Under the Influence

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6358737.post-41874311572477055562007-05-08T05:10:00.000-07:002007-10-17T19:46:22.730-07:002007-10-17T19:46:22.730-07:00Under the Influence<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_3KXMED3zhJw/RkA5BumlwHI/AAAAAAAAAHU/WOlKLjDR7Kw/s1600-h/time100landingimage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_3KXMED3zhJw/RkA5BumlwHI/AAAAAAAAAHU/WOlKLjDR7Kw/s200/time100landingimage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062108683016978546" border="0" /></a>TIME Magazine has published its annual list of the world's <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/0,28757,1595326,00.html">100 most influential people</a>, or what its editors hail as 'the 100 men and women whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world'. Meanwhile TIME's website conducted a <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1612457,00.html">simultaneous poll</a>, encouraging hundreds of thousands of readers to submit their own rankings online. The results? <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_3KXMED3zhJw/RkA5QumlwII/AAAAAAAAAHc/0SeC5qKCc0U/s1600-h/rain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_3KXMED3zhJw/RkA5QumlwII/AAAAAAAAAHc/0SeC5qKCc0U/s200/rain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062108940715016322" border="0" /></a> Meet <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1609889,00.html">Rain</a>, the most influential person on the planet: I wonder, did I miss something? When did South Korean pop music take the world by storm? When did its global influence surpass that of <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1610333,00.html">Nelson Mandela</a> (#24), <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1609843,00.html">Bill Gates</a> (#35), <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1610269,00.html">Ban Ki-Moon</a>(#51) and others? Should I have been paying more attention? Two weeks ago, while polling was still open, I admit I spent some time perusing the list for Arab names, hoping at least one of 'our kind' had cracked the top 100. No one had. The closest contender at #134 was Osama bin Laden, <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1609754,00.html">read it and weep</a>. I recall at the time I was furious that this myth of a man -- a man propelled to fame in many ways by the Bush Administration -- could be the perceived as the most 'influential' Arab of our time. Sure Gamal Abdel Nasser and Edward Said are long gone. But who's replaced them? Where's our next great revolutionary, our next great scholar? Is there no other man or woman among us 'whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world'? The answer would come when TIME announced its online poll results on Friday, and a dark horse appeared out of nowhere. <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1610319,00.html">Amr Khaled</a> not only surpassed O.B.L., but he ranked within the top 20 on the list. So in the end the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/30/magazine/30televangelist.html?ex=1304049600&en=4c56a0ffa67fa4ca&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">televangelist</a> has more influence than the terrorist. Good to know I suppose, but forgive me if I'm not quite relieved. No disrespect to Amr Khaled, but I'd rather be listening to Rain.Hanaanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08297600679901972093noreply@blogger.com