The Person of the Year Essay_ 2nd Draft

           Since 1927, Time magazine has selected a person with the biggest influence as "Person of the Year." In December of 2010, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook and the world's youngest billionaire, was selected as “the Person of the Year,” winning over the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, who rated top place on the online survey. If one only considers "positive events" for choosing the Person of the Year, the choice may be credible. However, the award does not treat the "influence" only in this way, seeing that even Hitler and Stalin are among its recipients. Considering threatening, controversial, and urgent topics that have been more critical in 2010, Kim family of North Korea should be 2010 the Person of the Year.

           The Kim family, the royal family of North Korea, was in the midst of international issues in 2010. To begin with, there was the second secession of power, first from Kim Il-sung to Kim Jong-Il in 1994, and then now from Kim Jong-Il to Kim Jong-Un. In communist countries, leaders command great power, and those who protest against government are likely be secretly “erased” from the community. However, even in other authoritarian countries, such incidence of turning one’s authority over to one’s family member rarely occurs, and certainly not in so-called communist countries. Surprisingly, North Korea has successfully done so without civilian protest, and will do so again very soon with Kim Jong-un. Songs of praise and spectacular stories of heroism about him have already been written, and his idolization is virtually complete. Although people from other countries would consider those stories untrustworthy and even hilarious, indoctrinated North Koreans believe it.

           Media of the North Korea is extremely narrow and is highly manipulated by authority. Ordinary people cannot have access to "information." Even if they do face some information, it is filtered by the government. In addition, the education is made to brainwash the people. Consequently, ignorant North Koreans believe whatever the government tells them, including ridiculous stories for idolization.

           Accordingly, there were two military incidents which occurred in 2010 which further underling the Kim’s influence in Asia: the attack against the South Korean Ship, the Cheonan, on March 26^th, and the civilian bombardment of Yeonpyeong on November 23^rd.

           At first thought to be ship wrecked, the Cheonan incident, which saw 40 Korean navy perish with 6 others missing, was later revealed to be the result of an attack from a North Korean submarine. This was concluded by an independent international investigation and raised further international concern over North Korea’s constant and unpredictable provocation. The incident, nevertheless, seem to face its end, all in an effort to preserve peace on the peninsula.

           On November 23, however, another incident occurred: North Korea attacked South Korea even more directly when Yeonpyeong Island, a rural area of Inchon populated with civilians, was bombarded. North Korea shot a total of 170 shells. In response, the South Korean government proclaimed “Jindotgae one”, a top level warning, and returned fire with 80 shells. Due to North Korea’s actions, nine South Koreans, including seven soildiers and two civilians, were sacrificed as the outcome of this bombardment. Aside from China, who remained distant from taking a position, the international society was alarmed and immediately blamed North Korea’s provocation.  Ban Ki moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said he condemned North Korea's artillery attack, calling it “One of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War,' and he called for immediate restraint and insisted 'any differences should be resolved by peaceful means and dialogue.”

           On top of these provocations outside of North Korea, the Kim family also enlarged the gap between the rich, high-ranking officers who show loyalty, and the poor, ordinary citizens who are kept ignorant of their plight. To a level beyond imagination, North Koreans literally die of hunger, forced to collect bark off trees, grass roots, and even clovers in order to eat at least something. Even more horrific, there is news suggesting the appearance of cannibalism. This is not a story from the 1960’s or even the 1990’s; it is news reported last year, in 2010. Continuous military spending has depleted capital and resources. Although the upper classes continue their luxurious lives by monopolizing everything, civilians struggle for basic survival.

(Wealthy Class of North Korea)

(Poor class of North Korea- a female

24 years old, answering that she grup

up clovers to eat)

           Mark Zuckerberg was chosen to be 2010 the Person of the Year due to his contributions to development of communication. He was chosen for his good deeds. However, Facebook, in reality, gets more from its users than users get from Facebook. First, there is no privacy in Facebook. Everything one puts on his page is exposed to everyone. Anyone who wants to get the information about a person simply has to search it on Google Users sometimes want to reveal their information to a limited degree, but Facebook does not offer it. The only thing it gives one as choice is to expose one’s status to everyone in the world.

(A world map that an intern in Facebook, Paul Butler

made through connecting Facebook users' mutual interchange)

           Moreover, if you have noticed, Facebook has a system that sends “invitation letters” to someone you possibly know, without asking you. People who are on your MSN list or someone that your friend knows receives the letters from “you”. As a result, a person can have someone who one does not want on his or her friend list, allowing them to see your private information. How considerate Facebook is!

           Also, after Facebook realized the power of holding private or personal information, it started using its power to earn some capital. Most notably, it joined with Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft and exchanged personal information with money. Yet, there is one more thing, the wickedest thing: the “I Like” button. By simply clicking the button, a person is giving out all the preference information to companies. Facebook collects all those information and add it up to make the list of private information. In the end, they sell the private information. This contradicts the logic behind choosing Mark Zuckerberg as the Person of the Year. He does more harm than good.

           To sum up, the Kim family from North Korea should earn 2010 the Person of the Year over Mark Zuckerberg. They caused many incidents significant enough for them to be nominated, although the reasons may be negative. Even if it might be true that Zuckerberg had some impact, a company crazy about profit is not as significant. A doubtful choice should not be made. Only clear and coherent selections should take place.