Photo: Swimmer Léon Marchand, cheered by the crowd, at the Parc des Champions during the 2024 Summer Olympics. Photographer, Sebleouf.
The magazine known as TIME was, once upon a time, worthy of respect. But last month, they may have lost hold of whatever respect their sweaty little journalistic hands were still hanging on to, when they published their 2025 selection of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.”
I won’t even mention that I was not listed among those 100 Influential People.
Well, actually, I did just mention it, but the whole thing gets even worse.
Demi Moore.
Ms. Moore is a fine actor, and bless her heart for appearing pregnant and naked on the cover of Vanity Fair in August 1991. Not something I would have done. And admittedly, she did demand, and get, financial parity with the male actors when she acted in Striptease and GI Jane, which was a victory for her, and for women in general.
But really… of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, did Demi Moore’s 2025 photograph really belong on Page One? At the top of the list?
She wasn’t even naked. Or pregnant.
Claudia Sheinbaum
I have nothing but respect for Claudia Sheinbaum, the new President of Mexico.
But did she deserve to appear on the same page as Snoop Dogg?
Léon Marchand
Young Mr. Marchand won four gold medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Apparently, winning four gold medals in a swimming competition now puts you into the same category as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Keir Starmer, Lee Jae-myung, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Blake Lively
Are they kidding? Blake Lively?
The map
TIME supplied a map showing where each of the 100 Most Influential People were born.
Three (3) of them were born in China. (Four, if you count Taiwan as part of China, but we will avoid that debate for the time being.)
One (1) of them was born in India.
Fifty-four (54) of them — over half the World’s Most Influential People — were born in the United States.
I mean, the U.S. is a great place, and we certainly have our share of Influential People. But, really, folks. TIME could find only one Influential Person among the 1.46 billion people in India?
Maybe India needs a better swim team.
Reportedly, the selection process was overseen by Dan Macsai and Cate Matthews, who led the magazine’s journalists “through a year of debate and discovery, speaking with sources and partners around the globe…”
“The stories this project tells change with the headlines, so every May, our research starts anew. The one constant we see each year is that a single person’s hard work, idea, or decision can change the world,” Matthews said.
We can all admit that the decision to appear naked and pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine took guts. It’s a difficult decision, even if you’re not pregnant. But pregnant is definitely better. In 1991, many of us had never seen a pregnant woman, naked. It was definitely “influential” in the sense that it influenced me to buy a copy of the magazine.
As far as I can tell, none of the other 99 Influential People in the 2025 TIME list has dared to do the same.
But that was, like, 34 years ago. How long does a person remain influential, after posing for a photograph? I guess, once you change the world, it’s changed forever?
I was just joking about seeing my own name on the list this year. Ha ha. I never expected to be picked by the TIME journalists. I bet a lot of them have never even read my columns. And truth be told, I would not even want to appear in the same list as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Or Blake Lively.
Now, appearing in the same list as Snoop Dogg? Hell yes!
But obviously, this is a balancing act.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.