An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

One has to wonder about the choice of Vladimir Putin as Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. I understand that the award does not imply much more than newsworthiness, much like the Attorney of the Year title recently awarded to scandal-plagued ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales by the American Bar Association. Still, it is difficult not to wonder about the effect of awards such as these on the national psyche.

Gonzales was made a laughingstock by the media for very obviously not being much interested in the truth in testimony before Congress. Putin is another matter altogether. He is a dangerous man, closing in on being another Russian dictator. Time says that they chose Putin, among other reasons, because Order is better that Freedom. Time also carefully says that being named Person of the Year is not an endorsement, or an honor. They go on to say, “At its best, it is a clear-eyed recognition of the world as it is and of the most powerful individuals and forces shaping that world—for better or for worse.”

It seems to me that there is too much publicity given already to the “worse.” Along the line, somewhere, I’m sure Time honored Hitler and Lenin as Person of the Year, or strongly considered doing so. That may say a lot about journalistic pragmatism, but it also says a lot about our society in general. This is, after all, a society that seems fixated on the less-than-honorable antics of Barry Bonds, Britney Spears, Michael Vick, and Tom Cruise.

Time epitomizes this fascination, undoubtedly reveling in the publicity that such a selection brings them. But how ethical is a magazine, or the President of a country, that publicly associates iron-fisted control with success, and manages to denigrate the value of freedom in doing so? It seems to me like Bad Business in publishing is promoting Bad Business in government.