Opinion As 2021 draws to a close, a possible list of nominees for ‘Person of the Year’

Compared to some of the past holders of the ‘Person of the Year’ title, announced annually by a US-based magazine, Elon Musk may not be “worst choice ever”, as certain critics have said (just for perspective, Adolf Hitler was a recipient of this title). Of course, Musk was irresponsible in playing down the dangers of Covid-19, and has allegedly threatened workers in his company for unionising. But, as the magazine said, the title isn’t an honour. It is an acknowledgement of a person’s, or persons’, influence over the events of the year.

Such “honours”, even when arbitrary, come from an understandable impulse to make sense of the year gone by. So how about an alternative that avoids the ambiguities of the present exercise, but still lets us find some meaning in the past year? ‘Person of the Year’ nominees, that is, who are not outsized heroes or villains, but ordinary mortals who, either through design or default, best captured their moment.

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Given that disruption and chaos was the main theme of 2021, as it was for 2020, here’s a possible list of nominees. First, the man in the US who burned down his $1.8 million home while trying to get rid of snakes — because we all know what it’s like to watch a relatively small problem blow up into a massive crisis. Next, the artist who gave a Danish museum two blank canvases titled “Take the money and run” in return for $84,000 — because who hasn’t experienced the urge to, as they say, “stick it to them”? And the final nominee, the Delhi woman who rushed to purchase liquor after restrictions were lifted and was heard telling news cameras, “Mujhe dawaiyon se asar nahin hoga, peg se hoga (Medicines won’t help me, but a peg of alcohol will)”. We feel you sister.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on December 15, 2021 under the title ‘A kind of hero’.