And Time's Person of the Year is... Vladimir Putin?

Beating out the magical J.K. Rowling and Nobel Laureate Al Gore, Vladimir Putin was chosen as TIME's Person of the Year (Say whaaaaat?!). Time says, "With dauntless persistence, a sharp vision of what Russia should become and a sense that he embodied the spirit of Mother Russia, Putin has put his country back on the map." Yup, no mention of his censoring the media, assassinating those who don't comply or his attempts to become the de-facto leader of Russia. Hey TIME, where have you been all of this...um...time? Give your name some credence! To TIME's credit, they do mention, "TIME's Person of the Year is not and never has been an honor. It is not an endorsement. It is not a popularity contest." That may be true, except that millions of people probably view it in a very different way. But what does one expect from a magazine that has chosen Hitler and Stalin (twice!) in its history? Heck, last year's Person of the Year was You, the people who control the information age. Ah, what a crock!

D.E.

Source: Time

Image Source: Azrainman on Flickr