It is the final installment in the run-up to December, when Time chooses its “Person of the Century.”
Although Time editors alone will choose the “Person,” a poll on the magazine’s Web site has been stirring up controversy. As part of its publicity, Time has asked its online surfers to choose the most influential person of the century.
A debate ensued on Time’s electronic bulletin board when Adolf Hitler began to tally up the votes.
Elvis Presley is now in first place with 735,000 votes, followed by Microsoft’s Bill Gates at 651,000. Einstein is third with 556,000.
Yitzhak Rabin, with 492,000 votes, is in fourth place. In the tally, the slain prime minister is slightly ahead of Hitler, Pope John Paul II, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi.
The magazine’s poll can be found at http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/time100/poc/century.html
Hundreds of messages have been posted on Time’s electronic bulletin board, either condemning Time for allowing Hitler to be part of the contest — or arguing that, for better or worse, Hitler has most influenced the century.
“I suppose you can put whatever you want on the cover of your magazine. Honoring a criminal and mass murderer who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million civilian Jews and thousands of young American, French and British soldiers will certainly reduce your readership and greatly insult those of us who try to lead decent lives,” one person wrote.
Another responded: “I studied the Holocaust for well over a year in depth in the States and in Europe. My uncle survived Dachau… That being said, Hitler is the Man of the Century hands down, no one even close. The criteria is an influence on events.
“Bad people are always being compared to Hitler, Nazis, etc. WWII…the rush to develop the bomb, the Holocaust, the end of the British empire as we knew it, the advance of warfare…philosophy, religion, ethics, politics, our understanding of the world, psychology, evil. You name it he influenced it.”
In another completely different vein, several messages have been posted to the bulletin board wondering about other potential candidates.
“I would submit that Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, might qualify. His leadership qualities, as well as his holiness and prophetic abilities make him a candidate well above the names I see on the online list,” one person wrote.
“He has done more than anyone in the last 50 years to revive the Jewish people (especially after the Holocaust) worldwide and awaken them to their traditions and culture.”
Separate from the poll, the top-100 list that Time has already compiled includes the late Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, psychiatrist Sigmund Freud, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, singer Bob Dylan, artist Picasso, cartoonist Walt Disney, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, cosmetics giant Estee Lauder.and gay activist Harvey Milk.
Milk, a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, was one of the first openly gay men elected to public office in the United States. He was murdered, along with Mayor George Moscone, at city hall in 1978.