December 9, 2015

Time's Person of the Year: Angela Merkel.

"In a year where world leaders were tested all through the year, no one was tested like she was...."

I thought it would be Donald Trump, but as long as we're talking about Germany, let me pass on something I saw in the sidebar at the link (which goes to Politico): "Trump not bothered by comparisons to Hitler."

63 comments:

Tank said...

Is this the award for Idiot of the Year?

The Onion?

We are truly living in bizarre world. Gets more bizarre every day.

Merkel will be lucky if she is ONLY voted out of office.

Meade said...

She looks like she carries the burden of the entire world on her shoulders.

Wish I could give her a shoulder rub.

Alexander said...

Times goes full fifth-column.

You never go full fifth-column.

Lyle Smith said...

I just wish our elected officials could be honest with us and say that we cannot stop Islamists from immigrating to America. All Islamists are Muslims and we aren't going to be stopping all Muslims from coming to America. I wish they would start talking about Islamists like we talk about the KKK, and then come up with a plan to stand up to the KKK like Muslim supremacists that are our neighbors.





MountainMan said...

And come the next election she will probably lose her job. I was just in Germany on business a few weeks ago and the people I was meeting with were not happy. And I mean really not happy.

khesanh0802 said...

It's a joke! Time is no longer serious. Was it ever?

Gabriel said...

Ah, Hitler. Another Times "Man of the Year" (1938).

"Man of the year is not necessarily a compliment.

So who's more like Hitler, the guy who kind of sounds like Hitler if you have no idea what Hitler actually said, or the woman who won the same title he did from the same magazine?

It's a stupid game. The only winning move is not to play.

Balfegor said...

If you are an American politican today, you won't get very far if you're bothered by comparisons to Hitler. Literally everyone will be compared to Hitler at some point.

rehajm said...

for standing firm against tyranny as well as expedience and for providing steadfast moral leadership in a world where it is in short supply, Angela Merkel is TIME’s Person of the Year

I was questioning why TIME would choose someone that's at times demonstrated economic leadership by making tough choices the left finds reprehensible. 'Because boat people' explains it.

themightypuck said...

Wow. Merkel. Why not just cut out the middle man and give it to the Syrian refugees.

Sebastian said...

"I thought it would be Donald Trump." So you do make predictions that can be refuted by evidence of historical events? Welcome to the club. (Yours truly [clears throat will all due modesty] did allude to Angela in previous comment, so . . . )

cubanbob said...

She was tested and she failed. Naturally Time awards her person of the year.

holdfast said...

Well, it's not just anyone who can open the door to the end of European civilization. Seriously, I don't think we've seen the leader of a major European country behave so irresponsibly since the end of WW II - DeGaulle pulling France out of NATO is the only thing that comes close.

traditionalguy said...

Caption contest: Angela ponders the imaginary Luftwaffe bombing the Arabs before the refugee Army slits her throat screaming alla Akbar.

Time has become a bad joke in the days of information instantly.

Tank said...

Trump must be following Tank: "I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany"

Thorley Winston said...

She looks like she carries the burden of the entire world on her shoulders.

Usually that’s the American president’s job. Or at least that was the case until about seven years ago.



Humperdink said...

I thought it would be Hildabeast. You know, on the come.

Kinda like the Nobel committee buying "Peace Futures" with Barack O.

Fernandinande said...

TIME Announces New Version Of Magazine Aimed At Adults

Anonymous said...

Why wasn't Jimmy Carter called Hitler?? He banned Iranians from coming to US...http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/261062/carter-banned-iranians-coming-us-during-hostage-daniel-greenfield

Carter Wood said...

Her German predecessors (from Bild.de).

1938 - Hitler
1953 - Konrad Adenauer
1970 - Willy Brandt

When she opened the floodgates this year, she first won plaudits for humanitarianism. Now she'll go down in history as perhaps the worst of the post-war chancellors for inviting chaos, social unrest, unsustainable spending and the rise of the neo-right. ON the plus side, perhaps it will lead to the end of the undemocratic EU.

The Godfather said...

If you asked Tromp about Merkel being named Person of the Year, he'd probably say she's low energy and her poll numbers are in the tank.

rhhardin said...

It's the last nude issue of Time.

dreams said...

I'm hoping this is a sign of the peak of the craziness in our world and common sense strong non politically correct leaders, maybe Trump or Cruz and like-minders leaders in Europe will be elected to save us.

tim maguire said...

No one was tested like Angela Merkel? If you're talking about struggling with fallout from bad decisions that threaten to harm many thousands of people, then, yeah, nobody's been tested like Angela.

I swear, Time's Person of the Year went from interesting, to forgettable, to embarrassing, to just plain lazy. What's next for Time's Person of the Year? A blank page because they couldn't be bothered?

Spiros Pappas said...

The European Union is being destroyed by austerity and this woman.

Balfegor said...

Contra most of the others in this thread, I do think Merkel deserves the title. The decisions she has made with regard to the wave of refugees, foolish and shortsighted though they may have been, are potentially the most consequential decisions made by any person this year. And even before that, she would have been a contender for how she managed the EU response to the Greek disaster. Again, not because she did a good job, but because she has stood at the centre of a world-historical moment, as Hitler and other German Chancellors have done before her, and made choices that will affect the lives of millions.

Skeptical Voter said...

Time continues its wackjob tradition.

clint said...

Good pick.

The Syrian refugee crisis in Europe is *probably* the most important world event of 2015, and it's almost entirely on her.

If you want to see a year when Time was just phoning it in, go back and look at 2006. Or 1988. Or 1982. Or 1975. Or 1969...

CWJ said...

Since Trump may in fact be elected President next year, Time needed to hold him in reserve. Just in case.

I don't know if Time as ever named the same person of the year two years in a row.

Matt Sablan said...

"Literally everyone will be compared to Hitler at some point."

-- Sounds like something Hitler would say.

Doug said...

Thorley Winston at 9:48 ... for the win!

Anonymous said...

TIME overlooked the obvious choice -Trump- something that the intellectual/East coast/liberal establishment consistently does. Always too clever by half.

dreams said...

Also, be aware that it is only liberals and the Corrupt Dems who are allowed to compare someone to Hitler.

William said...

It isn't often that German Chancellors err on the side of tolerance, so savor the moment. I have the feeling that this won't end well. But perhaps her militant green policies are striking terror into the hearts of ISIS. I have heard from responsible people that nothing is more frightening to ISIS than lowered carbon emissions and a lenient immigration policy..........Does ISIS practice realpolitik? I don't remember reading about terror attacks in Germany--only about attacks that were plotted in Germany. Also jihadists in the west don't attack feminist organizations or gay pride marches. That would be the wrong kind of suicidal for their movement.

Gabriel said...

@dreams:be aware that it is only liberals and the Corrupt Dems who are allowed to compare someone to Hitler.

Know who ELSE was allowed to compared people to Hitler?

exhelodrvr1 said...

Laslo is probably trying to determine how to say "rack" in German.

mccullough said...

She is fucking up the only European country that might have made it through this century in one piece

damikesc said...

What's next for Time's Person of the Year? A blank page because they couldn't be bothered?

Wasn't it a mirror one year?

mikee said...

First, TIME Magazine still exists? Why? I am surprised.

Second, TIME still does that stupid "Person, Place, or Thing of the Year" stupidity, and does it stupidly? Why am I NOT surprised.

Unrecognized by TIME is the leadership of ISIS, who have done more to influence world politics and society than anyone else, including Merkel. In fact, they played her like a cheap violin. But that wouldn't fit the TIME narrative of Western decline, now would it, nor would a screaming jihadi on the cover sell as many dozens, nay, hundreds of issues as TIME will sell with that amazing woman on the cover.

eric said...

Dinesh Dzousa was once having a debate with a guy about Racism in America.

The guy kept calling Dinesh "Hitler" because of their disagreement.

Eventually Dinesh says, if you keep calling me Hitler, you're going to make Hitler look good.

And that's the appropriate response to being called Hitler.

Quaestor said...

Being compared to Hitler is merely evidence that one's opponents have become desperate -- the last salvo from a sinking armada.

Quaestor said...

Wish I could give her a shoulder rub.

Given Angela's überdump BMI I'd suppose the tactile sensation on Meade's side would be a wee bit disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Like Balfegor @12/9/15, 10:29 AM said.

Brando said...

As a commenter noted above, it makes sense that they wouldn't pick a presidential candidate in the year before the election, because if that person wins the next year it would look weird to pick someone two years in a row.

Hitler should be person of the year every year--he's endlessly useful for comparing your opponents to someone! If it weren't for Hitler, we'd still be saying "oh that guy is such a Kaiser Wilhelm!" and "you're starting to sound more and more like Kaiser Wilhelm" and "you know who else didn't care about safe spaces at colleges? Kaiser Wilhelm."

That's probably why Kaiser Wilhelm was able to die in peace in 1941, he knew that with Hitler around he'd no longer be the guy everyone brings up in conversation.

Anonymous said...

If Hitler made the cover, the Donald most assuredly should make the cover also.

grimson said...

I agree that it should have been Trump, for the way he has dominated and expanded the national conversation.

It is a little surprising, though, that they did not select Kerry for his fine, fine work on the Iran capitulation. That may turn out to be even more significant than the flood of immigrants into Europe.

M Jordan said...

Merkel? I used to think she was about the only true leader on the planet today (along with Putin). And maybe, depending on how you define leader, she still is. But it seems to me she is making a huge mistake going all in on this refugee thing. She is de-stabilizing the strongest country in the EU.

It's my opinion that Germany is stuck forever in a guilt-penance state of mind. The Holocaust just cannot be rinsed out. It's one reason I buy the Christ on the cross repentance model. God himself, stained by accusations of guilt from his enemies for creating this whole mess (false accusations, I might add), gave up himself. He became the very serpent he was fighting, in form but not essence (bronze, not poison-filled). "As Moses lifted up his rod in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up."

Luther understood all this: the righteous shall live by faith. He bequeathed this vision to Germany (along with some other, less admirable traits). Germany needs revisit Luther's vision.

Gusty Winds said...

Time didn't pick Trump because they still think that being their Person of the Year is an honor. It's about as relevant and revered these days as the Nobel Prize. Nobody cares about Time Magazine anymore.

But, it is not without significance. We will look back someday at 2015, see Merkel on the cover of Time, and be able to pinpoint the person who accelerated the inevitable end of Western European culture.

Gusty Winds said...

I'll bet the Greeks don't think Merkel is the Person of the Year.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Doug said...

Thorley Winston at 9:48 ... for the win!

How is it Thorley Winston for the win? It was Meade's joke!

Hagar said...

Time's Man of the Year is supposed to be the person (these days) that most influenced the news in the past year; it is not an honorary award.

This year it should have been an anonymous terrorist in a ski-mask holding a bloody knife.

Scott M said...

Are we absolutely positive that she isn't formerly Bruce Jenner? I mean, have Merkel and Caitlyn ever been seen in the same room together?

Real American said...

Destroy your country, win a prize!

holdfast said...

@M Jordan

Europe will never forgive the Jews for the Holocaust.

-I can't recall who said it.

Achilles said...

Merkel is in the last days of her administration. The next election is going to be stunning and profound. It will be Springtime in Germany soon and you can blame Merkel for that. It is a good thing we already occupy Germany.

Big Mike said...

"... no one was tested like she was."

Or failed more often.

Bob Loblaw said...

And come the next election she will probably lose her job. I was just in Germany on business a few weeks ago and the people I was meeting with were not happy. And I mean really not happy.

Bah. Why would anyone worry about unhappy Germans?

Todd Roberson said...

I think Balfegor is describing Godwin's Law - also known at reducto ad Hitlerum - at 9:27.

clint said...

"Amanda said...
If Hitler made the cover, the Donald most assuredly should make the cover also.

12/9/15, 12:52 PM"

I'm sorry -- are you really arguing that the Donald has had as great an impact on world events as Hitler?

That sounds a bit like the logic that gave us our current Nobel laureate president.

Clyde said...

I think that "Merkel" must be German for Gorbachev. Mikhail Gorbachev was TIME's Man of the Year in 1987. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Just sayin'.

jr565 said...

Todays person of the year is tomorrows former chancellor of Germany. Because she is all but destroying her career at the moment.
Is getting person of the year the equivalent of winning artist of the year grammy? Because usually those people's career die as soon as they get the award.

It's hard out here for a pimp, as they say.

jr565 said...

(cont) by the way Amanda, you may have been sarcastic. In which case I take back the full retard comment. I started reading the comments from the bottom. You may have been mocking those that would compare hitler to trump by being sarcastic in your comparison.

Achilles said...

Amanda said...
"If Hitler made the cover, the Donald most assuredly should make the cover also."

Just another insightful cogent observation from garageamanda.