Just three days ago, the world was contemplating seeing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the cover of TIME magazine, headlining its Person of the Year 2016 issue. He had after all won the popular vote, the online readers’ poll. But the good doesn’t get away so easily does it, especially when the evil looms large over our heads in the form of the boisterous Donald Trump. And it was Trump who is now adorning the cover of the latest issue of this magazine.
Before we go any further, the point to be noted is that the magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ aims at giving the title to the person who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year. For better or worse – words to be highlighted. So the choice of Trump shows that he is in fact truly the person who has made the most impact on the world this year – sadly it has been for the worse! With his disregard for human emotions and etiquette and a complete lack of concern about the responsibility of the billions of lives that he would soon be shouldering, Trump is perhaps the most polarising personality we have seen in recent times, contradicting his own statements more than anyone. Maybe that is why the slogan on the cover reads ‘President of the Divided States.‘ Well that and the fact that he is trying to build a wall between U.S. and Mexico.
But his power comes via such hyperbolizing media only. He set spark to the subconscious fears of the people, magnifying the dangers of the present rather than focusing on the visions of the future. His every campaign and rally spoke of how America has been infiltrated with traitors. He won the fear of the masses rather than their favour. And it has only made him more arrogant.
“I was lucky enough to receive the Time Person of the Year. They used to call it ‘Man of the Year,’ but they can’t do that anymore, so they call it ‘person.’ They want to be politically correct. That’s OK,” said the President-elect in Des Moines, Iowa. Nancy Gibbs, Time’s editor, said Mr. Trump’s selection this year was “one of the more straightforward” choices the magazine had made. Some of the other controversial choices made by them were of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Ayatollah Khomeini. This year’s running included Hillary Clinton, musician Beyonce, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
