The Internet has a hard time taking things seriously and will happily enact silly vengeance on websites daring enough to leave important tasks up to a vote. Time’s coveted “Person of the Year” poll has been hijacked by thousands of pranksters who have voted up the not-so democratic icons, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un and Egypt’s Mohamed Morsey. The up votes could be legitimate exercise in satire, punishing Time for even floating the idea of those two in a poll next to Obama and brave political dissidents. But, if Morsey–or worse, Kim–actually wins the poll, Time will have egg on its face (both Kim and Morsey have nearly twice the number of votes as 3rd place).
Time’s Person of the Year is a heralded tradition in American media, the winner showered with headlines. Last year, Mark Zuckerberg’s cover, selected over of Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, sparked a political firestorm about privacy and even a Saturday Night Live skit mocking the ironic choice. Suffice to say, each year, Time has the rare honor of choosing a topic for national dialog.
Time’s annual poll, which supplements the “Person of the Year” with a Who’s Who? list in politics, business, and the arts, has also become a closely watched horse-race.
Cast your vote for Kim here...
