The Person of the Year

December is the month when newspapers and the internet are full of end-of-year quizzes and lists of the top 10 most important or dramatic or surprising events that took place in the previous 11 months. Other end-of-year lists include the most famous people who died in 2016 and of course the top ten songs of the year.

Time Magazine also adds the most influential person of the year to this list and the selection for 2016 is…

Donald Trump.  

It is important to remember that the person is chosen on the basis of the individual who has had the most influence on events during the year, so the influence can be either a good influence of a bad one. The key is the most influential person is not necessarily a “good” person. This video explains why they chose him.

Note: You can click on the CC button in the video player to see subtitles in English.

Time’s short list for the most influential person in 2016 included among others, Hilary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, Beyoncé, Erdogan and Nigel Farage. Vladimir Putin is a popular candidate and was on the short list in 2014, 2015 and this year too but has never managed to win the title. The editors decided he was simply not influential enough!

If you were asked to choose, who do you think should win the title of the person of the year?  And why would you choose him or her? In my case I am not sure who I would vote for, but I know one thing, I will certainly miss Prince and Leonard Cohen.