Since 1999 Time Magazine has annually relased a list of what it deems to be the 100 most influential people in the world; composed of politicians, scientists, atheletes, artists and architects to name a few.
Much like Time Magazine the briefs on each honoree is concise, mildly witty, and is complete with a nice photo to distract you.
What it really comes down to is the real movers and shakers aren't always in the limelight, and as a result Time does not care. I'm sure Kaka is great soccer player and it's nice that Loren Ochoa cares about kids staying in schools while golfing, but something tells me they aren't influencing the world as much as Time thinks.
Where Time got it right:
1) Mark Zuckerberg: Changed model of social networking. Facebook daily attracts more and more users and is linking people at an exponential rate. Myspace remains slow, slutty, and filled with too many bad bands who just can't seem to make it.
2) Carlos Slim: The man who has more money than Bill Gates isn't on the list for shaping telecommunications, he is on for influencing social reform. Carlos isn't simply donating money, he is spearheading poverty fighting programs and using cellular technology as a type of remittance in Mexico.
3) Ratan Tata: Chairman of India's Tata Group, the man helped develop the $2,500 car. The car is blistering fast with a 0 to 43 (yes, 43) clocking in at 14 seconds and no air bag or seemingly any features. The deluxe version includes an air conditioner, but no power steering. It will spur mass motorization in the developing world, aggravate pollution, and maybe even a little climate change. That's influence.
Where did they go wrong:
This list could be much longer, for the sake of brevity let's go right to Mariah
1) Mariah Carey: Really? Really, was Time scrounging for people at this point. Were the editors stuck at 99 and Glitter turned on the television. "I can barely read, I have people for that anyway" - Mariah Carey
2) Peter Gabriel: Solsbury Hill is a good song and Genesis was certainly better with Peter on vocals. Reading his article I still don't know why he is on the list. Is a white guy from england who is interested in african music that infuential? Fact: no.
3) George Mitchell: In last week's episode of 30 Rock Jack goes to work for the Bush administration and notices a leak dripping in the office. His new colleague, played by Matthew Broderick, informs Jack that there is not a leak and he can show him the study to confirm that. George Mitchell is not listend among Putin, Clinton, and Obama. He is not listed in the leaders secition because he is listed in the Heroes and Pioneers section. Much like the fictional "Leak Negating" report in 30 rock, the mitchell report did not clean up baseball. It released some names all garnered primarily from one witnesss, who was doing the injecting himself.
Oh and the person who has made the list the most...
Oprah. (6 times, the next closest is Bush, Gates, Hillary, Steve Jobs, Condi, and Jintao at 4)
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1 comment:
I like that we talked about this a little while ago...clearly i haven't kept up on the blog. Although I must admit, Time paints too rosy a picture of many of these people. Carlos Slim Helu, for example, may be cited in Time for his poverty solving programs, but his empire has put a lot of middlemen and their employees out of business. I cited him in a paper recently, and many experts think his monopoly tends to increase the inequality between Mexico's rich and poor. He's certainly one of the most influential people, so I'll give Time that, but in addition to honoring people like Mariah Carey, the articles aren't honest enough.
Oh, and I really enjoyed the entry about tetas. Fuckin' tits.
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