• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Angela Merkel named TIME's Person of the Year 2015

Status
Not open for further replies.
put any mathematical mind into power and they'll fuck shit up raw

power to the scientists

It is really interesting to see what a difference a couple of months can make. When Tsipras got elected people seemed to be very critical of how Merkel and her cabinet dealt with the situation in greece. It's funny that now, due to the refugee crisis, she is seen as a moral authority in Europe. I personally believe that both crisis were handled poorly and I don't think that Merkel has been a good chancelor these past few years. She seems to disprove the point that women would do better in a position of power compared to their male counterparts. Same goes for the idea that being a scientist makes you a better politician.
 
tTuK9I8.gif


What the Hell Time? She is one of the most inept politicians around, Europe is about to enter into a default and deflation thanks to her and you prize her. Also her attitude towards emigrants is not to be praised, remember that little girl she made cry?
 
The inept architect of the "duck and cover" equivalent of financial politics becomes person of the year. Congratulations.

"chancellor of the free world" my ass. She's neoliberal scum.
 
tTuK9I8.gif


What the Hell Time? She is one of the most inept politicians around, Europe is about to enter into a default and deflation thanks to her and you prize her. Also her attitude towards emigrants is not to be praised, remember that little girl she made cry?

Person of the Year isn't a prize.
 
If Bush can get it twice she probably deserves it too. Things she set into motion definitely defined the year to be sure.
They give it to every U.S. President whenever he is elected or starts a war.

Isn't TIME person of the year an award for the most influential person of that year, be it by good or bad decisions? I would say Merkel has been very influential in 2015. Sadly not in a good way.
No, that's what they once claimed. But they got shit for picking Khomeini in 1979. So when 2001 came around they ditched Osama bin Laden for the safer Rudy Giuliani pick and have stuck to that since.

They do hold a readers choice poll. Mick Foley won it in 1998 with 50+% of the votes.
 
it's a recognition what's the difference?
Because being person of the year is not always for positive reasons. You can win person of the year for doing bad things. It's about being influential. Vile people have won it for doing awful things, and for good reason.
 
She invited everyone and now she doesn't know what to do with them.

Yeah, handled it like a boss.

They need more shelters, interpreters, improvement on documenting, work on integration, and get them into employment. She probably knows this better than most do, and knows that it's gonna be tough before it becomes easier. Considering she grew up in communist Germany where walls segregated people, she doesn't want a repeat of that. Her opponents seem to be overly alarmist, worrying about what the refugees will do to their culture, threats of being "infiltrated" (Nikolas Löbel), just as any anti-immigration politician will spout. Other European countries need to pick up the slack on refugees, too, rather than forcing Germany to take care of it all.

Even her main opponent, Seehofer, recognises that they can't cap it.

"Everybody knows that there isn't a lever to stop the flow of refugees," says one member of the CSU leadership. "But you have to give the people the feeling that you are interested in achieving that goal."

http://www.spiegel.de/international...ugee-crisis-in-germany-worsens-a-1060720.html
 
Because being person of the year is not always for positive reasons. You can win person of the year for doing bad things. It's about being influential. Vile people have won it for doing awful things, and for good reason.

Perhaps, but if you read Time's description of Merkel, it is very glowing and positive. There can be no doubt that the people at Time who selected her think she is doing great things for the world.
 
Perhaps, but if you read Time's description of Merkel, it is very glowing and positive. There can be no doubt that the people at Time who selected her think she is doing great things for the world.
I agree they picked her for positive reasons. But Trumps high ranking is most definitely not due a positive influence.
 
William Westmoreland is a seriously underrated "lol in retrospect" pick. He was picked just as the U.S. was introducing significant ground troops into Vietnam too.

Even better, apparently he beat out The Beatles.
 
tTuK9I8.gif


What the Hell Time? She is one of the most inept politicians around, Europe is about to enter into a default and deflation thanks to her and you prize her. Also her attitude towards emigrants is not to be praised, remember that little girl she made cry?

Took the words right out of my mouth. The Immigrant situation by opening borders and telling them to come over put more lives at risk with people trying to cross the Med wasn't thought out well either.

But looking at the list there wasn't much to pick!
 
lol no

And she's basically wrecked the EU

Nah, if anything the EU wrecked itself. The refugee crisis just revealed that some countries (mainly Eastern European countries) in the EU do not share our European values, and that they are only interested in exploiting the EU for their own interests. But as soon as they have to take responsibility, by sheltering refugees like it was agreed upon, they bail out. Maybe it's time to remove these countries from the EU, and rebuild it. Let's see how they will do on their own.
 
Outside of her stance on refugees she has been terrible, at least on a non-domestic scale. Her "pay up now" and austerity approach has ruined countries and is the reason why the United States with its dead in the water do nothing congress is on a consistent path to growth while much of Europe is still struggling.
 
This is great. I had stopped paying attention to what is going on in the world outside of my day-to-day life for quite a long time. How she has handled things over the last few years, in particular, has brought my attention back to politics, history and world matters in a way only someone like her could.
 
tTuK9I8.gif


What the Hell Time? She is one of the most inept politicians around, Europe is about to enter into a default and deflation thanks to her and you prize her. Also her attitude towards emigrants is not to be praised, remember that little girl she made cry?

lol, she may not be good but certainly not one of the most inept around. The list worse than her would fill volumes.
 
lol no

And she's basically wrecked the EU
The EU has been wrecked since the 90s when they just added every country around.

Outside of her stance on refugees she has been terrible, at least on a non-domestic scale. Her "pay up now" and austerity approach has ruined countries and is the reason why the United States with its dead in the water do nothing congress is on a consistent path to growth while much of Europe is still struggling.
Funny enough Merkel and Schäuble were ready to backtrack on some degree until Tsipras started his little show.
 
She seems to disprove the point that women would do better in a position of power compared to their male counterparts. Same goes for the idea that being a scientist makes you a better politician.

What does her being female have to do with this? fuuuu
 
Gemüsepizza;188539937 said:
Nah, if anything the EU wrecked itself. The refugee crisis just revealed that some countries (mainly Eastern European countries) in the EU do not share our European values, and that they are only interested in exploiting the EU for their own interests. But as soon as they have to take responsibility, by sheltering refugees like it was agreed upon, they bail out. Maybe it's time to remove these countries from the EU, and rebuild it. Let's see how they will do on their own.
This.
 
I don't know who this person is, but judging by the polarizing reactions in this thread she might be worth a little research..
 
What does her being female have to do with this? fuuuu

My sister keeps telling me that she is the best chancellor we ever had because she is a women. My point is that her quality as a chancellor should not be judged more or less favorably because she is a scientist or a women.
 
She was definitely influential, but not for making the best decisions, or handling things properly.

Exactly, she's a fool that has primed Europe for a hard shift to the right. Germany and Sweden had good intentions, but that is not enough. Especially when people's legitimate concerns about this massive influx of people were not being answered well enough (or at all).
 
My sister keeps telling me that she is the best chancellor we ever had because she is a women. My point is that her quality as a chancellor should not be judged more or less favorably because she is a scientist or a women.

why not, those two factors rarely come together at all, especially among leading politicians
 
The top 3 are perfect. I can also get behind 4-5.
What the Hell Time? She is one of the most inept politicians around, Europe is about to enter into a default and deflation thanks to her and you prize her. Also her attitude towards emigrants is not to be praised, remember that little girl she made cry?
The award is for general impact, not for being a nice person (see numbers 2 and 3). If anything you just proved their point further.
 
Good choice, even if it's divisive because of peoples stance towards her. But if you look at the rest of the list this stems true for all of the choices:

7. Caitlyn Jenner
6. Travis Kalanick (Uber founder)
5. Hassan Rouhani (Iranian president)
4. Black Lives Matter activists
3. Donald Trump
2. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (ISIS leader)
1. Angela Merkel

But she is the only one who will be remembered in a decade out of all those listed people.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom