Greta Thunberg is Time magazine's Person of the Year.
The 16-year-old climate change activist has become the face of a movement, according to Time's editor in chief, Edward Felsenthal who wrote, "Over the course of little more than a year, a 16-year-old from Stockholm went from a solitary protest on the cobblestones outside her country’s Parliament to leading a worldwide youth movement."
Thunberg is a polarizing force. Her supporters defend her and rally behind her cause while critics have attacked everything from her looks to the way she speaks and above all, her beliefs. She has been blamed for young people hating cars and was even called a "brat" by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro after she condemned violence against indigenous people in the Amazon.
However controversial Thunberg's selection by Time magazine, there have been other contentious choices in the past. Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Richard Nixon were all chosen as Time Persons of the Year in the past. The magazine notes its choices reflect the person or thing that had the "greatest impact on the news, for good or ill."
