It’s that “Time” of year again, folks. Time magazine is in the process of selecting its “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and they’ve got it narrowed down to an impressive list of finalists. Naturally, there are a couple of our favorites on the list. From Time:
STEPHEN COLBERT
AGE: 43
OCCUPATION: Comedian, host of The Colbert Report
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1PRO: Hands down the nimblest satirist on TV or in print (I Am America! (And So Can You!)) has spent more than 23 weeks atop the New York Times bestseller list), Colbert can take any catastrophe — a rejection from the South Carolina primary, a crippling writer’s strike —and spin it into comedy gold.
CON: Colbert’s “making” of surprise Iowa winner Mike Huckabee — endorsed by The Report when his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination was at a comically low ebb — raises questions about whether Colbert’s meta-ness has turned meddlesome. Is he satirizing American politics…or hacking it? Also: Do we care?
Perennial fave Jon Stewart is also on the list of finalists, as are many other fine (and not so fine) nominees.
Oh, and … I’m not sure whether I should mention this but, right now, Stephen is ranked third on the overall list. Ahead of him are Barack Obama and … uh … Rain.
Whatever views I have expressed about NFZ, I realize that it is not my weblog and not my call.
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What infuriates me is that Time is so oblivious to the whole thing. Or unwilling to do anything about it.
I mean, we’re not exactly voting on the Nobel Peace Prize, but still. If they want to keep the contest at least somewhat reputable, they need to take steps to prevent Macros.
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Time knows perfectly well that these polls are absolutely ridiculous. I believe Bush is at like 145 or something? I mean, I dislike the man as much as the next girl, but seriously, he has more influence than Britney Spears. Time never takes these things into account, so don’t worry about it.
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It’s the click-through advertising dollars that Time wants; letting fan cults generate them via nonsense voting is as easy a way as any.
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laughing at nothing is exactly right about what Time wants. The Time staff is not going to look at these polls to make the determination of who belongs in the 100 — they may read comments, but they know full well that the polls are nothing more than popularity contests. They know polls are fun and easy, requiring little to no thought, and that polls generate user interest and participation.
This really is the major distinction between the Time poll and something like the March Madness game. The Time poll achieves its purpose by merely existing — it’s not seeking an actual end and it doesn’t care about who wins; the only results Time cares about is the advertising dollars generated (as a result, macros may not help Time achieve its purpose, but they don’t take anything away from it).
Something like the March Madness game, on the other hand, required thought and hard work; there would have been an actual winner; and (almost) everyone was actually interested in seeing how their opinions compared with those of other fans. I think everyone who visits the Time website understands that the voting doesn’t really reflect a careful evaluation of who really wields influence in the world.
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That’s true.
Corporate America wins again.
But I’m still miffed, because I want Stephen to win. Hmph.
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@rebnej,
It also helps Time magazine to have the most votes cast as possible so they can make a big deal out of how many voters there were. That is what they do on those reality shows that rely on the public to vote. They like to say that had 4 million votes cast (or whatever it usually is). If each person could only vote one time, they wouldn’t have the impressive numbers.
@Lisa,
I agree with you about Britney Spears.
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Well colbert is #1!!! At least its not Rain. The guy who created mario bros is up there too (Im not gonna lie, nintendo was pretty rad.) Stephanie Meyer is awesome though. Her books are great and I’m not a teen fangirl. I hate people tanking her for no reason. one of her fan sites is supporting colbert too. so dont be a hater :P
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I love Steven Colbert. And I love Stephenie Meyer. Here is my problem though. Stephenie’s fans have gone out of their way not to vote down others. They didn’t think that was fair. So they have only voted up Stephenie. I am disappointed that the same can’t be said for Stephen fans. Its obvious that some nasty work is being done to the Stephenie vote. Its a shame that this couldn’t have been done in a spirit of good fun, instead of visciousness.
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@Sam:
Just for the record, the No Fact Zone staff has not condoned or encouraged the use of macros, or other “voting-down” strategies during this competition.
I’m sorry you see the Colbert fandom as doing things in the spirit of “visciousness”, as that’s not how I perceive the fandom at all. Overly zealous? You betcha. But I don’t think any of it has been done to be intentionally mean to Stephanie Meyer, Rain or anyone else.
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Sam–
I can definitely see what you’re saying, but I think the way Time set it up with the ranking 1 to 100, they wanted some downvoting, or at least they allowed for it. Otherwise they would have just set up a regular voting poll and rank them by number of votes.
The more you’re willing to go out of your way to not only vote for the person that influences you, but downvote others on their behalf, the more you’re proving that they influence you.
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down voting….. absolutly, but have a reason for it. just voting someone down so your fav. wins is being crappy. look at poor Roger Fedder at 156 place just cause he was cutting into the top 5. Boo to those of you who cheat. But I am still glad Colbert is #1, its just a shame people started using Macro. This poll stinks anyway b/c they didnt try to stop cheaters. AmandaIvy was right this is not a reputable poll :(
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maybe an obvious point. but i don’t think Time bases the final list off the online poll. i’m pretty sure they already have an idea of who will be on the list long before the poll ends. all online polls are nothing but popularity contests.
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