Video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto claimed the top spot on Time Magazine’s reader selected top 100 most influential people of 2008 finalists this year, taking out Korean “pop sensation” Rain, last year’s runaway winner, by more than 300,000 votes. Rounding out the Top 5 on Time’s reader selected list are Stephen Colbert, Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks. Hence, the problem with a pure democracy - Stephen Colbert being the exception. Reference this list when somebody wonders who put Hamas in charge in the West Bank.
With ironic symmetry, the Dalai Lama is ranked dead last (#207) on the reader selected list while claiming the first position in Time Magazine’s list under Leaders and Revolutionaries.
Bottom Line: Take with a grain of salt any Top 100 list that includes Miley Cyrus, Michael Bloomberg (as a “Scientist and Thinker” whose environmental street cred is emphasized by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and whose name is bouncing around as the next possible “dream ticket” companion to Sen. Obama) and Baitullah Mehsud, the alleged mastermind behind the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Conflating these people on the same list fails to give proper context as to their true influence over the events that shape our lives. Talk about trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience!
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Tags: Heidi Klum Time 100, Stephen Colbert Time 100, Time 100, Time Magazine 100 Most Influential, Tyra Banks Time 100
