There is a lot of incomprehension for Time magazine’s choice to name Elon Musk ‘Person of the year’. Many politicians and opinion-makers make this clear on social media. They talk about the “worst choice ever”.
It came as a surprise to many that Elon Musk was named Time’s Person of the Year. The magazine describes the South African entrepreneur behind SpaceX and Tesla. It is currently the richest person on Earth as a “clown, genius, visionary, showman and industrialist” and someone who doesn’t shy away from controversy by taking extreme stances.
But Time’s decision provoked a lot of reactions on social media. For example, many people are enthusiastic about the decision to praise someone so “brave” and “innovative”, but American politicians and opinion-makers, in particular, have strongly criticized the decision. Their arguments are mainly that Musk has withheld a “wealth tax”, that he does not think unions are worthy of the light of day and that he has minimized the coronavirus several times.
Criticism, for example, comes from US senator and ex-presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. She wrote on Twitter: “Let us reform the broken tax rules so that the person of the year will pay taxes and can no longer be a profiteer.” Representative Pramila Jayapal also taps that nail. “It’s TIME for Elon Musk to pay taxes fairly.”
Another prominent critic: bestselling author Kurt Eichenwald. “I’ve held back from commenting on Time’s decision until I read their argument,” he wrote on Twitter before kicking off. “In a year where mRNA vaccine developers (Pfizer-Biontech and Moderna) have saved millions of lives and helped save economies worldwide, choosing Musk is the worst choice ever.”
Time has since responded to the criticism. “The Person of the Year is not a trophy, but an acknowledgement of the person who has had the most influence on world events, whether good or bad.”