Time names Elon Musk as person of the year 2021
Time magazine has awarded its person of the year 2021 award to tech billionaire Elon Musk. However, this decision has been met with criticism because of Musk’s controversial attitude towards tax, anti-union stance and playing down the impact of COVID-19.
The magazine justifies their decision by labelling Musk as a ‘clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman’. Additionally, the magazine outlines Musk’s contribution in renewable and recyclable technology like his automobile company Tesla and space company SpaceX.
The criticism is sharp especially in America because of the growing demand to tax the super rich, who have been using legal, but dubious, loopholes to pay less tax irrespective of their income. According to an investigation carried out by ProRepublica, between 2014 and 2018, Musk paid only 3.27% as ‘real’ tax.
The magazine has been naming a person of the year since 1927. And while one might want to criticize the magazine for not naming ‘a more deserving person’, the title is not an honor but rather just a designation, which according to the magazine, has ‘influenced the news, for better or worse’. And within that metric, Musk has certainly been in/ influenced the news ‘ for better or worse’ whether you like it or not !
