In a poll conducted by Askmen.com, readers have chosen Don Draper as the most influential man of 2009 -- yes, that Don Draper, Jon Hamm's 1960s ad man who coasts through Mad Men while cheating on his wife, changing his name, uttering horrible secrets about his (and your) childhood, and gently warming his kids to the idea of patricide. Now, you're wondering: What can be the benefit of admiring this sociopath when we already trust the teachings of Dexter, The Joker, and Roald Dahl? AskMen has the not-even-joking explanation after the jump.
"Men are seeking the stability of tradition in the masculine qualities that they imagine their fathers and grandfathers to have had," said James Bassil, AskMen's editor-in-chief. "The character of Don Draper brings all these traits together, and in doing so speaks directly to the modern man. He's a man whose time has come."
Breaking: I actually prefer not to think of my grandfather as an unscrupulous asshole. Nor do I like imagining him treating my grandmother like an alcohol-powered parking meter. In sympathy with the voters, though, I do imagine that my grandfather had a desk.
Don Draper beat out Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, President Barack Obama (talk about power rankings), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and American Idol producer Simon Cowell in the poll. Those men all strike me as real, which is interesting. I think the non-voting men of 2009 deserve a mea culpa from Bassil, perhaps a quote along the lines of, "This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened." Have mercy and shock us, please.
Don Draper is AskMen.com's Most Influential Man of 2009 [AMC]