Current affairs

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris get a prestigious honor: How they achieved this global feat?

By alagu, 12 December, 2020
TIME, United States, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Donald Trump

As we are nearing to close the year of 2020 with facing unprecedented struggles and incessant daunting in the wake of the global pandemic and deep economical distress, there have been some hopes and inspirations that the year had left for us at the end to look up to when we ought to get pushed into more troubles and challenges in future. 

Beyond the invisible enemy, racism, greater political divides, rhetorics, supremacies, and cynicisms were adversaries that unprecedently occupied throughout the year. We are days ahead to bid farewell to the unwelcoming year and the globally reputed 'TIME' magazine has now traveled across the globe and picked the faces to look up for amid the interminable struggles.

TIME has honored them at the right time when the world is steering for the antidotes. The prestigious magazine has named US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as its '2020 Person of the Year' for changing the American story and showing that the forces of empathy are greater that the furies of division and sharing a vision of healing in a grieving world. 
 
It's has been a global honor for both Biden and Harris as they won the race of the award amid four finalists- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, frontline health care workers, the movement of Racial Justice, and of course US President Donald Trump. 

The magazine has said if Donald Trump was a force for disruption and division for the past four years, Biden and Harris show where the nation is heading- a blend of ethnicities, lived experiences, and worldviews that must find a way forward together if the American experiment is to survive. The TIME had also honored Antony Fauci, the frontline health workers, and racial justice organizers by conferring them with the title of '2020 Guardians of the Year' for putting themselves in defending the ideals sacred to democracy. 

After a global honor of being a 'Person of the Year', Joe Biden took to Twitter and said, "I’m honored to be Person of the Year with @KamalaHarris and grateful to be on this list with so many extraordinary folks. From front line workers to racial justice organizers, Americans met this year with strength, fortitude, and an unflinching belief in a brighter tomorrow." 

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris took to Twitter and said, "Honored to be named @TIME’s Person of the Year with President-elect @JoeBiden. We’re at a moment where we’re being confronted by multiple crises that have converged. We have a lot we need to handle in the days ahead but I know together we can get it done." As his company had helped people settling up for a new 'online' normal, Eric Yuan, who is the Chief Executive of video conferencing platform Zoom has been named as TIME's Businessperson of the year. 

TIME has said that Biden calls himself a bridge to a new generation of leaders, a role he embraced in choosing Kamala Harris, the first woman on a winning presidential ticket and daughter of a Jamaican Father and an Indian mother. TIME has noted that the US Vice President has never before been a woman or Black, or Asian American. In an interview with TIME, Kamala Harris said that she will be the first, but she will not be the last. 

TIME has said, Biden and Harris together had offered restoration and renewal in a single ticket and America bought what they were selling, after the highest turnout in a century, they racked up 81 million votes and counting, the most in presidential history, topping Trump by some 7 million votes and flipping five battleground states. The Guardians had fought on many fronts and while fighting COVID-19, the health care workers displayed the best of humanity selflessness, compassion, stamina, and courage while protecting as much of it as they could.

Along with naming the Person and Guardians of the year, Time Magazine had named the Korean pop group BTS as its Entertainer of the Year while basketball star LeBron James has been picked as the Athlete of the Year. Fauci has been chosen as the Guardian of the Year as he had not only led the battle against COVID-19 but also the fight for truth clear, consistent messaging being fundamental to public health. 

In 2019, TIME has named climate activist Greta Thunberg as the Person of the Year and she is the youngest person ever named for the honor and now the magazine has chosen 78-year-old Biden as the Person of the Year and Biden has become one of the oldest persons selected for the honor. According to the magazine, the Person of the Year will be an individual majorly but multiple people have been named in the past. The title would be signifying the person who had affected the news or the lives the most, for better, or worse. TIME Editor-in-Chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal credited the victors with succeeding in "an existential debate over what reality we inhabit". 

 

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