Online Debate Heats Up Over Time’s Person Of The Year, ‘The Protestor’

Time Magazine unveiled its iconic person of the year, and what a fittingly poignant individual, or symbol of humanity I should say, it is. Time’s person of the year is ‘The Protester.’ From the uprising in Tunisia to the unrest in Egypt to fatalities in Syria, Libya, Spain, Greece, and the Occupy movement in the United States, intrepid protesters have taken a stand against The Man to fight for their political, economical and social rights. Just when it seemed that society would never tire of complacency, demonstrators around world began to say “enough.” The year 2011 is indeed the year of ‘The Protester,’ as well as the year social media served as a tremendously instrumental platform for and driven by the people.

During a “Today” show interview, Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel said of the magazine’s decision, “there was a lot of consensus among our people. It felt right.” In a statement for Time he said, “they [protesters] dissented; they demanded; they did not despair, even when the answers came back in a cloud of tear gas or a hail of bullets. They literally embodied the idea that individual action can bring collective, colossal change.”