Time magazine has named international “Ebola Fighters” as their 2014 Person of the Year, recognizing their “tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving.” The health care workers who fought the Ebola outbreak in West Africa were among eight somewhat controversial finalists chosen by the magazine for the title.
Along with collective groups like the members of the Ferguson protest movement and the international Ebola caregivers, the list primarily consisted of business and political leaders—some of whom are pretty polarizing: Russian President Vladimir Putin (noted for, among other things, his role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and overseeing the controversial Sochi Olympics in 2014), Apple CEO Tim Cook, President of the Iraqi Kurdish Region Masoud Barzani (“who has deftly threaded the region’s push for independence with the ongoing fight against [ISIS]”), NFL Commissioner Rodger Goodell (who has come under fire for his handling of domestic abuse by players), CEO of Chinese commerce site Alibaba, Jack Ma and Taylor Swift (for pulling her music from Spotify) …
