On December 13, local time, the US "Time Magazine" announced the 2021 annual person: Tesla CEO and the world's richest man Elon Musk.
Source: Time Magazine
Time magazine said of him in its Person of the Year review:
This is the man who aspires to save our planet and get us a new one to inhabit: clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman, cad; a madcap hybrid of Thomas Edison, P.T. Barnum, Andrew Carnegie and Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan, the brooding, blue-skinned man-god who invents electric cars and moves to Mars.
A clown, genius, leader, wise man, industrialist, performer, scoundrel who aspires to save the planet and give humanity a new home; a hybrid of Edison, Barnum (the father of modern pry), Carnegie, and Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen (the gloomy blue god who invented the electric car and went to Mars).
Image source: Getty Image
In an interview with NBC, the editor-in-chief of Time magazine explained why Musk was elected: He is reshaping life on Earth and possibly life off Earth, as well.
Musk tweeted his thanks and celebration after being elected, but such a selection result caused great controversy on social media.
The Guardian criticized it as Time magazine's "worst choice ever."
Image source: Screenshot of the Guardian report
NBC also bluntly stated, "He doesn't deserve it."
Image source: Screenshot of the NBC report
Time magazine has publicly stated that the criteria for selecting the person of the year are "the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill", but the media and netizens did not buy it, believing that Musk's attitude on taxes and the epidemic was too controversial.
The actual tax rate is only 3.27%
On June 8, proPublica, a well-known news website in the United States, exposed confidential documents from the INTERNAL Tax Service, the world's richest man with a net worth of $300 billion, Musk, whose actual tax rate was only 3.27%, which was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
Because based on the median annual income of U.S. households in recent years of $70,000, the federal tax rate is 14 percent. And Musk's tax rate is not even a fraction of the tax rate of ordinary American households...
Musk, along with other prominent super-wealthy people, paid only small tax rates relative to the significant increase in his total wealth between 2014 and 2018 according to a Propublica investigation this year, with Musk paying a "real" rate of 3.27%.
According to the Guardian, he not only avoided taxes without a lower limit, but also tweeted and publicly opposed the US government's "billionaire income tax" proposal.
It is calculated that if the levy starts, Musk will pay up to $50 billion in taxes in the first five years.
One of the reasons he objected was, "I plan to use this money [$50 billion] to get humans to Mars and preserve the light of cognition." ”
Musk tweeted screenshots
Musk said the "rich man tax" is only a drop in the bucket for repaying U.S. Treasuries, "spending is the real problem, even if the super-rich are levied a '100%' tax, the government needs to seek help from the 'general public' to make up for the gap." This is basic math. ”
These arrogant words and deeds have aroused the dissatisfaction of many politicians.
In response to Time magazine's choice of person of the year, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said: "Hurry up and reform this manipulative tax system to ensure that the person of the year can really pay taxes and not take advantage of others all the time." ”
Downplay the dangers of COVID-19
In addition, Musk questioned the effect of vaccines in the early days of the outbreak, arguing that the government should not force people to vaccinate, and his own Tesla factory did not strictly prevent the epidemic.
Musk also earned controversy in 2020 by playing down the dangers of COVID in a series of tweets and initially kept his northern California factory open despite a local "shelter-in-place" order, before later halting production.
In 2020, Musk also drew controversy over downplaying the dangers of the coronavirus in a series of tweets, and he also defied local "in-place evacuation" instructions to keep his factory in northern California operating, before later stopping production.
At a time when the world is fighting the epidemic, Musk is busy developing his own "space program".
NBC also criticized Time Magazine's reasons for the selection:
The magazine says Musk deserves its top honor because of his bold vision for the future. But is it the future we need?
That magazine said Musk deserved the title because he boldly envisioned the future. But is that the future that everybody wants?
The entrepreneur claims that his ambition is to make humans a "multiplanetary" species to "preserve the light of consciousness" by making humanity a "multiplanetary" species. But NBC questions whether this is a task he has imposed on the public, an ideal future at a time when the entire world is trapped by the pandemic.
NBC said that last year was US President Biden and Vice President Harris, this year the world's richest man, in the severe situation of the epidemic, Time Magazine ignored the real hero: the health care workers who guard people's lives and health.
After another year of pandemic mitigation measures, vaccine rollouts and health care inequities, Time magazine announced its Person of the Year for 2021. Last year’s selection of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris was, arguably, a snub of the health care workers who have spent the last two years protecting the US — and the world — from COVID 19. But instead of remedying that oversight this year, Time decided to make it much, much worse by selecting the richest man in the world for its 2021 honor: Elon Musk.
After another year of epidemic prevention, vaccinations and uneven medical resources, Time magazine announced this year's Person of the Year. The elections of Biden and Harris last year were a snub for the health care workers who have protected the United States and the world over the past two years. However, this year not only did not make up for this oversight, they also went a step further, selecting the world's richest man Musk to receive this honor in 2021.
Editor: Jiao Jie Chen Yuehua
Intern: Ye Zhen
Source: Time Magazine The Guardian NBC et al