How can *TIME* even consider making HUGO CHAVEZ person of the year ?

Question

This man does not deserve to be recognized by the American People for anything except being a irate idiot.

Answer 1

The fact that you think the American people should only consider him as a "irate idiot" just shows how little you "really" know the truth about him. I spent a little over 6 months in Venezuela last year and the people there, for the first time, have a sense of hope for their future....something that the poor of this country can not attest to. New schools are being opened and new hospitals. The profits of oil sales are going to help the people of his country. The profits of Exxon/Mobil are going to Exxon/Mobil. What scares this country about Chavez is that he is slowly uniting South America to stand as one which would be a great damage to corporate America.
You call him an "irate idiot" because he called Bush "The Devil"?
During Bush 1 administration the Dean of Bob Jones University called Bush 1 the Devil.
A right wing radio host last year called Hillary Clinton the Devil.
I can provide over 6 more examples of this type of name calling. For you to think we should be upset about this is useless and just shows the level of your "fake rage".

Answer 2

I think you misconstrue the meaning of the distinction. The "Person of the Year" is not an award given to the person who's made the biggest contribution to the betterment of society; it's the editorial staff's judgement of the person who's actions have generated the most news.

Time has been doing this for decades. And among past "winners" were men like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and the Ayatollah Khomeini. It's not about "honor" at all -- just
news-worthiness.

Once, the choice was, "The Computer."

Answer 3

As others have said, Time tries to pick the most influential person of hte year.

After the Khomeini fiasco, many people cancelled their subscriptions, so Time shied away from picking controversial characters for many years.

Wikipedia says that for 2001, Osama bin Laden may have been the "stronger candidate than Giuliani for Person of the Year and Hitler was a stronger candidate than Albert Einstein for Person of the Century, but they were not ultimately selected due to what the magazine described as their "negative" influence on history." So Time has flip flopped on its selection criteria.

Answer 4

Look at the criteria for becoming Person of the Year. It's not whether you're good or bad, it's based on how big a splash you make. Hitler won Time's Man of the Year (as it was then) in the 30's, and they certainly recognized him for the danger he was.

Speaking of danger, I see Chavez as a bigger threat to this country than Iraq or Iran - he's smart enough and smooth enough to operate on a couple of levels that Islamic terrorists haven't thought of.

Answer 5

TIME also gave the award to Adolf Hitler (in 1939 I believe).

The Person of the Year award is not for doing good or bad. The award is basically the most news noteworthy person of the year, as judged by them. Chavez is certainly news noteworthy.

For the record, I do believe that Hugo Chavez is a nut.

-Aztec276

Answer 6

I will give you a few of the reasons even though I dont think you care.
He has provided oil to low income families in the US when the US wouldnt help them. He has renogiated the contracts between Venezuela and the oil companies that drill there, so that instead of the oil companies screw over the people of Argentina, the country gets its fair share of the profits. He has started a literacy program, in a country where before he was President, many could not read. He has built more schools, hospitals and such.

Answer 7

DUDE, Hugo Chavez,was only saying want most of our allies were thinking!
Whats really disgusting is that Time made Adolph Hitler man of the year in 1938,and Joe Stalin man of the year twice in the 1940's!
That Sucks!! BADDDDDDDD!

Answer 8

I can't imagine that he is the most news worthy person of the year.

The little jerk in North Korea, maybe. The President of Iran, more likely. Chavez is a weasel who only made news because he jumped on the anti-American, anti-Bush bandwagon.

Actually, I would have given the distinction to the Liberals of the United States. If any one organization has affected what has happened or going to happen in the world today it is them. AND... I certainly don't mean that in a positive way.

Stephanie.. wrong. There are programs all across the country that give assistance to people with their utilites and heating bills. Instead of the thousand or so that Chavez helped there are hundreds of thousands that benefit from the programs through grants from our own government. Bless the people in Alaska that told Mr Chavez what he could do with his cheap oil. Argentina? What planet are you from? You sure you didn't mean Venezuella? Unless something has changed recently, like in the last 2 seconds, Chazev has nothing to do with Argentina. You really are one messed up chick.

Answer 9

TIME's man of the year for 1979 was the madman Ayatollah Khomeini, and deservedly so. The distinction does not mean they approve of him but that he has had the greatest impact on the year.

Anyway there are some good things about Chavez. I did not know he was Man of the Year - thanks for the news.

Answer 10

re criteria for "person of the year"

quote from link
The choice can be a living person or reflect a philosophy or capture an event. But the previous winners all had one thing in common: They somehow exercised the biggest influence on that given year.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid={FF9A1DBA-B2B6-44D6-939A-26202D6CD272}&siteid=mktw

There are other things that TIME looks for.
And it doesn't look like best of breed checklist.