Recently on NPR, Bill Langworthy gave Time Magazine’s 2006 Person of the Year a quick review. Time says In 2006, the World Wide Web became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter.

Bill Langworthy sounds the “wah-wah” horn.

I was shocked when I saw Time’s person of the year cover. I was expecting a humanitarian or world leader but instead saw a computer and the word you. “Yes you”, it reassured, “you control the information age”. There were so many deserving people this year, so I was surprised, as well as humbled that the person of the year was … in fact … me.

Fortunately, I had prepared a brief acceptance speech because … you just never know.

Wow, I can honestly say I didn’t expect this. JFK, MLK, now me. And to think a year ago I was running Windows 98 with an infected harddrive and had three friends on my myspace (including Tom).

NPR has an amazing ability to seek out cultural experts that can pierce the radio space with uncanny authenticity. When Langworthy started dropping WWW and computer references, I cringed at my lameness alarm … but it never went off. He continues:

I could never have been P of the Y without a lot of help. I’d like to thank the Numa Numa guy, Ok-Go, Chad Vader and LonelyGirl15. I’d also like to thank everyone who downloaded my mash-up of Panic at the Disco vs. Lowden Waynewright III. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say a word about the other nominees. Al Gore, loved your movie. I watched it on a file sharing site then burned DVDs for all my friends. Kim-Jong-Il, I really thought you had me when you detonated that nuclear device, there’s always next year.

As you’ve read on my blog, my road to person of the year was not without a few bumps. I dropped almost 300 bucks on a Zune that was supposed to connect me to new music and friends. It might have if anyone else had actually bought one. I also lost my job when I spent three days camped out at a Best Buy chasing a PS3. But, as my fellow PotY Winston Churchill once said, “victory at all costs”.

Now, as I join the company of popes and presidents within the immortal cages of Wikipedia, I’m reminded that my work is far from done. There will always be witty IMs to compose. And 18 parody webisodes to produce. There will always be cameraphone pictures to Photoshop. And more Guitar Hero songs to unlock.

In conclusion, I want to thank you for making me your person of the year. Not only, because it is a great honor, but chiefly because it will look really cool on my facebook.com profile.

There have been a few commentators on NPR (Robert Holt, Andrei Codrescu) that have struck me in such a way that I sit in my car, in the driveway, until the story is over. Langworthy goes on my driveway moment list.

Parody aside, Bill Langworthy might hint at a very circular point. We, the cameraphoning, facebooking, not-Zuning public buy a Time magazine to tell us what’s going on in the world and Time magazine tells us that we are going on in the world. So when a recursive magazine publishes this feedback loop in your face, do you skip in the daises and rejoice that everything is lucid? No, I think you realize you bought a paper mirror.

Langworthy is the real deal. He wrote a retort that I could not although I feel like I said it. Thank god I found out about this Time magazine through him, otherwise I’d futility attempt to create a soapbox of equal truthiness.