This past Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher had on Alan Brinkley, author of The Publisher, a book chronicling the life of Time Inc.’s founder, Henry Luce. Part of Maher’s conversation with Brinkley focused on how the current issue of Time’s 100 Most Influential People is a testament to the decaying state of the magazine business.
Maher rattled off some names from the list, suggesting that Time might have a few problems with their definition of influential, questioning the inclusion of some soccer player (Drogba) he’s never heard of, while elevating others such as Tea Party sympathizer Sarah Palin to the level of influential. For someone who prides himself on being so well-informed and progressive, I do take umbrage, not so much with Maher’s ignorance about who Drogba is, but more so with the uninformed and uncritical elevation of Sarah Palin’s influence in comparison to the influence of someone like Drogba. Here’s Maher’s take:
As a kid, my father took [Time Magazine] to work every day; He used to read it on the subway. It was in our home. This to me, [this issue of Time] is embarrassing. I mean Lady Gaga, you know, because people are going to start wearing bullets on their tits? I mean some of these people, Sandra Bullock is one of the most influential because no one’s going to marry a biker with tattoos? Some soccer player I never heard of … Prince, Elton John, Taylor Swift. This is Barbara Walters’ list of ten most interesting people. To think that this is synonymous with influential …
And I don’t argue with everybody. Sarah Palin, I don’t like her, but yes, she’s influential. She said death panel and that influenced the health care debate. Glenn Beck is influential.
According to Maher, Sarah Palin is influential because she has an audience, regardless of whether what comes out of her mouth is well informed or not. By the same logic, Drogba is also at least equally influential given the size of his global captive audience. Drogba might not be influencing health care debates, but I wouldn’t doubt that he could as a figurehead of a movement based on his stature alone in certain regions. Palin’s ‘death panel’ talk sadly made its way into our national debate, but I don’t see Palin stopping any civil unrest anytime soon the way Drogba and his teammates did, at least temporarily, in Cotê d’Ivoire. She may be closer to causing unrest.
This debate comes down to how you define influential. Influence can be more than developing or commenting on policy. It can also be about who has an audience and what one responsibly does with that audience. There are a handful of soccer players capable of reaching far beyond the bounds of Tea Party rallies and partisan talk shows. So Bill, a few words of advice — New Rule: Don’t underestimate the power of soccer, especially if Sarah Palin is your example of influential.
