If Burger King’s new ad features ” Whopper virgins” who are only found in the middle of the rainforest, well that pretty much tells you we’ve all had a greased up fatty burger, pizza, chicken combo sometime or another. Thus according to Adbusters we are all POTY. Although I’ll have to add that no not just Americans, not just the rich, and definetly not just the “he’s” in the world. Anyway what is anyone gonna do about it? Nothing but whine and point fingers. Adbusters points at us, we point back, we both point at big company owners, and the whole world points at Mr. Bush. I’d say POTY represent some one with qualities we can look up to, and if being rich enough to even be a “consumer” who can afford decent living space, transportation, food, and entertainment(which includes magazine subcriptions for Adbusters) accounts for person of the year, well- Heck yes I’d be willing to bet anyone on this good ol’ earth would be willing to sign up for that. Usually POTY is some guy who earns big bucks. Read that again, EARNS big bucks. I earn bucks too, not so big in comparison, but hey some citizen to a country labled third world would consider my(and your) pay check big bucks. This article provokes thought, judgement, and reason. Might not be thoughts you like, and it may be judgment of yourself or your neighbor, but just reason it out thats all anyone can ask of you. Freedom of expression okay?Theres no physical harm done here ha. I’ll admit even if I took this article in with a grain of salt, I give it a smirk in return because i see it got to people, stirred some reaction. Any response if your hating or loving this article this magazine these writers, these comments is appreciated in my opinion. The big picture is- love or hate its a passion youre putting thought into, so right!.. keep your mind, your imagination, your voice strong. Thats right no matter what you believe in. ( forgive if this is coming off preachy, thats usually not my thing:)

is it bad to like hamburgers now? geez!

Being a recent subscriber to Adbusters, I wouldn’t want to, for a second, imply that it requires a voice of reason, or for another second, imply that I am that voice of reason, however, having read the Person of the Year piece, I feel compelled to comment that in a world in which the economy is the mess that it is—with so many people being affected by job loss—if they haven’t already been in some sort of financial calamity, a world that seems to create an environment in which only the very rich and the very poor seem to be thought of, where only seniors and very young people, say the youth, seem to be considered priorities—not to imply that they aren’t important— while the rest of us suffer and have to make way for them despite efforts made to move forward, progress or make a difference in a way that sustains a quality of life that will enable us to actually be more helpful and less of a burden to society as a whole; a world in which people are applauded and praised for lying, cheating, stealing, pilfering things that aren’t theirs to pilfer, invading privacy, disregarding those of us who are capable, competent, able and consider ourselves individuals who respect our freedom to write, speak, be opinionated; in other words, a world that is filled with fakes, actors or actresses, or wannabe actors or actresses, pretentious people who flaunt their wealth one minute, while turning around and pretending to care about people the next, and I’m not only referring to the world’s wealthiest or semi-wealthiest people, and I’m not referring to every actor or actress, or every person. I’m referring to all those people who are that way and pretend they aren’t. They could even, for all I know, be among the Adbusters’ subscribers, or they could work at one of many non-profit organizations.

Let’s face it, how is someone like Bill Clinton—with all the wealth that he has, or someone like Bill Gates, with all his wealth, any different from the Person of the Year, in some respects? Isn’t the Person of the Year just a disguise to hide behind, anyway? Isn’t it just an excuse for the real problem which I’ve described in this comment—that being the fact that, let’s be honest, we all want money and we all need money to survive and we all probably want to make money doing something we enjoy doing, so isn’t there a little envy of the Person of the Year? I’m not going to lie—I am that Person—sometimes, though not in every respect. I’ve eaten hamburgers, I’ve taken a bath when I could have taken a short shower. I’m sure that Michael Moore is probably that Person of the Year, or Bill Gates, or even Barack Obama—at least sometimes.

Why would Barack Obama, given his rhetoric and eloquent speeches about America needing change, move his family to the White House, essentially, a mansion that could house several homeless people during the winter who need a home? Why would Bill Clinton live in a mansion and then, go and preach diplomacy in his treks around the world? Isn’t it, in part, because they are rich and they can afford to do that and also, in part, because they feel a certain sense of responsibility because the media would make a complete mockery of such people if they didn’t do that with all the wealth they have, and in part, because they feel guilty and in part, because if they didn’t do that, they would be paying an exhorbitant amount of taxes on the money they make—if they didn’t make an effort to be philanthropic? Same with Bill Gates. He makes a lot of money. He gave $30,000,000, according to an interview he did on CNN, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—his own charity. I’m not saying that these people don’t care—I’m sure they do, as we all surely must. If we or they didn’t care on some level, we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves human, but I am so sick of the dishonesty and the we and they mentality, though we are always one or the other side of that at some point. And I don’t think that there should be a one world because that would be like saying that a monopoly is the answer to the world’s problems—where, then, would the individual spirit be?

Maybe I’ll be hated, despised, loathed for writing this. The truth is, I can’t afford to care. I’m not Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, or Mother Teresa. If I’m hated or despised, rejected or loathed for my opinion, that’s like slapping freedom of speech and expression in the face. And that would be like a slap in the face of humanity, honesty and truth.

It’s just that, to me, I can empathize with the Person of the Year, just as I can empathize with Bill Clinton or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. I mean, who hasn’t contradicted themselves at one time or another? Who hasn’t wanted to be wealthy at one time or another? We live in a society that is based on wealth. If it weren’t based on wealth, why would we be advertising? Why would Adbusters be displaying its publication on newsstands? We all need and want money for a reason—whether that reason is to sustain ourselves, our interests, our voice, or whether it’s to use some of that money to help others, there is always a reason for that desire. And it’s not unusual to want to make money, somehow. And if such fundamentals of society change in some drastic way, it will likely exacerbate the existing problems that the world is facing. Too much change can and probably will throw society and all its people off-balance. Is another revolution really what the world needs right now? Hasn’t America and the world—distinguishing the two only for the purposes of this comment—been through plenty of changes as it is? Aren’t we all sick of all the changes—changes that have led to the economic meltdown, the housing crisis, the joblessness. These are changes that were a long-time coming and how can they say that they didn’t know it was coming—how can people who are paid to sit around and solve problems sit around and pretend that they are actually solving problems when they’re actually making things worse? How can they even justify the kind of money they make? How can they point fingers at people who are problem solvers and aren’t even paid to solve problems? How can they say that now is a good time to buy a house when only the very rich can possibly afford to buy a house at this time? How can they expect that people should have to volunteer to help those less fortunate when some of us don’t have the kind of money to sustain our own lives? How can they forget about those of us who are stuck in-between—we aren’t the wealthiest, the poorest or even the middle class. What about those of us who are stuck in that nebulous area that can’t be defined? Always looking for work, jumping from contract-to-contract, sometimes being a voice for others when we don’t necessarily want to be. Who speaks for us? Who vocalizes our needs, our desires, our goals, our ambitions, our wants?

I like what I’ve seen and read of Adbusters. I think it’s interesting, opinionated, a little revolutionary. I also think that there’s something to be said for the fact that it’s difficult for people to be honest because honesty is sometimes too real and in a world in which people are looked down upon if they aren’t Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King Jr., or some saint or wannabe saint, they aren’t exactly viewed in the best light or as shining examples. The people who do help people that are less fortunate are, let’s face it, helping them so that they can learn to be self-sufficient, independent and—make money so that they can do things that money—the great enabler—enables them and us, if they and us have enough of it—to do! Whether it’s to help ourselves, help those less fortunate, help the environment, help animals, help, help, help!

The truth is that I embrace that I like some capitalist principles. I like that society is based on money-making. I wish that I knew how I could make more money so that I could turn that into a better world for me and for others that I think could use it—without feeling like Big Brother or Big Sister was watching over me and in charge of what I do, or of my life. I also embrace that I like some socialist principles.

Either way, I’m putting myself forward as the Person of the Year—some of the time—though I don’t meet every qualification that is required in that position. And I’m proud of that because I would be a liar, along with the rest of them or us—on whatever side of the coin you want to look at, or on whatever coin or dollar bill you want to look at—if I didn’t admit to being that way. Some of the time. Here’s to the Person of the Year—the Person who might not always be consistent, the Person who is sometimes a contradiction, the Person who wants money and wants freedom, too. The Person who, I think, to be more realistic, if the Person doesn’t already have a lot of money, wants money and would probably also help people with it if the Person had it. Isn’t there a little of the Person of the Year in each of us?

I just have one final question about the Person of the Year—can I get paid for that position?! There are so many things I’d like to do with that money…! When can I start?? Yes, I realize those are two questions…And here’s a third—who said the Person of the Year is perfect?

Well people have said most of what I’d like to. I guess when the s hits the fan as it is now people what to come together to act…not to be divided and continue the fingerpointing and cajoling.
Those things have there place-to get peoples attention, but now that we’re all ears it’s destructive. Please turn your focus now - I still dig the site and I’ve been as much a non-consumer as one can be…but we need leaders not dissenters now.

Stop shooting the messenger!!! Without a doubt the rich one billion people on the planet who consume 80% of the goodies in the global marketplace (leaving a lousy 20% of the global pie to the rest of the five billion) are the greedy pigs of our planet and the root cause of the ecological and political crises we now find ourselves in … everyone with a footprint greater than five shut the fuck up!
— Kono Matsu

This has honestly got to be one of the finest examples of what is wrong with the whole environmental consumer movement in this country.

The assumption is that ‘we’ the smart people have become enlightened, and ‘they’ the other people do things like “spawn,” and “guzzle.” That the ‘other’ are less than human, even sub-human without any compassion or understanding.

Clearly the staff contributing to this article have clocked zero time in the world of marketing, economics, health care or really any other walk of life. To be frank this article sounds as if it should have been published in a college newspaper.

I hope the staff at adbusters takes careful note of the collective reaction to this angry juvenile rant and won’t insult us by giving us another article like this.

rofl!*
why do we sound so amusing when we are idealogically annoyed?

*at nimbus 2000,recycled articles,organic tofu and obscure indie music.

If I may offer my sentiments, the fact that so many people are bored and disgusted by this article speaks to the decimated attention spans of the modern West. We impatiently dismiss anything we’ve heard before, no matter how true or relevant it is.

I like the way the author added in personal tastes such as music (Mariah Carey) and food (hamburgers) which are utterly subjective to its ‘objective’ list of criteria.
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Obviously people who listen to crappy pop music or eat hamburgers could not possibly reach the high, earth-saving standards of Adbusters writers: who dine on organic tofu and listen only to obscure indie music.
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This article is a clear reflection on the hoplessly biased and arbitrary standards which adbusters places on people who don’t see the world EXACTLY as they do. It has very little to do with helping anyone or anything, as they might state. It has everything to do with being able to point fingers and claim the moral high ground: all the while never having to utilize the mental flexibility to so much as attempt to see the world from another’s point of view.
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A sad and pointless article this is, with no basis in reality. But it does indeed expose Adbusters as a group of people, similar to Bush-era republicans, who believe in their dogma so much that they are completely unwilling to work together to do something which might benefit us all. Even those of us who are so degenerate as to listen to *GASP* mariah carey.

Mr. de Montaigne (Really?), are you speaking to Adbusters, or the one who have made comments on this worthless article?