Thursday, Jan. 04, 2007

Letters

You Transformed the Information Age

As the Internet morphs from a place to consume into a place to contribute content, our engagement with and understanding of the world come more and more from people like you. Participants in the digital democracy cheered our Person of the Year choice--themselves--while others thought it overly inclusive

I would like to thank the editors of TIME for choosing me as 2006's Person of the Year [Dec. 25, 2006--Jan. 1, 2007]. I promise my family, friends and co-workers that I will not let this title go to my head and that the wealth and fame it will undoubtedly bring me will be used only for the greater good. I also appreciate the flattering cover photo, although I believe that your stylists could have worked a bit harder to de-emphasize the rectangular lines of my face. KATHI VIESER BIANCO North Babylon, N.Y.

I would call TIME's pick a colossal cop-out. It's the ultimate in egocentrism to think we are all the Person of the Year. I am a student; my mother is a teacher; my father is a small-business owner; a friend is a lawyer; my brother is a doctor. We are not even candidates to be the Person of the Year. The pool of choices should be limited to Presidents, generals, Prime Ministers and Popes. Names like Roosevelt, Truman, Elizabeth II, Hitler, Stalin and John Paul II should be succeeded by other similarly important and influential ones. We are simply people with jobs, families and ordinary lives. The Person of the Year should be extraordinary. TIME's choice was anything but. SCOTT FLATTO Brookline, Mass.

I was so excited that TIME selected me (all of us) this year. I just took a job at Google so that I could participate in the user-powered revolution, and I can't believe how lucky I am to be alive at this time in history. Your story said Web 2.0 is "a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter" and about people "helping one another for nothing." I just want to emphasize this point. People will help one another if they believe it matters. People will vote, for crying out loud, if they think it matters. This is truly a revolution for democracy and human rights, and as you said, it's just getting started. GALEN PANGER Stanford, Calif.

Isn't the focus on ourselves a bit like the class taking over the classroom? If anyone can publish on the Web, to what do we aspire? Just to write, and as long as someone reads our work, we have arrived? While I will keep checking the Web from time to time, I have decided to get my first newspaper subscription. NICOLE CARPINELLI Lawrence, N.J.

What a cop-out. Warren Buffet started giving away the bulk of his fortune (about $37 billion) to save the least among us and did not even garner a nod in your People Who Mattered profiles, but I get top honors for watching viral videos on YouTube and reading self-important diary entries on MySpace? I suppose the moral relativism that rationalizes genocide and ethnic cleansing around the world now includes something we could call footprint relativism--everyone impacts humankind differently, but all contributions are equal. In a year when you tried to recognize everyone as special, you made sure no one was. PATRICK PUGH Wilmington, Del.

A million bravos for naming the millions of us Person of the Year! We transformed the Internet into a great resource for education and creativity. The world will never be the same, and we all did it! LOUIS PERRY New York City

TIME's editors must have been under enormous pressure not to name Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Person of the Year, as your readers did in the online poll. What percentage of people in the world have ever heard of YouTube? What is the scale of its effect on people outside the U.S.? The proper headline for your cover should have been AMERICAN PERSON OF THE YEAR. ZAC ZHANG Shenzhen, China

In this era of rampant and unbridled narcissism, you have made the perfect choice. Thanks for the mirror. I just can't take my eyes off me, me, me. BRIAN O'NEIL Alameda, Calif.

I respectfully decline TIME's Person of the Year distinction. To paraphrase Groucho Marx, I don't want to be chosen by any magazine that would select me as its most newsworthy person. BILL EISEMAN Virginia Beach, Va.

Family Feud

I was deeply offended by James C. Dobson's Viewpoint "Two Mommies Is One Too Many" [Dec. 18]. Isn't it just too bad that not every human being falls into a neat little category and not every family lives the Father Knows Best lifestyle? Dobson cites expert research about the importance of children having a father in the home. I have likewise read about many same-sex couples who provide love, nurturing and stability for their children. I have such a couple in my family and am very proud of how they are raising their children. Same-sex couples raising children are not conducting, as Dobson put it, a "social experiment" but are simply living their lives. Why should these couples be denied the right to parent? JUDITH A. PFEIFER Evanston, Ill.

I was mortified to learn that Dobson distorted my work in a guest column. Not only did he misrepresent my research in saying that only mothers stress sympathy and care to their children and only fathers stress justice and fairness, but his citation of my work to support his attack on Mary Cheney's intention to raise her child with her lesbian partner is completely without foundation. CAROL GILLIGAN NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW New York City

My husband and I are very appreciative of Dobson's work on behalf of children and wish to thank you for publishing his views. We believe that children need both a father and a mother and that time will show how important it really is for them. Although all viewpoints are supposed to be worthwhile in the age of information, very often the Christian viewpoint is hushed. It was nice to know that TIME magazine still believes in religious tolerance. COLLEEN GLASS Henrietta, N.Y.

Taking Aim at an Epithet

Commentator John Ridley's view-point column "Why I'm Good with the 'N' Word" [Dec. 11] disregarded the word's legacy of dehumanizing black people. The mere utterance triggers a mental videotape of hatred, violence and oppression. It's not just "mollycoddles" who oppose it. Employment discrimination based on race and color was pervasive. The epithet nigger was directed daily against black workers. Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's successes in combating discrimination, this practice persists. The N word is so clearly poisonous that even nonblack employees file lawsuits when their co-workers or employers use the term against them. Some white employees charge hostility when blacks use the slur around them. Some employers cite the N word's prevalence in popular culture--and endorsements like Ridley's--to defend referring to black employees as "niggers." Ridley recommended that we simply "relax. Take a deep breath. It's gonna be cool." But we cannot. We will continue our efforts to eradicate this harmful slur from the workplace--forever. NAOMI C. EARP CHAIR, EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION Washington

A Fresh Look at Iraq

The release of the Iraq Study Group's report gave me hope that the U.S. will move back to a more cooperative foreign policy [Dec. 18]. In the shock following 9/11, the U.S. Administration stepped into a trap laid by al-Qaeda. Five years later, civil rights are restricted the world over, Islamic radicals have gained strength, and the so-called war on terrorism has produced more hostile fighters. I hope it is now understood that bombs don't spread democracy, whether in Iraq or in Lebanon. Real strength means you reach out to the other side and work out a solution that makes life better for both sides. The reconstruction efforts in post--World War II Europe provide a good example of what could be accomplished today. Why not repeat this approach in the Middle East? AXEL RUECKER Munich

Best Photos of 2006

I was happy to see the old Leica camera in TIME'S picture roundup [Dec. 18]. It was completely appropriate that the best photos of 2006 were introduced by the camera of the last century! The Leica camera was the ultimate tool for many great professional photographers as well as the ultimate dream of so many great--and less great--amateurs. Notwithstanding the often superb quality of its competitors, anybody with a heart for photography has to admit that there was one camera prized above all: the Leica. INGEMAR LINDAHL Lidkoping, Sweden

The photo of the children scavenging for food in Kanpur, India, reminded me of Jean Franc,ois Millet's painting The Gleaners. It was really sad to see what these poor children's lives are like. I hope we can create a better world full of love and hope so that the next generation will not see the desperate conditions necessary to create another, updated version of The Gleaners. LETHER LAM Hong Kong

One thing "The Best Photos of the Year" showed us is how much more beautiful and peaceful the world would be without the toxic influence of American and Israeli politics. NATALIA AGAPIOU Brussels

In terms of quality, all the pictures in "The Best Photos of the Year" were excellent. But it was disturbing that only eight of the 28 photos depicted happy subjects. Was 2006 really so sad? Couldn't your outstanding photographers have found a few more uplifting photos to add to the collection? FAHMI BISHAY Rome

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