I realize almost no one cares who is named Time magazine’s newsmaker of the year anymore, but… how the heck did the editors of that magazine talk themselves into naming “Hollywood strikers” as one of the nine finalists?

This past year has brought wars in Europe and the Middle East, massacres, domestic unrest, mysteriously disappearing Chinese officials, waves of migrants crossing our border and flooding American cities, four indictments of a former president, high interest rates and inflation adding up to make buying a home or car right now “completely unaffordable for the typical American household” according to Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, the sudden deposing of the Speaker of the House… and somebody out there thinks screenwriters and actors going on strike and getting a big raise was the biggest and most consequential news story of the year? Come on.

All of the other eight are justifiable enough. Chinese dictator Xi Jinping, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Fed chair Jerome Powell, King Charles of the United Kingdom — all of these are self-explanatory. Barbie was an indisputable pop culture phenomenon; you may not agree with the Trump prosecutors, but their actions had far-reaching consequences. Taylor Swift is a plausible pick and one that will likely help newsstand sales. Sam Altman may not be as well-known a name, but he represents the phenomenon of the rise of artificial intelligence over the past year.

Time magazine used to select the person who its editors believed had most affected the course of the year’s events “for good or ill.” Under that criteria, you know who would be a plausible choice? The leaders of Hamas. Sometimes the people who most affected the course of the year’s events are the very worst of humanity.