I'm Man of the Year

According to _Time_ magazine, I'm Man of the Year for 2006! Can you imagine? Okay, not *me*, per say, but you. Well, not *you*, either, but "You", as in everyone. Well, not *everyone*, actually, but everyone who posts content on the internet. [Grunt] Here, read it for yourself:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html

Their idea is to honor the trend of posting content on blogs, websites, MySpace, YouTube, and so forth that has heralded an unprecedented explosion in expression of the common person. Nifty. Yeah, it's a little lame, but I agree with their point. It's another step toward a one-world community (and maybe an internet-based government to rule them – but that's the Napoleon in me talking. We could call it "The United States of Google"). _Time_ is right to recognize the amazing contribution of the internet and the way common people are utilizing it. Thanks to this technology, I can hold a couple simultaneous text conversations with my friends on MySpace (assuming I HAVE friends) talking about, let's say - my cat's hairball problem, paraphrase the conversations on my blog, and upload a video of my cat barfing to YouTube, all within minutes, and it won't cost me a shiny dime. But then, would you really care to watch it?

Of course, there's no accounting for taste. I'm honored just as much as the next person, including all those porn freaks (the #1 business on the internet, according to surveys) and fringe criminal groups. Being lightened by the Christmas spirit, I'll assume for the moment that they aren't included, since Jingle Bells is playing in the background, I smell like eggnog, and the world is sparkling with snowflakes and silvery presents. Only *interesting* content like this blog are included in their consideration, right? RIGHT?

My first thought was to call this a cop-out. "You" isn't a person. But it's not like this is the first year _Time_ has honored an entire group or technology since they started in the honor in 1927. I count eleven years:

1950, The American Fighting Man
1956, Hungarian Freedom Fighter
1960, U.S. Scientists [Thank you very much!]
1966, Twenty-Five and Under
1969, The Middle Americans
1975, American Women
1982, The Computer
1988, Endangered Earth
1993, The Peacemakers
2002, The Whistleblowers
2003, American Soldier

Here's a complete list. I'm not certain I feel so honored. There are some amazing folks on the long list, like FDR and Ghandi, but Stalin and Hitler are there, too (and George Bush – twice!).

Given that I've designed and posted three websites and this blog, I guess I'm deserving. Maybe I should celebrate somehow. Tell you what, I'll go create another blog, punch up my eggnog, and sing a rummy version of Jingle Bells on camera for YouTube so that you can relive my merriment any time you wish, at the click of a mouse. I suggest you do the same. Happy uploading, Man of the Year!