No Time for Indians

Tim Giago claims "The 2008 Time 100: The World's Most Influential People" unfairly excludes Indians. The reality is more complex than that.

Time Magazine Snubs Indians AgainThere are the usual suspects of movie stars, rock singers and politicians on the list and I am sure they have exerted some influence on some people or activities in their lifetime. But again I ask, why no Native Americans? Could it be that the editors of Time magazine are, as the editors of other mainstream media, so ignorant of the Native Americans in their midst that in their minds they do not exist? To go from the predominant culture to non-existent in 500 years is truly amazing and frightening.

Every Native American can probably name 10 Indians that deserve to be on Time's list of most influential people. The problem is nobody asks them. Out of sight out of mind does not lead to a cohesive means of communications. White and black editors see who is around them in their own little world and Native Americans are not a part of their world.Comment:  Giago goes on to name Ernie Stevens Jr., John Echohawk, John Yellow Bird Steele, Wilma Mankiller, and Eloise Cobell as candidates for the list.

I wish there were more influential Natives. But I don't have a problem with Natives not being on the list. We're talking about the 100 most influential people in the world. Heads of state, of religion, of multinational corporations. Newsmakers and celebrities whom millions of people listen to and emulate. Does any Native person really compare to that?

Stevens or Cyrus?

Consider Ernie Stevens Jr. He's been a great leader for the Indian gaming industry, but how many people does this industry affect worldwide? Not that many. If he hadn't existed, would the industry be substantially different? I doubt it.

Or consider Elouise Cobell. She brought a great scandal--the lack of payments on trust fund accounts--to light. But so far there hasn't been a definitive court ruling requiring payment. And even if the US did pony up billions of dollars, how many people would it help? A few hundred thousand? That's less than 1/10,000^th of the world's population.

Giago compares Stevens to Miley Cyrus:Stevens has managed to pull the gaming tribes together in a coalition that has stood as one to protect their rights. I would say that his influence is much more consequential to a people than say that of a Miley Cyrus.This shows the problem with Giago's position. The list isn't of the 100 people whose influence has saved the most lives or lifted the most people out of poverty. That would be a different, more narrowly focused list. This list is about the most influence, period.

It doesn't matter whether the influence is good or bad, consequential or inconsequential, short- or long-lived. If millions of people are following you, it doesn't matter where you're leading them. You have influence by definition.



Giago makes a mistake

If you look at Time's list, I think you could argue against most of the people on it. If I were making the list, it would consist mostly of world leaders and CEOs with a smattering of inventors and celebrities. No way would I include Robert Downey Jr. (who isn't really a millionaire playboy industrialist) and leave off Pope Benedict XVI. But I doubt I'd add any Natives.

Actually, Giago has overlooked one Indian on the list: Evo Morales. As Time put it:When union organizer Evo Morales was elected President of Bolivia in 2005, it was the first time in the country's history that the indigenous people, who make up roughly 60% of the population, had one of their own as President. He moved quickly away from the neoliberal policies of his predecessors to try to help his community, the vast majority of whom live below the poverty line.Morales, an Aymara Indian, is the kind of Native who should be on the list. For starters, he's trying to transform an entire nation. More than that, he's providing a vision for indigenous movements around the world. That's a lot bigger than leading a tribe, nonprofit, or trade association in the United States, no matter how well someone does it.

Let's look at the numbers. There are roughly 50 million Indians in the Americas. Most of them--about 95%--are in Latin America. These Indians comprise slightly less than 1% of the world's population. (50 million = 1% of 5 billion.)

If you went by the statistics, you'd expect to find one Indian, a Latin American, in Time's 100. Lo and behold, that's exactly what you find. Far from being biased, Time has fairly and accurately gauged the relative importance of Indians.



Who's the most influential?

Unfortunately, Time didn't rank the people in its list. Humorist Joel Stein explains the problem:Numbering a list is a journalistic rule so obvious even E! understands it. But TIME's editors won't stoop to rank the TIME 100. No, they're afraid of hurting people's feelings or making a mistake.Stein, who is proud of having no mathematical abilities, came up with a formula for ranking them. It's based on such factors as number of Google hits and mentions in the British Financial Times.

To me this seems like a valid approach. The number of times we talk about people is a rough guide to their influence. As someone who does have a mathematical background, I approve of Stein's effort.

With that in mind, here are Stein's top 10:

Vladimir Putin
George W. Bush
Ben Bernanke
Hillary Clinton
Barack Obama
Evo Morales
John McCain
Tony Blair
Kevin Rudd (Australian PM)
Dalai Lama

Not bad. According to Stein, a Native is the sixth most influential person in the world. Morales is the third highest world leader, the second highest non-Caucasian (after Obama), and the highest person from the "Third World."

Of course, one could argue with this ranking also. Clinton, Obama, and McCain won't have a significant world influence unless they're elected president. Blair is out of office. No one from Australia has significantly influenced the rest of the world.

For more on the subject, see The 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons.

Below:  Someone can be influential even if he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about.