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What You Said About …

THE YEAR’S BEST PHOTOS

“WOW–some of the most #powerful #pictures that I’ve ever seen,” wrote Twitter user Tina Tenneriello of our Dec. 30 Year in Pictures issue, which highlighted 2013’s best images as well as the people who captured them. The abundance of devastation, however, was a sore point for some. “It pains me to see that [the photos] are all so tragic. Can’t TIME/we balance our viewpoint of the year’s most important images?” asked DaveWFox on Time.com. Among the most talked-about images was Taslima Akhter’s widely shared picture featuring the intertwined bodies of two victims of April’s factory collapse in Savar, Bangladesh. “Literally in tears when I saw the couple under rubble,” said hyrulebaby on Time.com. Meanwhile, Paul Harrison of Pittsburgh longed for a nod to a deadly event in the U.S.: November’s Midwest tornadoes. “Did we really have to go to Bangladesh, Turkey and North Korea” for the best images of the year? he wondered.

THE VALUE OF MEN

Activist-author Camille Paglia’s Dec. 30 column, “2013: The Year Men Became Obsolete?”–in which she asserted that women should appreciate the physical labor men excel at–drew a raft of commentary on Twitter. “I have never loved Camille Paglia more than I do right at this moment,” wrote journalist Olivia Nuzzi. “Interesting that with Paglia women are indebted to working class men but white collar men … not so much,” added the feminist blog Blue Milk. Others, like 17-year-old reader Alexa Derman, saw a flawed, patronizing argument. Paglia says men are not obsolete “simply because they do physical labor more than women do,” said Derman. “Let’s emancipate men from the ‘belittling [and] demonizing’ stereotype of being useful only for brute strength, rather than criticize feminists for not appreciating men’s biceps enough.”

THE YEAR’S TOP INSTAGRAMMER

One of the few foreign photojournalists granted access to North Korea, the AP’s David Guttenfelder posted most of his work on Instagram (including the Orwellian city blocks of Pyongyang and the hushed quiet of bus passengers). Our Dec. 30 piece naming him the Instagram Photographer of the Year–for penetrating the country’s tightly controlled facade as well as sharing beautiful images–prompted kudos and shares on Twitter. “Good choice,” said the New York Times’ Damien Cave. “Amazing insights into North Korea,” added video journalist Julia Wong. Guttenfelder’s understated response? “I edged out Miley Cyrus I guess.”

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

In the Dec. 30 Milestones, we misspelled the surname of the British carpenter who took part in 1963’s Great Train Robbery and died in December. He was Ronnie Biggs.

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