Time Magazine has a history of laughable choices for its ‘Person of the Year’ gimmick. In 1988, it was “the Endangered Earth.” In 2002, it was “the Whistleblowers.” And in 2006, it was “You.” Be sure to remember to put that on your resume the next time you apply for a job. This year’s choice might be the silliest yet: the protester. In 2009 and 2010, when the Tea Party was fighting one of the most media-beloved politicians ever and building to one of the biggest congressional landslides in American history, Time had no interest in protest movements.
But now that there are liberal protesters defiling our public parks and forcing cities to waste millions in police overtime, Time can’t get enough of protesting. True, Time’s accompanying article does mention other protest movements around the world (including Tunisia, Syria, Egypt and Russia).
But any comparison between those protesters, who risk their lives fighting truly authoritarian regimes, with the pampered, aimless children of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is morally blind.
For their cover, Time turned to Shepard Fairey, the graphic designer behind the iconic Obama “Hope” posters. On Time’s website, Fairey says he based the cover image on “a composite of 26 different photographs of real protests from around the world.”
But on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times identified the woman on the cover as “Sarah Mason, a Highland Park resident and an active member of Occupy LA.”
Comparing the Fairey image with Los Angeles photographer Ted Soqui’s photograph of Mason before she was arrested outside of the Bank of America building in downtown L.A. leaves no doubt: it’s her.
So who is Mason, and why was she camping outside of City Hall last month?
“Why would I miss this opportunity to directly damage the people who are taking advantage of those of us in society who don’t have access to financial capital? Why would I miss this beautiful opportunity to say, ‘no, you don’t get your money back?” Mason recently told 360 Magazine.
Turns out Mason is a former Northern Arizona University student who moved to Los Angeles and works in a Santa Monica Art Gallery. While she is diligently paying off her student loan debt, she has stopped paying her credit card bills all together.
“I still have debt and I’m not paying it back because I feel like at this point, I have an obligation to try and disrupt and upset the financial industry,” Mason told 360.
And how did Mason rack up all this debt she now feels she has a moral obligation not to pay?
“I got a credit card because I had no money and I needed a credit card to buy things that were essential to my life during this time. I had already spent all this money on clothes, make-up, accessories, and I got the credit card because I needed to pay my electric bill,” she said.
And why did Mason buy all those clothes, make-up, accessories?
“Most of it was feeling inadequate and insecure and feeling pressure to look a certain way. What I also think is it was that you’re just surrounded by these messages telling you to buy, buy, buy, consume, consume, consume,” she said.
So Mason admits she got into debt spending money she didn’t have on items she didn’t need. She believes she has not only the right, but the obligation, not to repay her creditors because society forced her to “consume, consume, consume.”
Mason is the perfect poster child for the Occupy movement.
Conn Carroll is a senior editorial writer for The Washington Examiner. He can be reached at [email protected].
