On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, TIME magazine revealed their Person of the Year awardee to be Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist who frequently speaks up on issues concerning climate change and global warming.
The teenager has gained international recognition over the course of this year for her campaign dealing with the climate crisis and has even spoken passionately at the United Nations headquarters in New York, condemning the room full of world leaders with a powerful “How dare you,” in regards to their empty words and lack of action.
However, many people seem to be angry over TIME’s choice for Person of the Year for 2019, believing that there were far better candidates.
One of the most vocal attackers was none other than Donald Trump, the President of the United States who had been one of the four finalists for the award.
The president took to Twitter in response and tweeted out:
Haha. Trump is awesome. You have to love his sense of humor.
— Real Defender🇺🇸 (@real_defender) December 12, 2019
Others, felt that there had been people who had had more of an impact on the global space than Thunberg this year and could be seen tweeting out their own picks for who should have won the award this year.
The Left will exploit anyone to further their sinister agenda!
— MatthewJshow (@MatthewJshow) December 12, 2019
Time’s Man of the Year 1956 were the Hungarian freedom fighters, who rebelled against Bolshevik policies.
— Marse (@NativeSon1776) December 14, 2019
This year, Time was afraid of giving Person of the Year to the Hong Kong protestors because they didn’t want to offend authoritarian China.
O tempora! O mores! pic.twitter.com/IHSi9Vhduq
A child who's been skipping school to sail around the world telling everyone how awful they are, is time's person of the year. Not the Hong Kong protestors, not a president, not even the dog who killed ISIS. The only reason she's on there is her usefulness as a propaganda tool. https://t.co/CumYZ2uMHu
— Jared Rabel (@JradRabel) December 11, 2019
In these times people who just shout "Do something now !" without contributing anything as a proposal or solution are being named #TIMEPersonoftheYear2019 by #TimeMagazine. Goes to show how low we and our standards have fallen. #GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/RDzSLXa24Y
— De Onbekende Vlaming MP (@RiVaPu) December 12, 2019
While TIME’s Person of the Year seems like a big accolade, in the end it does not mean really mean anything. It does not even seem to reflect the consensus of the general public, as the Hong Kong protestors were the ones that won the Person of the Year poll by a landslide, where over 27 million people voted, yet Thunberg was awarded the title and given the magazine cover and article.
Thunberg seems to be taking both her award and the backlash by stride however, and has changed her twitter biography to read: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.” in response to Trump’s tweet and tweeted out:
Wow, this is unbelievable! I share this great honour with everyone in the #FridaysForFuture movement and climate activists everywhere. #climatestrike https://t.co/2t2JyA6AnM pic.twitter.com/u4JUD4cgCz
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 11, 2019
