Time Magazine has created uproar amongst the so-called ‘liberal’, but those who were outraged by Time awarding him their Person of the Year award have little understanding of what the award is for. The faux outrage exhibited by many is precisely why we see the likes of Donald Trump make a significant impact on politics, why we see a rise in right populism. But nonetheless he won Time’s Person of the Year and it was the correct decision.
The Person of the Year is awarded to those who has had the greatest influence on events of the year, for better or for worse.
Faux outrage and The Daily Mail
The outrage that the award has caused is the reason right populism is on the rise and that many people blame the left or liberals for current global issues. The regressive left trait of shutting down conversation and silencing those who disagree with them is just as dangerous as right populist fascism. Time has also come under fire for ‘likening’ Trump to Hitler with the front cover of that issue. The Daily Mail reported this likening and mentioned that people had been pointing to the fact that it looks like they have also given him devil horns.
Even though most tweets and mentions either laugh at this fact or just point to it, The Daily Mail have placed the word ‘accused’, which itself is incendiary.
But Time also awarded Hitler with this award back in 1938 and others who have received it have included; Stalin, Putin, and Gandhi. The Mail are slyly critical of the decision by only highlighting the ‘outrage’ and not helping its readers understand the reason behind it. This is understandable, their discord probably stems from history when they supported Hitler’s regime pre-WW2.
The Trump effect
The Daily Mail aside, the reason Trump received the award was because he has undoubtedly stirred American politics. For better or for worse he has created a global movement that is currently having an effect throughout many regions, whilst it may have started from Brexit. Trump has popularised the right populist movement, which is far more dangerous than a regressive left movement.
Fascism is returning and it is no longer taboo to say that you dislike anyone who isn’t your colour, nationality, gender, or is LGBTQ. Intolerance of others for reasons such as these, is no longer said in private but aired in public with no shame.
Time has been accused for appropriating and endorsing Trump, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of what Person of the Year award is all about. It is about highlighting the effect an individual has had on the world. The Trump effect is a wave that is currently engulfing global politics and despite protests, society must allow him to take office because otherwise it will only serve to further those movements.
Mistakes of the present
He must be allowed to continue, it is the only way that people will see him for what he truly is and it is only through mistakes of the past that society can learn from.
If he is stopped from taking office, it will only increase his support and certify the anti-establishment rhetoric, despite this being a lie. The clear and present danger that is currently in front of us, is the further strengthening of illiberal regressive movements from both the right populists and the regressive left.
The far-right fascist movements strengthen through anti-establishment rhetoric blaming liberal minded people, and the regressive left shut down opposition to babysit society for their own agendas. Both sides are similar in their desire for control and the way they retain it is similar, but it is the way they go about in gaining the desired control that differs. Time highlights the Trump effect and it must be allowed to air itself so that it can be publicly condemned and challenged, only through this can we defeat intolerance and hate.
