h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Rudolph Giuliani, who is in the final days of his eight years as mayor of the United States' largest city, is Time Magazine's 76th Person of the Year.

"The person who most affected the news or our lives, for good or for ill, this year," said Time founder Henry Luce when he instituted in 1925 what has now become a national talking point each year.

As for bin Laden, the Saudi-born dissident accused by the United States of planning the September 11 attacks that killed more than 3000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, Time said he "is too small a man to get the credit for all that has happened in America in the autumn of 2001."

"He's a moral pipsqueak," Time managing editor Jim Kelly said. Kelly, valiantly (and unsuccessfully) trying to cover his backside went on to say that Time, which along with other publications has seen declining advertising revenues, was not concerned about a backlash against the weekly news magazine if it had chosen bin Laden.

Yeah right.

It's the same backwards logic that can accuse suicide bombers of 'cowardice' - as if bravery were the exclusive preserve of the 'good guys'...

I think the trick is in believing that you're the good guy.

For we are all of us honorable men...

on which note: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/F41913?thread=140795 presumably, creating an anonymous new account, posting something, and running away, might count as cowardice too? :-(

Who do you think that was? Little weird for somebody who's already basically anonymous on this site to create another, even more anonymous account and post an angry comment... then run away. It's as if they didn't want to hear the reply, because it might be reasonable, and help them to understand your comment better! (And it was a good reply - I just hope that Mr. Anonymous read it.)