Person Of The Year

August is right. Liberals shouldn't get upset that Rupert Murdoch is on the shortlist for Time's Person of the Year.

I realize that this is a painful exercise in futility one must go through every. Single. Flipping. Year, but Person of the Year isn't an award. In fact, it's not even supposed to be an "honor." It's a special profile that recognizes, and I'm quoting here, "the man, woman, or idea that for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year." One of the richest people in the world in control of one of the most influential media empires in the world taking over the most influential financial information resource in the world sort of qualifies, don't you think?

I find this irksome as well. Hitler was once given the Person--well, Man back then--of the year award. Osama Bin Laden should have been granted the title in 2001 (one could make the argument that he changed the world that year). Instead we got "America's Mayor."

These days we get things like "The American Soldier" and, the worst of all, "You" to appeal to people in checkout lines at the grocery store.