US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have been named Time magazine's 2020 "Person of the Year" for their election victory over Donald Trump.
"For changing the American story, for showing that the forces of empathy are greater than the furies of division, for sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world," Time said, explaining its choice.
The Democratic pair were chosen ahead of three other finalists: frontline health care workers and Anthony Fauci, the racial justice movement and President Trump. Time's magazine cover boasts portraits of Biden, 78, and Harris, 56, with the subtitle "Changing America's story."
2020 has been the year of the coronavirus pandemic - with millions of frontline workers working tirelessly around the clock to defeat the virus and save lives. Hence, it wouldn't have been a surprise if healthworkers had been named 'Person of the Year'.
As one Twitter user pointed out, Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci who helped develop the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine would have been better candidates for the honour. Instead, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were chosen -- for defeating Trump, a decision that didn't quite sit well with Twitterati.
TIME magazine's highly coveted honour is usually conferred on those who have who most impacted the news, for better or worse, during the calendar year. For many internet users, this title should have gone to healthcare workers who have not only fought on the frontline but have also been in the news the most this year.
It should’ve been all the healthcare workers but whatever https://t.co/wvFLTtqlvE
— Lex (@lex__v) December 11, 2020
My persons of the year. 👇 https://t.co/FPEKxYSCyF pic.twitter.com/kkYjF1rxjf
— 🇹🇷 Umut Acar (@AcarUmut) December 11, 2020
It really should have been frontline workers.... this is a disrespectful call to all the frontline workers who have kept our country moving and sacrificed so much this year. https://t.co/VNVzTiqsb2
— Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) December 11, 2020
Time ‘Person’ of the year or any Person of this Year should be undoubtedly without a second thought a HEALTHCARE WORKER. https://t.co/FBynfIitNQ
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) December 11, 2020
The real person of the year should be the anonymous healthcare workers around the world, in the frontlines of the battle against Covid. https://t.co/KMrzqFLBjB
— Indrani Bagchi (@horror06) December 12, 2020
**Historic pandemic in which millions of doctors & healthcare staff put their lives and families on the line to fight a virus, giving the world a brave template on how to fight a virus.**Time Magazine: “Meh, these guys beat Trump.” https://t.co/7SjtpjqMdW
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) December 12, 2020
There are literal dead people that would've been better choices than two people who have yet to actually -do- anything meaningful beyond reap the benefits of the millions of folks who mobilized to get them elected, some of them spurred by the murder of some of those dead people https://t.co/TiL4Gm4qge
— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) December 12, 2020
This is seriously so tone deaf. A year of heroic efforts by frontline workers and scientists and so many others, taking a huge toll physically and emotionally, and they're passed for this. https://t.co/UCnzETAXg8
— Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) December 11, 2020
Biden beat Trump by 306 electoral college votes to Trump's 232 to end the real estate tycoon-turned-politician's presidency after one term. Biden received roughly seven million more votes than his Republican adversary, who is yet to concede, claiming widespread fraud of which there is no evidence.
Time praised the Democratic ticket for ousting an incumbent president for the just the 10th time in US history. "Biden and Harris had to revive the party's fading strength with white voters without college degrees; energize its emerging base of diverse, urban young voters; and motivate the hordes of angry suburbanites, particularly college graduates and women, who had fled the Trump-era GOP," it wrote.