- 17 December 2009
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- 11 Comments
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- Events in Iran, Human Rights in Iran, Iran Election 2009
Where are their votes this TIME?
17 December 2009 Posted By NIAC
Credit Corbis
It is widely believed that millions of Iranian voters had their votes stolen during June’s Presidential election. Now, once again, the Iranian people had their votes taken away when Time Magazine awarded Ben Bernanke the honor of Person of the Year.
For those of you who, like me, were upset that Time didn’t choose the Iranian protesters as their person of the year, there is some consolation knowing that the rest of the world did.
In fact, more than 536,000 people recognized their courage and voted for the Iranian protesters outnumbered the 2nd and 3rd runners up combined. Despite that, it was disheartening to see them eliminated from Time’s shortlist which appeared on Tuesday, a day before announcing their final choice of Ben Bernanke. (See the full results here).
But, why even conduct a poll, or election for that matter, if the votes aren’t going to be counted?
Seeing as the title is Person of the year, perhaps Time wanted to walk away from awarding the prize to another group. If you remember in 2006, Time received a lot of criticisms for choosing “YOU” as person of the year. So why even include the “Chinese worker” on their shortlist, especially if they weren’t in the initial poll? (See the short list here)
If Time did not want to choose another group, then why not choose Neda, who has come to symbolize the struggle for democracy in Iran? It seems like she fit their description of a person who, “most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year.” Apparently they rarely give awards to people who are dead (Einstein was the only one, but he was Person of the Century). Though if you ask anyone who follows the plight of the Iranian people, Neda is far from dead—her memory carries on as she continues to move thousands in Iran to hit the streets and inspire countless artists around the world. Who else has done all of this without uttering a word?
The Iranian government wants more than anything for people to forget Neda, and the other millions of protesters—they’ve gone so far as to call her murder staged and refused to let people visit her unmarked grace. In a way, Time has done part of their Iranian government’s job for them.
Perhaps Time didn’t realize the impact that this award could have had for the Iranian people. While I’m sure Bernanke is happy about his award and perhaps it will put pressure on him to really fix the economy this time the impact of the award for the Iranian people would have been much more tangible. Honoring them would have shown Iran that the world is still watching; as a result, putting pressure on the government to reform its behavior. The Iranian people want to be part of the international community, but how can they, especially if we fail to recognize them?
Time is not solely to blame; in fact, this Person of the Year episode is symptomatic of most media—in the words of one disappointed protester “typical short memory Americans.”
The Iranian people have shown us that the Green movement is not just a trend. They’ve shown their ingenuity as they’ve turned insults into rallying points, (see the campaign to free Majid Tavakoli), money into organizing flyers and they continue to break Iranian government’s internet filters to keep us informed of their activities. Won’t we at least do them the honor by paying attention longer than a few weeks?
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11 Responses to “Where are their votes this TIME?”
Ben Bernanke is a monster who has ruined millions of lives in this country with his irresponsible fiscal policies. And he gets rewarded for this? Sickening.
Well Michelle, as an Iranian-American dual citizen, I voted Green in the June election. But I’ve weighed the evidence, and have come to the conclusion that the counter-claims outweigh the claims of voting fraud, and I (like the majority of respondents of the recent WPO poll) accept Dr. Ahmadinejad as Iran’s legitimately elected president.
Regarding the Time Person of the Year, this isn’t the first time Iran has been given the shaft. You’ll recall in 2006 when Time Magazine chose President Ahmadinejad as Person of the Year but didn’t have the guts to go through with it, so they meekly picked “you” instead. What a choke that was.
I will tell you this. As a liberal American who voted Obama for president, these days I find myself asking more and more: where is my vote?!
Such a shame!
I used to read Time! BUT no more. It was Neda Agha Soultan, who got 79% of the online vote more than anybody else and there was not even a mention of her and Iranian crisis on the first page, such a shame!
How Time explains its choice for Person of the Year?????
TIME =Coward
maybe the so called Iran’s Green movement effect is somewhat important to you and some but not to the whole world and it’s effect on the world is next to zero verse Bern. who’s decision had effected the whole world.
also if they were going to choose Neda i would’ve asked why they missed Rachel Carry who stood up in front of Israeli’s Bulldozer till she was crushed to paces while Neda had no idea she would’ve get shut.
It was a real shame and a sham!
The more important issue is that the Iranian protestor didn’t even make it to the shortlist even though it had five times the votes of Barack Obama in second place. The Chinese Worker came out of nowhere and made the shortlist. So much disregard for their own poll is beyond belief. For the least, they should have placed ‘Iranian Protestor’ on their short list.
I am also baffled at the comment about the election not being a fraud! Have you read tha Chatham House report? You can’t do polls in a country where people can’t speak their mind our of fear for retribution, in particular polls done via phone where you can be identified so easily.
Absolutely the American media – and more importantly, the American people – should not forget about the Iranian struggle for their inalienable rights.
Yet at the same time, I am concerned that we Americans might act brashly in a clumsy attempt to show our solidarity. Or even worse, some policymakers might seek to use the righteous cause of the Iranian people for unrighteous ends.
With Congress pushing IRPSA that experts know won’t work and Iranians don’t want, it’s not clear our “help” is at all helpful.
Ultimately, if America cannot express our solidarity wisely, then perhaps it would be better if, like Time Magazine, we forget all about the Iranian protesters.
Very Well-Done & Very Well-Put Michelle…!
Keep Up The Great Job You’re Doing.
Cheers,
Reza A.
Pirouz, you did not vote green. please don’t delude yourself, the concept of taqiyya does not work that way.
May Allah help. Those who aid and abet tyranny are will also face Allah.
Pirouz, why are you not living in Iran, but living here in the US? It seems you enjoy the freedoms we have here more than Iran, perhaps if you live in Iran fulltime you wont have these opinions.
[...] UPDATE* TIME MAGAZINE IS A ******** JOKE. Where are their votes this TIME? [...]
What a massive mistake by Time. For all the chance to do something positive, it balks.
http://politicalcartel.org/2009/12/30/new-years-iranian-revolution-in-solidarity/