The American Spectator : Time Stops at Nothing

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Time Stops at Nothing

By Andrew Cline on 12.15.11 @ 6:09AM

The moral corruption of Time magazine.

To illustrate its Person of the Year cover story, Time magazine posted a gallery of portraits on its website. On Page 11 of the gallery is a portrait of Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy, who was “arrested and assaulted by police in Cairo.” Beside her is the portrait of Ray Lewis, a retired Philadelphia police officer arrested at… Occupy Wall Street. Just two peas in a photographic pod.

Page 13 of the gallery features “Jack,” an Occupy Oakland protester “wounded by a projectile fired by police.” Note the similarity in phrasing between the lines describing Jack’s experience and Mona Eltahawy’s. Just two innocent victims of a runaway police state.

After two more pages of Syrian and Egyptian protesters (one of the Syrians said he was “tortured for three days”), and we get to a portrait of young Molly Katchpole. Molly endured the unspeakable brutality of anticipating the arrival of Bank of America’s $5-a-month debit-card fee. Bravely, she started an online petition asking the bank not to impose the fee. It didn’t. She was saved. Time pictures beside her a cut-to-pieces Bank of America debit card in the same way it pictured beside the Syrian protesters two pages earlier a broken iPhone that had belonged to one of them. A never-enacted $5 bank fee = arrest and torture.

Throughout the gallery of mostly Egyptian, Spanish, Greek, Syrian, Tunisian protesters are six Occupy Oakland protesters, three Occupy Wall Street protesters, one pair of Occupy The Hood protesters, and a woman who wore a manifesto on her back that denounced Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. There are two Tea Partiers thrown in apparently for balance.

Missing was a photo of a single London “protester.” But of course, they weren’t protesters so much as rioters, you say. Ah, but they were listed, along with all the others, in the cover story.

It would be preposterous to link all of these protests together, as if they were part of one, great, worldwide movement, or to equate them, as though their various protagonists were agents in causes of equivalent moral validity. But Time does:

It’s remarkable how much the protest vanguards share. Everywhere they are disproportionately young, middle class and educated. Almost all the protests this year began as independent affairs, without much encouragement from or endorsement by existing political parties or opposition bigwigs. All over the world, the protesters of 2011 share a belief that their countries’ political systems and economies have grown dysfunctional and corrupt — sham democracies rigged to favor the rich and powerful and prevent significant change. They are fervent small-d democrats. Two decades after the final failure and abandonment of communism, they believe they’re experiencing the failure of hell-bent megascaled crony hypercapitalism and pine for some third way, a new social contract.

The students and professionals standing up to the military in Tahrir Square were protesting “crony hypercapitalism”? The hooligans who burned London were justified in their looting and arson? This is not reporting; this is unadulterated socialistic propaganda.

If that were not clear enough, Time asserts this of the London rioters — who, by the way, killed three innocent men who tried to defend their property from the roving hordes:

In early August, after police in London shot and killed a young black man they were arresting, riots broke out all over England. Naturally, the rioters’ instantly resorting to violence attracted little sympathy. Yet a new, three-month study by the Guardian and the London School of Economics concluded that these rioters were also protesters, motivated by anger about poverty, unemployment and inequality as well as overaggressive policing.

Murder? Not mentioned. Arson? Not mentioned. Robbing a schoolboy in broad daylight? Not mentioned. Must’ve been among the numerous acts inspired by “anger about poverty, unemployment,” etc.

Shootings, rapes, assaults at Occupy Wall Street protests? Not mentioned. It’s all one, glorious, global uprising for justice. Never mind the blood.

Later, in conclusion, cover story writer Kurt Andersen worries that the pure, “liberal” movement will exchange “the moral high ground” that it occupies for a share of actual political power. When I tweeted objections to Time’s “Person of the Year” yesterday, some people responded that Time was not granting its designation as an “honor” but merely a recognition of influence. One does not grant “the moral high ground” without granting approval as well.

Undeniably, Time is passing a moral judgment, declaring that these movements share the same basic — and socially positive — motivations and goals. In so praising these varied movements, it legitimizes and elevates them. And by praising their spirit, goals, and broad actions without denouncing (or often even mentioning) the violence and destruction perpetrated on behalf of some of them, it legitimizes the violence and destruction.

Failing to mention the closed Milk Street Café near Zuccotti Park or the London mattress store burned to cinders or the businesses smashed and torched in Vancouver (sports hooligans are protesters, too) silences the victims of the Western protests. They become collateral damage in what Time views as a justified leftist crusade against “hypercapitalism.” (The only Tea Party mention in the entire story was to dismiss the movement as “the tail wagging the Republican Party dog.”) It is a justified crusade even if it is undertaken by some for the sole purpose of escaping the bad decision of incurring tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debts for worthless liberal arts degrees.

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About the Author

Andrew Cline is editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader. His Twitter ID is @Drewhampshire.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (111) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Drudge Ette Obama| 12.15.11 @ 6:21AM

Have you seen Time lately? It's so thin, it looks like a grocery store circular. Time is on its last legs and is seeking life support through notoriety.

I am surprised that they didn't pick binLaden's wife or Putin's personal trainer.

John Daniel| 12.15.11 @ 6:51AM

Why does anybody take Time? TAS been a far better read for years....

USSAlabama| 12.15.11 @ 8:14AM

Completely agree. Why all the coverage in different media an that thin little circular? As though they matter anymore.

"Time" has become obsolete.

Alice Moore| 12.15.11 @ 8:46AM

Time magazizine? Is that still around?

DTOM| 12.15.11 @ 9:38AM

Article should have been entitled:

Time IS Nothing!

In 1963:

US population -180 million
World population - 3,200 million
Time's world wide circulation - 3.6 million

Today:
US population - 310 million
World population - 6,900 million
Time's circulation - 3.4 million

That's paid and UNPAID subscriptions in 2011...

TAS why do you promote such an unimportant magazine? Ignore the morons! They supposedly contacted Representative Paul Ryan's office because they were considering him for Man of the Year. What a decision! Let's see now, the conservative trying to stop the financial destruction of our country or the archetypical anarchist trying to bring about that selfsame destruction? Yea, let's go with the anarchist!

I'm sure Henry Booth Luce would be soooo proud!

Again, TAS no coverage for moronic mainstream media! We already know how stupid they are!

Ned| 12.15.11 @ 1:54PM

According to Wikipedia Time's circulation was 3.4 million in 2007, 2008, and 2009, but dropped sharply from 2006... I'm very skeptical that it has held steady since then... but a more reliable measure of the value of the magazine is the fact that the whole company recently sold for $1... and the buyer got ripped off at that...

Ned| 12.15.11 @ 1:57PM

oops - was that Newsweek?

Wayne| 12.16.11 @ 12:36AM

mirror image! Time probably isn't worth $1

C Smith| 12.15.11 @ 10:24AM

Time Magazine is still in "fine" form

When Hitler did not make the cut (the1939 Nobel Peace Prize). The infuriated, Führer forbad any other German receive the "honor."

However he was consoled having received Time Magazine's 1938 Man of the Year "honor."

http://www.time.com/time/magaz.....02,00.html

KennesawJack| 12.15.11 @ 10:45AM

It's gotten so bad even my uber liberal son-in-law no longer subscribes. When even libs recognize the degree to which that rag has been prostituted you know it's in trouble.

KyMouse| 12.15.11 @ 3:03PM

Did any of you see the TIME of a couple of weeks ago that had U.S. soldiers on the cover and as the cover story?

The photos made them look like members of the MS-13 gang.

A friend of mine gives me her copies of TIME, which I later tear to shreds so no one can read them if they go recycler-diving.

Alan Brooks| 12.15.11 @ 4:56PM

I'm tired of your demonizing Islam- a decade after 9/11 it is getting old:
"We Good, They Bad. Why? because we have the bigger guns, that's why"

JeffT| 12.15.11 @ 6:00PM

It's more that they want to wipe out the West, Alan. Surely you're not that ignorant. I know you can read. Simply read THEIR words, not ours, about their glorious plans for the world. The goal of a Caliphate is real, whether you choose to believe it or not.

Quartermaster| 12.15.11 @ 8:34PM

Nah, he's not ignorant, he just seems that way. What he is can't be said on a family friendly website.

Skippy| 12.16.11 @ 3:23PM

You guys aren't still replying to this schmuck, are you?

Georgia Smith| 12.15.11 @ 8:38PM

Why not open your eyes and ears to the actual words, written and spoken and the behaviors that comprise the actual teachings and practices Islam.

Reality and truth may be unpleasant at times, but it produces wisdom and safety. Like knowing whether a snake is poisonous or not.

Alan Brooks| 12.15.11 @ 10:36PM

You are scapegoating Islamics in the way Stalin scapegoated Kulaks.

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 1:04AM

I'm tired of followers of Mo, the pedophile bandit, killing innocent civilians, driving non-Mos out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt etc, engaging in honor killings and trying to impose Sharia everywhere they live.

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 1:06AM

Prophets are not pedophiles and pedophiles are not prophets.

Moe Blotz| 12.16.11 @ 2:39AM

Oy D E O, which wife would you suggest Time should have selected? Osama had several, what?

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 6:35AM

The end of Time is coming. Their time is up.

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.15.11 @ 9:16AM

TIME Magazine. Isn't that a weekly? Isn't a Weekly Magazine a lot like buying a T.V. Guide on Friday?

I don't think I've ever seen a TIME Magazine, outside of a Waiting Room. Have you? Maybe in a Gas Station Men's Room, you might find one. Of course, you've probably got a better chance finding ALAN BROOKS in there, tapping his foot from the next stall.

That being said. They picked The Protester as their "Thing of the Year". (These kinds of 'Picks' stopped being clever, quite some time ago) Which "Protester" are they referring to?

The one who CRAPPED on the Police Car? The ones Urinating wherever? The ones who RAPED Laura Logan? The ones that are RAPING various other Female Reporters? Or, the ones doing the Raping here, in America, in the name of FAIRNESS?

Is it the "Protesters" who are BURNING all of the Christian Churches in the Arab Countries? Is it the "Protesters" killing everyone in Mumbai? Is it the ones sleeping at the 5 STAR HOTELS, in Manhattan?

Unless we need to see a Doctor, a Dentist, or a Gas Station Toilet? We may never know.

Doorgunner| 12.15.11 @ 3:25PM

Pennell, I know you don't give a hoot, but I'd like to retract every snotty thing I've said about you...

...just for that "Brooks" line alone.

Timothy L. Pennell| 12.15.11 @ 4:32PM

Apology accepted.

Alan Brooks| 12.15.11 @ 4:58PM

What happened today, Pennell: dyspepsia from your grits?

Georgia Smith| 12.15.11 @ 8:46PM

Just hope neither Time nor the Obama crowd think this kind of thing will be tolerated as a way of doing politics, elections, changing administrations or threatening business or taxpayers in the US. There are too many blue state governors who will call out the National Guard.

Moe Blotz| 12.16.11 @ 2:42AM

Hanging in the gas station toilet where the tissue roll belongs, what?

Darin| 12.15.11 @ 6:42AM

How about Lt Col Terry Lakin? Remember him? He was the Army doctor who refused (protested) deployment because he wasn't sure the Commander in Chief (Obama) was legitimate. The trial was a farce, with Lakin's defense being refused the right of discovery. Since then, Obama has released a birth certificate and, not withstanding the obvious evidence of fraud, proves he is not a natural born citizen (which requires two parents who are US citizens) because it lists his father as a British national.

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 8:08AM

It does not require two parents who are US citizens. Where do you get that??

Stammon| 12.15.11 @ 9:52AM

Yes it does mike, or at least until the left tried to bury the legal evidence. Why don't you google justia.com censoring Minor v. Happersett? Here's a youtube link if you're too lazy to read: www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT_4JGd7ucM

Delta Zelda| 12.15.11 @ 11:09AM

If both parents must be US citizens, why are the American-born kids of illegal immigrants automatically U S citizens? They are called “anchor babies” for a reason.

Ned| 12.15.11 @ 1:01PM

Because anchor babies are born HERE. Barry Bullsh1t wasn't born here - if you believe the conspiracy theorists - and they make a better case than any of his apologist do... the conspiracy theorists are at least digging up information, instead of actively supressing it...

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 11:14AM

Have you ever read US Code Title 8 § 1401. 'Nationals and citizens of United States at birth'
I suggest you do. That is the law.

Tom in Michigan| 12.15.11 @ 4:10PM

Wrong. Read the 14th Amendment. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

There is soooo much to criticize the left for that it should be unnecessary to fabricate issues or perpetuate falsehoods such as this, neither of which help the conservative cause.

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 5:57PM

US Code Title 8 is what defines what is meant in the 14th Amendment. Geez, what gives here??

Tom in Michigan| 12.15.11 @ 4:09PM

The parentage of any person born in the United States is immaterial to that person's citizenship. Being born on US soil is sufficient.

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Even as a conservative and no supporter of Barack Obama; the issue of his citizenship is as dead as a doornail. You don't do the cause any good by quoting falsehoods about citizenship or by continuing to beat this dead horse.

Quartermaster| 12.15.11 @ 8:37PM

No one is questioning his citizenship, just his natural born status. That's a different issue entirely and from his own admissions, he is not natural born.

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 8:53PM

We have seen no proof of where he was born as so far no original Birth Cert has been shown. He grew up outside the US and was allegedly adopted by his step father as Barry Soetero. His SS # is probably bogus. His education transcripts and medical records are all sealed. We know nothing about this guy. Who is he really??

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 1:30AM

Actually, those of us paying attention knew way too much about this guy before he was elected (Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers etc.). The problem was (is) that the mainstream media failed to give the American public the facts about him in order to ensure his election.

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 1:26AM

My wife is a Brazilian citizen and a legal permanent resident of the US. I am a US citizen. Our daughter, born in the US, is a natural born US citizen. Heck, as the 14th amendment is currently interpreted, the child of two illegal aliens who is born in the US is a natural born US citizen. The circumstances of BO's parentage and birth do not call into question his US citizenship. What I am more interested in are his college records. Did he, at any time after reaching the age of majority, present himself as a non-US citizen for the purposes of enhancing his chances of being enrolled in a particular university or for the purpose of securing financial aid? That is where you might be able to make an argument that he is not eligible to be President.

Moe Blotz| 12.16.11 @ 2:47AM

Foreign diplomats who whelp whilst serving in their embassies here are not afforded citizenship to their offspring.

Brian Mc| 12.15.11 @ 6:44AM

I haven't picked up a Time, or even looked at a cover, in close to thirty years and this is just the most recent reason why. I suppose this proves my narrow-mindedness and unwillingness to look at the bigger picture; unlike the author of the Time piece brought to our attention, here. This Time reporter obviously did his homework and I'm just too obtuse to take note of his moral high ground.

When are those who pull the "D" lever out of a sense of compassion going to realize what they have done to our Republic by doing so? Just so long as they are reading more of this that has been brought to our attention, they will find the justification for the damage they have helped to perpetrate and it is twisted and sinful. I see no Reagan riding up anytime soon and can't help but feel a strong sense of foreboding for what is to come. Until these compassionate types wake up we are fighting a losing battle. Mr. Cline's article should be compulsory for each and every one of them: would they possibly see the light?

DTOM| 12.15.11 @ 9:42AM

Or, maybe, just maybe, Brian, you have enough sense to avoid obvious, blatant socialist propaganda...

No they wouldn't see the light - they are blind and cannot see or reason their way out of their own ideological corner.

WickedDickie--Virginia| 12.15.11 @ 6:45AM

Bravo. May the phonies at Time soon go the way of Newsweek although it's not worth a buck. Thence, to the New Yawk Times-Pravda. (TP)

carnot| 12.15.11 @ 7:11AM

anyone who knows the Liberal crowd in detail...understands the real irony in all of this: they are going to number among the first casualties should their political dreams come to fruition. they will not be rewarded for their efforts, in part, because they reaped them in advance. eventually, the accusing finger turns to ALL the "perpetrators".

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.15.11 @ 7:24AM

How does Rush put this in perspective? Does anyone remember?

DTOM| 12.15.11 @ 9:45AM

He'd say to ignore them - talking about them would just give them a circulation boost. I believe that's one of the reasons he never does any mainstream interviews - that and he knows that their editors use Vegematic-based editing software...

numbatdog| 12.15.11 @ 7:45AM

Lets take a look at some 60's icons from the liberals beloved anti government era:

Pan Am Gone
TWA Gone
General Motors Going
Crysler Going
Newsweek Going
Time irrelevant

The 60's are over despite Time getting excited about reliving the good old days.

martin j smith| 12.15.11 @ 7:59AM

Three points;
iIdo not and never will buy TIME MAG
Thus I will never read TIME RAG
WHO THE HELL CARES WHAT THEY DO.

Louis Jenkins| 12.15.11 @ 8:07AM

I sit down in the dentist's or doctor's office. I see Time magazine amongst the offerings on a lounge table. Forget it, its a liberal dog eared piece of scrap. I'd rather sit without anything in my hand.

Kevin| 12.15.11 @ 11:10AM

Same here. I'm more likely to flip through an issue of "Glamour" or "House Beautiful".

LaneyB| 12.15.11 @ 8:11AM

TIME used to be a serious weekly journal of events. With its descent into nonsense and liberal overreach, it is on its way toward the ash heap of print journalism that spoke to the mentally ill and foolish.

Melvin| 12.15.11 @ 8:14AM

Oh, don't be so cruel to TIME, it does have a place of relevance. Right next to the commode when the toilet paper runs out.
Ahh, the feeling of having a one on one with the likes of Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd, and Eric Holder.
Eric Holder took three flushes before he went down.

michigander_sandusky| 12.15.11 @ 1:54PM

How dare you all trashing Time magazine. My cockatiel absolutely loves it on the bottome of his cage. I guarantee he doesn't read it anymore than I do.

Mike D.| 12.15.11 @ 8:26AM

The Mayans were correct, Time will end on 12-21-12.

George S| 12.15.11 @ 8:30AM

If Time wanted to live up to its reputation of days gone by where the person of the year has had the most influential effect:

2009: Teleprompter

2010: Obama's travel agent

2011: Straw Man

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 9:16PM

If you don't mind, I want to use this. It is the quip of the day.

Anthony| 12.15.11 @ 8:46AM

Well gang, when Time goes up for sale for $1.00 like Newsweek did, we'll make it our own, and we won't need Trump to front us the money!!
The left are on their last legs, as their moral and intellectual bankruptcy decends even further.
Time is nothing more than a placemat for the loons at MSLSD to place their coffee cups on, as they dwell in their make believe world of leftism.

Petronius| 12.15.11 @ 8:57AM

So Time threw in a couple Teaparty members for "balance". CYA balance maybe. All the other "protesters of the year" elected a president who is ruining their lives and Time along with the rest of the MSM adding its weight to the cause of these parasites is more ado about themselves.

Jacob R| 12.15.11 @ 9:03AM

So you think we're all evil because at 16 we wanted liberal arts degrees and didn't realize we lived in a country of failed adults like yourselves who came up with all the shams to steal our money?

You bunch of fat rich hypocrites who took all of our money and gave us worthless degrees are blaming us for being too stupid as teenagers to realize what a bunch of bloodsuckers were running our country?

I saw your picture bud. You're another wimp boomer or barely X-er who keeps talking about what men you are when I would outdo you as a man in every way.

But you managed to get your claws on this job as an opinion writer and now you'll clutch on until your life is over..and that makes you feel justified in demonizing the people who your generation neglected?

Stammon| 12.15.11 @ 9:39AM

What a whiner, no wonder your generation is worthless.

PolishKnight| 12.15.11 @ 9:57AM

I wonder if JacobR is a troll. His diatribe was just too stupid. But then again, this is the kind of stuff I've heard from a lot of leftists especially the young ones. The problem is that there just isn't enough "crony" jobs, either in capitalism which often goes to socialist cronies such as Chelsea Clinton or socialist jobs. If anyone has a right to be annoyed with cronyism, it's the right where the average working class white male and his family have nobody looking out for their interests in DC. Newt and company are looking at best to "raise all boats" but will turn a blind eye to existing Democrat racist policies and make them worse with amnesty for Hispanic illegals whom will instantly then demand a bigger slick of the crony pie.

It's a different world than as little as 20 years ago when the crony pie was sliced up between middle and upper class white women, leftist white males and well-educated blacks. A lot of hands have now jumped in and now the typical leftist snotty collaborator winds up realizing that, gasp, HE might be thrown under the bus!

Tee hee.

DTOM| 12.15.11 @ 9:53AM

Jacob;

Whose fault is it that you wanted an expensive, unmarketable degree? It's yours, you did not do your homework. When I was 16, I wanted to get a degree in something that would get me a job, a good job.

At college graduation in the '70's, the engineering school stood to muted cheers. The education college cheered themselves most loudly - the rest of us laughed at them and their valueless degrees. I don't remember the liberal arts grads, most were going to law school, or on to PhD's. Liberal arts undergrad degrees have always been known to be just about useless. How'd you miss that?

Boar Hunter| 12.15.11 @ 10:06AM

You decided you wanted a liberal arts degree at 16? Wow, college started earlier on the planet where you live!

Was self delusion and willful stupidity mandatory at the college you attended?

Did you attend the same school where Obama sought out Marxists instructors or were you just fortunate enough to have some where you were indoctrinated?

Boar Hunter| 12.15.11 @ 11:39AM

Oh and by the way you laughable miscreant. The same liberal professors who have likely ruined your life are the same ones who over charged you for your useless college education while teaching you who to blame for it. When you were supposedly becoming educated, did it ever occur to you that another career might be in order?

Stealing is a crime. Working to provide for yourself and for your family is not. But like others of your ilk, with no man in you, you received your school money without working for it and now believe your student loans were designed to bilk you out of money you never had and since you are educated in useless information you never will.

Don't worry Obama says you won't have to pay that back he will charge some fat, rich, hypocrite for your debt to society. What you fail to understand is that it is more likely some poor man trying to support his family in what we call "a job" while you are draining resources from him the form of taxes he could otherwise use to support his family. How does it feel to be sitting at the dinner table reaping the bounty of his work? Can you ever manage "Thank You?"

Are you still living at home? I'm sorry, of course you are. You are the one who keeps talking about what men are when you have no idea what it is to be a man. How hilarious that you fault someone for having a job. Your lack of one, lack of a strong man for a father or anyone to teach you self-worth or ethics makes you feel justified in demonizing the people who out achieved the fleas and locust of the underclass you belong to.

Bob Grant| 12.15.11 @ 10:10AM

Just remember. Liberals, and their liberal theology, stole your money, and hence, your future.

THEY destroyed the dollar.

THEY made sure your chances of becoming a property owner in the future are next to zero due to their "affordable" housing schemes.

THEY destroyed manufacturing in this country via unsustainable union demands.

Your anger is directed toward the wrong group so now you are reduced to donning a Guy Fawkes mask and creating as much chaos as possible. So go now a be a good little Jacobin.

Il Duce would be proud.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.11 @ 10:48AM

Bob, from your keyboard to God's ears.

But liberals will never, ever, ever understand that.

Remember, these are the "demand side" morons who think that, if you're in debt up to your chin, the way to get out of debt is to get further into debt up to your eyeballs.

Then you click your heels together three times, turn around and say the magic words: "John Maynard Keynes and Social Justice" and, abracadabra, you have prosperity (well, at least for those, like Michael Moore, who regurgitate the correct dogma).

Liberalism has exceeded Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm. They should now be referred to as "Occupy Alice in Wonderland."

Grzmlyk| 12.15.11 @ 10:16AM

Well, Jacob, if you need someone to change your diaper - sorry, my hands are full.

No, Jacob, what Andrew Cline ought to do is take a page from your book - become a card-carrying Democrat Party member and rely on other people's hard work to keep you playing video games, hooking up with skanks and wringing your hands over the plight of left-handed, transgendered African American women who are bow-legged, or whatever your oh-so-important major is.

After all, you were born! You took the trouble to descend from the heaveans and walk among us! And thank you for that. Really. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your presence here on earth.

I believe that world-changing event alone entitles you to an ipad, and ipod, an X box, a way-cool crib, a sweet ride, maybe a couple of nights partying at a hip club every week, a few trips abroad every year - all on the taxpayer's dime, of course - and, always, lest we forget, the right to spend hours gazing upon your image in the mirror of pop culture and basking in the reflected glory of your own moral vanity and highly-tuned sense of social outrage.

Yeah, I want to pay for that.

Sarah| 12.15.11 @ 10:53AM

"Demonizing the people who your generation neglected." That is quite possibly the most narcissistic comment I have ever heard in my life coming from the generation that was the most babied, coddled and protected ever to have lived. And I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Worthless degrees? Talk to the educators who convinced you that Womyn's Studies and Underwater Basketweaving was going to providing you the ca$$$h you needed to support your lifestyle of the rich and famous that you so deserve. It used to be that you understood that if you got any sort of Liberal Arts degree that you were going to more than likely be a teacher of some sort, and not have a very high rate of pay. However if you took on a Science or Math or Engineering degree, you were probably going to go far. Which is why, in order to have my cake and eat it too, I decided on Classical Languages and Math as my majors in school. Guess which got me farther? Hrm. That would be the math. Latin, while illuminating to the soul and providing food for the mind, does not put food in my belly. Would it be that you and those of your ilk grew up and realized that it is the hard sciences, not the soft, that pay their way in spades.

In short, the world, and those of us who were born before you, do NOT owe you a living. Your choices are your own, and if you decide to believe those who would pander to your basest instinct that everything is mine, mine, mine then it is YOUR fault that everything came crashing down on you. Honestly, I pray that you are a regular poster just pulling our leg in an attempt at sarcasm. I'm tired of weeping for the dessicated remains of those younger than myself. I find I have no more pity left to offer them. Such a waste and a shame.

Joe R| 12.15.11 @ 10:54AM

Get a haircut and get a real job, Jacobo.

Darin| 12.15.11 @ 10:55AM

Sorry to hear that you were forced a gunpoint to complete a "worthless degree." What's that? You CHOSE that degree? And now you refuse to accept that such a poor choice actually has consequences. Your rant would be funny if it weren't so pathetic. Man up.

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 11:08AM

Learn a trade Jaco, well maybe not. If you did, you might have to put out some effort and invest some sweat equity. I know, you deserve better. You are entitled to the easy way.

Teaghan| 12.15.11 @ 1:00PM

Jesus Jacob, stop your infernal whining! Be responsible for your life and quite blaming your mama and daddy. Sheesh....!

Gr0w1er601| 12.15.11 @ 9:47AM

Time Magazine: another prime example of bird cage liner

Mike Hawk| 12.15.11 @ 11:05AM

A friend of mine tried that. The birds refused to crap on it.

Peppermint Tea| 12.15.11 @ 9:49AM

The End of Time? Or just a Time warp?
Their decision points out the natural affiliation of the press for odd radical causes, or even protests without a cause. Before I protested, I would like to know what I was protesting against, and "The Man" or "Corporate Interests" are a little too nebulous. Time joins the idiot mob.

Grzmlyk| 12.15.11 @ 9:53AM

The first rule of socialism's false consiousness is to airbrush history into a pleasing snapshot of the rise of the "little guy" - and yet it is the "little guy" that socialism is designed to destroy.

Time is actually part of the crony hyper-capitalist construct they pretend to denounce (gee, there's a shock - the more wealthy the institution, the more earnest are their efforts to appear to be "just folks").

Time's current crop of communist contributers comprise some of the most elite pseudo-intellectuals who are vomting their toxic socialist hogwash into the zeitgeist today.

It appears that American popular culture will never learn the lesson that it is not the Tea Partier or the small-business owner who are the corrupt enemy. It is the entrenched, wealthy elites and their propagandist abettors , the very "class" of people whom Obama and his fellow thugs make a great show of railing against, who are insulated from - indeed, who PROFIT from - the economic pain we are all experiencing. But they are given a pass because they pay lip service to caring about middle class and the little guy - the very people for whom, in fact, they have nothing but contempt.

And, per the recipe for socialist totalitarianism, it is NOT the "millionaires and billionaires" that Obama wants to destroy; most of them are either in his pocket or else have paid sufficient protection money to keep them safe. No, it is the very middle class that Obama pretends to want to protect that must be destroyed in a socialist state. You can look it up, as they say; among many quotes from Lenin that perfectly describe Time Magazines world view are these:

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
"Destroy the family, you destroy the country."
"The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation."
"It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed."
"He who now talks about the 'freedom of the press' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism."
"One of the basic conditions for the victory of socialism is the arming of the workers and the disarming of the bourgeoisie (the middle class)."
"A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership to the bourgeoisie."
"While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State."

Those of you who disagree, just wait three years.

Of course, when the middle class collapses as a result of the State exercising its one and only mandate - to enrich itself and its apparatchiks by stealing money from the "little guy" - you'll continue to assure us that Obama's corrosive policies are just the benevolent guidance that the country needs in order to become "fair" - as if fairness matters one iota to liberals.

Today's leftist ideologues remind me of the benighted doctors in medieval times who assured the patient that if they just drained another pint of blood from the stricken victim's body, he'd get well. It didn't work out well for the patient who bled to death, and it won't work out well for the middle class of America.

And when the weight-bearing structure of the middle class collapses, it will take the rest of the country with it. And then you socialists will finally get what you've really lusted after all along: Destruction.

But remember, the victory of the parasite is that the host dies - and then, so too does the parasite.

tdiinva| 12.15.11 @ 10:00AM

Why does this selection surprise you. Time seleccted one A. Hitler (1938) and J. Stalin (1939 and 1942) as Man of the year.

Paul Caliando| 12.15.11 @ 10:28AM

Nobody in their right mind would turn to Time magazine for serious, objective reporting. Any journalistic integrity that rag ever possessed was shed long ago. It's a socialist propaganda tool and nothing more.

Al Adab| 12.15.11 @ 10:41AM

Simply more examples of MSM and Left wing spin on events in the middle east. Like the French revolution, the "arab spring" is nothing to celebrate. It will descend into tribal and national bloodletting with grave consequences for both Arab civilization and the world at large.

Radioman777| 12.15.11 @ 10:44AM

Time can pat themselves on the back for one thing: They're one of a very few publications of which it can honestly be said they make the old Pravda look good.

Bill| 12.15.11 @ 10:48AM

Time Magazine has defended its Person of the Year by saying that they pick the person based on his/her impact on the world for better or worse. Some years ago, they picked some generic person and got critiqued for not picking an actual individual person. They made some argument around that at that point.

This point, they apparently aren't even bothering to defend failing to pick out an individual. Personally, I would pick Achmadinejad, but that's just me. But I DO have a problem agreeing that the protestors of the world have had the greatest impact in 2011 on the world. It remains to be seen what impact they will have.

Personally, if I were in charge of picking out some group to represent the Person of the Year for Time magazine, I'd pick the SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden. But I guess that's a bit too sanguine for journalistic tastes of the Time variety these days.

Teaghan| 12.15.11 @ 1:03PM

Valerie Jarrett probably nixed that one. If ANYONE was to be lauded for the killing of Bin Laden, it would HAVE to be Barry! What a warrior!!!!

Ricco| 12.15.11 @ 11:10AM

That recently retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen was not "Person of the Year" is disappointing.

Gary| 12.15.11 @ 12:07PM

Tripe, tripe and more tripe complements of Time. The prejudice and bigotry of the left knows no bounds as it sanctifies anarchy and labels conservatives as bigots, etc. while heaping adoration and praise on street thugs, punks, and radical Islamists. Odd how the conservative Christian is bashed for being against abortion but Islamists who oppress women, stone them, attack Christians, favor government regulation of private morality are respected and praised by the Left.

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 1:40AM

But they allow abortion so in the minds of the left they are tolerant.

Kingofthenet| 12.15.11 @ 12:17PM

This is an EXCELLENT decision by TIME, whether or not all protesters are the 'Same' is immaterial, it is all about the power they wielded this year in the hands of citizens, right or wrong.

JR| 12.15.11 @ 12:19PM

I'm new to TAS and absolutley love it. To see other MAD conservatives is refreshing. If there was a convention with all the commentors I'd be first in line for tickets. Thanks to all (except Jacob)

obadiah| 12.15.11 @ 12:37PM

Thanks, Andrew, for summarizing a magazine that used to be important. However, it seems clear to me that the editors have constructed a literary theme rather than written one of those old-fashioned journalistic stories. They are telling us that the supposed noteworthy personalities, the Obama, the Putin, the Romney, the Donald, etc., are nothing but dispersed and incoherent fragments that don't add up to anything, only meaningless sometimes violent spasms. It's like Waiting for Godot.

Sterling Abernathy| 12.15.11 @ 12:59PM

I wonder if Time Magazine would still feel the same way about "Protesters" if they were to descend on Time's corporate HQ and demand their demands be met, gang-assault the female reporters, and squat on the editors desk while miraculously/ubiquitously growing scat-tails!!!

Yep, it's one thing to, from a distance glorify anarchy, it would be instructive to experience it!!!

Typical White Person | 12.15.11 @ 1:26PM

So they don't like bank ATM fees, huh? Thank Dodd-Frank. Idiots.

Zero Establishment| 12.15.11 @ 1:57PM

Thanks Mr. Cline for sharing. Hit the nail on the head. Time Mag has turned into a laughing joke and this is further proof of it.

Marc Jeric| 12.15.11 @ 2:23PM

In the 1930's Time's Persons of the Year were Stalin and Hitler - both extreme socialists. Hitler's party was called "German National-Socialist Workers Party"; ans Stalin's country was called "Union of Socialist Soviet Republics".

gary.siebel| 12.15.11 @ 2:53PM

Nobody has moral high ground; not even one.

But your belittling of the anti-debit card fee places you firmly in the swamp. You mischaracterize the fee as "not imposed" when it was, in fact, retracted.

A philosophy of greed is a philosophy of treason.

Riff Raff| 12.15.11 @ 3:50PM

I think this is the end of "Time." At least I hope so.

spindles| 12.15.11 @ 3:53PM

Any person who subscribes to or takes the time to read anything in that snotty progressive rag is flat out of his/her mind. Ten years ago we stopped gift subscriptions to family members. Slow to wake up, but wake up we did!

Tom in Michigan| 12.15.11 @ 4:03PM

Used to read Time, cover-to-cover. Now, I wouldn't keep it in the outhouse in case we ran out of corncobs (I'm conservative so, I reckon this is what most "enlightened liberals" think so; why not play along for fun?).

Only idiots think the BoA fee was "greed." It was a reaction the extra costs heaped on the banks by Dodd-Frank - two of the criminals who brought us the 2008 collapse for which we are still paying, despite three years of "hope and change."

Used to be a "liberal" too - until I realized everything they say, think and do is based on either ignorance, usually willful or just plain lies.

Pat| 12.15.11 @ 4:15PM

Like some faithful lieutenant reporting in to his general after visiting the front lines, Conservative pundits have created many an article announcing the latest outrageous statements by the Liberal media. But take a moment and scroll back up this webpage. Notice the advertisers who are paying good money to reach you, to command your brief attention?

When you visit the Time Magazine, the Washington Post or the New York Times websites for your daily dose of outrage, these organizations tell their advertisers you are a loyal reader. Even though you violently disagree with their tedious propaganda, their advertisers don’t know that. And it’s not our assigned mission to man the ramparts peering off in the distance for signs of the Mongol horde, the Mongols are already living among us. So, rest assured the Liberal media will continue to advocate your downfall, but do these Conservative authors have to glorify their existence – better to ignore the Liberal media and hasten their economic decline, they’ll hate you for doing that and isn’t that hate a very good thing?

Crawler| 12.15.11 @ 7:25PM

Time should have known that the OWS protesters would rather spend their money on dope and bail bonds than buy their skinny and insignificant magazine...

Alan Brooks| 12.15.11 @ 8:16PM

better than a subscription to AS- throws good money after bad.

POST American| 12.15.11 @ 10:48PM

--------------------FINAL WORD------------------------

TIME's 2011 'MAN of the YEAR'?

---------------------------------ALEX JONES!!!

Nick| 12.15.11 @ 11:09PM

I wonder if Time also included the "protesters" in Greece, who threw Molotov cocktails into that bank, and killed a pregnant woman and her unborn baby (fetus in Latin.)

Yes, these smelly, raping, defecating, hippy protesters are really people to admire.
Not!

POST American| 12.16.11 @ 12:42AM

-------------------BOTTOM LINE-----------------------

OWS is funded, designed and directed by
SOROS et al.

SOROS was set up, funded, and remains
a KEY go-fer for the ROT-childs.

Fractional reserve, psychopathic, INTER-national USURY remains the supreme ABOMINATION.

------------------------------------CASE CLOSED--------

markenoff| 12.16.11 @ 12:59AM

I subscribed to Time magazine in 1990 when I was sent to Korea as a way to keep up with what was going on in the states. Several months into the subscription there were two articles in the same issue referring to the economic situation of African-Americans. One, a "hard" news story, posited that the Reagan years had been economically devastating to African-Americans and provided charts and data to "prove" this fact. The second, "soft" news story towards the back of the magazine told how advertisers were targeting the African-American population since their disposal incomes had risen disproportionately to the general population during the '80s and provided charts and date to prove it was so. This schizophrenia was enough for me to not renew y subscription and to never buy another copy of Time. My decision is validated once again.

abella| 12.16.11 @ 2:38AM

Publishing like this stuff is really shameful for the body like Times. Media has a great responsibility because it affects on our society deeply. cheap checks

Ralph Woods| 12.16.11 @ 8:02PM

The take away image I have of the OWS movememt is that of the guy taking a crap on a police car. The image I have of Time has the police car replaced with this issue of the magazine.

marilyn| 12.16.11 @ 11:38PM

Seriously, does anyone really read Time anymore? It is irrelevant media written at a 6th grade reading level with visual "sound bites" as meaningless as most of the rest of the mainstream media.

POST American| 12.17.11 @ 12:01AM

"Since ancient Greece, and the writings
of 'PLAY--dough' and the schools of
'PIE--tha--GORE--US', we, the ordinary, common people
have been ---the 'ITs'. Periodically, the ordinary
people awaken to what they're really about
---and turn on them --bring them to justice.
That's what happened in Cretona. That's WHY.
---Turning the youth against their parents
---their culture ---their truth. --Bringing
also age into youth --contra naturum."

---AS NDAA is about to be signed into 'law'
destroying posse commintatus ---and
authorizing the 'disappearance' of American
citizens in the name of 'sick--cure--IT--he'
(btw --NORTH KOREA being the ONLY other state
in history to have such a law openly on the books)

AS the Globalist-RED China world TREASON
and EUGENICS OP ramps forward unchallenged
--indeed, unmentioned by the press--TIT--toots

---------------------ALEX JONES-------------------------
----------------------------is---------------------------------
-------------------Man of the YEAR----------------------

william q| 12.18.11 @ 1:27AM

another example of a decadent culture on the verge of collapse.
sure, laugh it off on John Stewart and Colbert's mock raised eyebrow, but a country this dishonest about the challenges it faces is done