927 with the selection of Charles Lindbergh (in an attempt to remedy the previous editorial embarrassment of not featuring the aviator on the front cover after his trans-Atlantic flight), each year the periodical selects a person, group, idea or thing that they believe has most influenced the news during the calendar year. Positive or negative impact is irrelevant; the selection simply signifies who/what has most influenced the news flow.
As mentioned by the Intramuralist in recent years, previous so-called “winners” include Walter Chrysler, Mahatma Gandhi, and Adolf Hitler… every sitting U.S. President except Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Gerald Ford… also, inanimate objects such as “The Inheritor” in ’66, “The Computer” in ’82, and “The Good Samaritans” in 2005.
So I’m pondering who may be announced tomorrow; many come to mind…
From foreign figures such as Francois Hollande, Vladimir Putin, and Bashar al-Assad… to surging new leaders here and abroad in Pope Francis and new House Speaker Paul Ryan… not to diminish entertaining individuals such as Abby Wambach, Tom Brady, and (“hello”) Adele…
Yet while each of the above significantly influenced the news flow in 2015, there are two selections I think stand out:
(1) The Candidate; and…
(2) The Terrorist
First, “The Candidate”… Some will clamor for “The Candidate” to be a specific someone. I’m not there yet. Allow me to share a small Intramuralist supposition…
Whenever there’s a personnel change for whatever the reason — good, bad, voluntary or involuntary — from a president to a pastor to any working professional — there is a tendency to over-emphasize what was perceived to be most lacking in the previous position holder when searching for someone new. For example, when Pres. George W. Bush was perceived by many to be too colloquial and casual in speech, candidate Obama’s eloquent oratorical skills became especially attractive.
With a personnel change occurring in the White House next year, we are again subtly assessing what characteristic seems most absent; it’s like taking advantage of the opportunity in front of us — albeit the over-emphasis can be blinding elsewhere. I see such in the current lure of two men in particular: the self-avowed Socialist, Bernie Sanders, whose authenticity has attracted multiple fans — and — in business mogul Donald Trump, whose straight talk entices many… even if that straight talk isn’t always true. The challenge is that when we over-emphasize what was previously most lacking, we miss important, necessary traits for the next office holder to possess. Hence, “The Candidate” could be our “Person of the Year.”
Second, “The Terrorist”… I really wish he/she/it wasn’t so deserving. There is no doubt they have dominated our headlines way too many times.
Persons connected with militant Islamic ideology have been wreaking havoc on innocent others since day one, month one, all of 2015. There was the massacre on northern Nigerian villages by Boko Haram, killing an estimated 2000 in January… the attack on Charlie Hebdo shortly thereafter… car bombs by al-Qaeda… mass shootings by Al-Shabaab in April… shootings, stabbings, suicide bombings, kidnappings, and decapitations by ISIS, ISIL, the Taliban, and more.
Let me be semi-subtle in my bottom line: “The Terrorist” has been too involved in the news flow.
With multiple attacks, the American public seems especially, increasingly irritated and angry that we have not made obvious, significant progress in halting these horrific attacks; the violence keeps happening. We struggle with what to call it. We struggle with what to do. Our leaders struggle. Should we be specific? Should we not? Should we change our strategy? Should we not?
Will “The Terrorist” continue to dominate? What would “The Candidate” say?
Perhaps only Time will tell.
Respectfully…
AR