Woodward and Bernstein, TIME (1974) Men of the Year

[denem]

errr ... No.

TIME has form for ignoring the bleeding obvious,
especially when it comes to other journalists.



How could I have forgotten? Everyone was talking Faisal.
Fuck Watergate.

[pacalo]

1. You have awed me with your mind -- good point.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Just for laughs:

2000 George W. Bush
2001 Rudolph Giuliani
2002 The Whistleblowers
2003 The American Soldier
2004 George W. Bush
2005 Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, & Bono
2006 You
2007 Vladimir Putin
2008 Barack Obama
2009 Ben Bernanke
2010 Mark Zuckerberg

[denem]

3. Yeah - 4 Presidents (inc Putin) - (1974) President being ripped apart?

Nothing.

Textbook history 1974 . 1, "King Faisal" Footnote: "Watergate"

[frazzled]

4. Well, they worked damned hard investigating that story

They didn't just post documents that were handed to them. There were many dots to connect and many sources to dig out. So we're really talking about two different activities altogether. (All Together Now: I'm sure the backlash will start immediately.)

That said, I don't think Zuckerberg is in the least bit important, except for being rich. Honestly, I don't think anyone will be using Facebook in five years, and I don't think it's a cultural game changer. Honestly, I don't.

[unblock]

5. faisal was not a bad choice at all.

remember that "man of the year" is not necessarily a good thing. it's the person who has the most impact, good or bad (hence the infamous choices of hitler and stalin in the '30s).

faisal led the oil embargos that led to massive economic dislocations in the u.s.; eventual inflation and stagflation that arguably brought down ford and then carter and ushered in reagan and reaganomics; a paranoia about inflation among politicians, economists, the fed and the powers that be that has remained strong to this day; and an appetite among right-wingers for greater control of foreign oil sources.

i'd say that's a hugely profound impact. with the benefit of highsight, i'd say he had more impact than watergate (notwithstanding that watergate had an impact that went far beyond nixon; certainly at the time it wasn't thought of that way.)

i certainly wouldn't object to w&b, although if i were editor then and wanted to highlight watergate, i would have chosen "deep throat" as man of the year instead.