66+ million people voted in American Idol, this is more votes than ever recorded in a US Presidential election
Friday, January 18, 2008
Idol Democracy
American Idol's season started not too long ago. The show got less viewers than it did last year, but the show is in no danger of being canceled. Why do people care more about the out come of a TV show than who runs the nation they call home. It hurts me to think that people will give more of an effort to vote for the winner of a reality show than for the President of the United States. People literally pay the cost of the text message in a vote in a election that has no relevance to their lives, but can't pull themselves from watching TV, drinking, or sleeping to take at the most, I can imagine, thirty minutes out of their day to cast a ballot. I assume they care more about the sex appeal of the idols, than anything else. I really don't understand how this is possible for more people to vote for a TV show than the elected officials this country. I still know people who have not registered to vote, it's been going on two years since my high school graduating class turned 18 longer for some, I'm younger than the majority of them. It took me ten minutes to register to vote, not including the time to drive to the registrars office. I know for a fact that people who are not registered have taken more time out of their day to go to the club, the mall, and parties. Would it really kill them to take that time out of their day, but it has got to be more than just that. I hosted a Political forum on the 9th. I went to the court house and got 50 registration cards, and told everyone before they left "I have registration cards, I will help you fill it out, I will return them to the court house". Two people got cards from me. Two people. What else do I have to do? I picked them up, I was basically going to fill the cards out for them, return them to the court house, yet only two people picked up cards. This is a dangerous path that this country is going down, my generation is going to inherit this country and very few even care about the path that it is going down. I also hear all the time about complaints, but they don't even put forth an effort to fix the problem. I have stated many times my disgust over the exaggerated importance of celebrities. The fact that people put forth more of an effort to make more celebrities than to pick a competent leader/Representative is deplorable, and a stain on our culture. So when the voting round of American Idol comes around, take not that the majority of those millions of votes coming in will not even bother to do the same on the seventh come November. That is truly a shame.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
i don't know what to tell you c-dell. you can lead a horse to water- but you can't make folks register to vote. you can plead and beg and rant and rave- but in the end- there isn't a thing you can do but go vote yourself. australia's vote is mandatory. you have to vote. but is that democracy? it's intriguing to think about.
The issues you raise in this post are also issues that I have thought much about.
How could it be possible that I live in a country that cares more if Taylor Hicks makes the final cut than if we are torturing people?
It is such sad commentary on the state of things. It really is.
Well, first of all, I believe poeple can vote more than once in the American Idol balloting. In the Presidential run, they only let you do that in Chicago and Texas.
It doesn't surprise me that there is a high voter apathy. During the Cold War, we always chided the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries for presenting elections in which there was really no altrnative. I'm beginning to think that the American electorate feels the same way. I'm also begining to think that they have a point.
That's not to diminish what you're doing. I think it's not only responsible, but laudable. At the same time, I think you'll see more voter enthusiasm when you have a viable third party that represents them more than than it does corporate interest.
Sad, isn't it. I know I am a freak, but I've never watched that show. It just turned me off, and why watch a man deliberately hurt people's feelings about their talent? Didn't grab me.
For what it's worth, I always tell my students to vote--you can even register online now. I understand the disillusionment, but 2000 should have shown that we are capable of beating a threat (Bush), even if it didn't happen. I think Obama is good news for the sector that votes the least--18 to 22 year olds.
It's hard to call this country a democracy anymore, because a true one has real choice and a well versed population in the issues and the candidates' positions. Now the elections are run through ads and sound bites. Do people even think about what they are voting for? Hard to say.
X-Dell is right about Chicago, my home town. The dead can also vote there as well.
In an effort of bipartisan blogging I have come up with a way to help stimulate our economy faster than the tax rebate program just announced on C.N.N. News.
My proposal is bold, innovative and puts cash money into the hands of the American people when they need it the most; at this very minute.
Please help me to help America in its moment of greatest need.
The answer, IMHO, isn't a pleasant or easily digestible one.
People are, on the whole, either too stupid, lazy or apathetic to get out there and vote.
That's the bald faced truth of it.
For a natural optimist, it is hard for me to admit such bleakness.
Americans are spoiled. We don't appreciate the freedoms we have. One could also argue that the freedoms we do have are, in part, illusory, but that is a whole different subject!
I've heard of countries moving toward the future and enabling evoting. Maybe I didn't hear of it, maybe I just imagined it. But, it sounds like a good idea.
Do you think enabling government elections to be voted like 'Idol' would be a good thing? I'm undecided. Seems rife with abuse probabilities. "Vote parties," with free booze, could result in a lot of regretful voters... I dunno, I'm going to worst-case scenarios, but think I'm over-worrying. I think it could be a good thing.
...Once the whole "hackability problem" is worked out.
Post a Comment