Entertainment Props–TIME Magazine Person of the Year Betting Odds
–TIME Magazine started selecting a ‘Man of the Year’ in 1927.
– In 1999, it became the ‘Person of the Year’.
– The designation is given to the person “for better or for worse…has done the most to influence the events of the year”.
TIME Magazine will announce their annual ‘Person of the Year’ award on Wednesday, December 7. The announcement will be made on Wednesday morning’s edition of the ‘TODAY SHOW’ and simultaneously revealed on the TIME Magazine website.
‘PERSON OF THE YEAR’ ISN’T NECESSARILY AN HONORIFIC
One common misconception about the ‘Person of the Year’ (which was the ‘Man of the Year’ from 1927 until 1999) is that it’s some sort of honorific. It’s not–in fact, TIME makes that clear in their one sentence criteria for ‘Person of the Year’. While we’re talking criteria it doesn’t need to be a person–it can be a person, a group, an idea, or an object that “for better or for worse…has done the most to influence the events of the year”.
Charles Lindbergh won the first ‘Person of the Year’ award in 1927 (we’re going to refer to all of them as ‘Person of the Year’ in the interest of simplicity). Adolph Hitler won in 1938 (which has often been misinterpreted by revisionist historians as an ‘endorsement’ of Hitler). Harry Truman, George Marshall and Winston Churchill each won twice during the years before, during and after World War II. ‘The American Fighting Man’ won the award in 1950 as the United States was embroiled in a conflict in Korea.
‘The Computer’ won the award in 1982. Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev each bagged a pair of awards during the 1980’s. In 2006, ‘You’ won the ‘Person of the Year’ award. No, not ‘you’ personally but ‘You’ collectively as user created and content took over the Internet. German Chancellor Angela Merkel won last year’s award.
THE TIME MAGAZINE ‘PERSON OF THE YEAR’ BETTING FAVORITE IS….GUESS WHO??
If you guessed ‘Donald Trump’ you would be correct. And no matter whether you’re giddy with delight over Donald’s win, apoplectic at his victory or like me and thought both candidates were horrible you have to concede that he sure fits the criteria as a person who “for better or for worse…has done the most to influence the events of the year”. TIME has helpfully provided us with the ‘short list’ of candidates and I’ve helpfully provided the betting odds. We’ll run through the list and then I’ll give a bit of analysis:
TIME MAGAZINE ‘PERSON OF THE YEAR’ OUTRIGHT WINNER
Who will be named TIME Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ for 2016?
Donald Trump: -500
The Flint Whistleblowers: +450
Vladimir Putin: +800
CRISPR Scientists: +1000
Narendra Modi: +1600
Nigel Farage: +2500
Hillary Clinton: +2500
Mark Zuckerberg +3000
Simone Biles: +5000
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: +7500
Beyonce Knowles: +7500
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi won the online voting but it’s doubtful that he’ll get the ‘Person of the Year’ award which is chosen by TIME Editors. There are two ways to look at this–if TIME is calling it right up the middle it’s impossible to deny that Donald Trump fits the criteria for ‘Person of the Year’. Love him, hate him or even if you’re just indifferent it’s hard to suggest that any of the other names on the list have done as much to ‘influence events’. My concern is that TIME might want to deny giving Trump ‘Person of the Year’ for petty partisan reasons. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether that’s justified or not. TIME got a huge public backlash after naming the Ayatollah Khomeini as the 1979 winner and has since steered away from highly controversial figures–particularly if they can be construed as ‘the bad guy’. Right or wrong, they could figure that Trump is ‘too divisive’ to name ‘Person of the Year’. That’s a cop-out in my opinion but there is some precedent. I also don’t think that Hillary will get the award for the same reason.
Among the other candidates the only name that could be argued to have “for better or for worse…has done the most to influence the events of the year” is Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s a good value at +800, he fits into several overriding narratives including the tenuous one that he ‘cost Hillary Clinton the election’. He’s providing asylum to Edward Snowden and has been in the news as much as anyone this year. He’s not quite the divisive figure that either Hillary or Donald is so he strikes me as a good ‘compromise’ selection. It also allows them to acknowledge the election without naming Trump or Hillary ‘Person of the Year’ It’s tough to argue that any of the other names on the list had the same type of impact as Trump, Hillary or Putin. Nigel Farage is largely credited with being the architect of Brexit (Great Britain leaving the European Union) and while this may have greater implications down the road it’s not as big a deal right now as the US election.
So in my opinion either Trump will win or Putin will be the ‘compromise winner’ at +800.