I was watching some tv today and a commercial stood out to me: character from the show "Greek" were wearing shirts that read "vote," and they were all saying how important it is to vote (specifically younger adults, new voters). The characters from the show are using their status to inspire young adults to vote, hoping that people who like the show will follow their example. And this is a good thing, because lately it seems as if the best way to capture peoples' opinions on important social issues is to make it a new trend. Recently the cool thing to do was to go green. And you could do this by actually recycling (even though it is better to buy less in the first place), buying eco-friendly clothes bags and more. Besides doing this, numerous businesses made it the mainstream idea. From t-shirt stores, where none of the profit goes to one of the many go green orginazations, people are buying shirts, bags, shoes, buttons, and other accesories with catchy slogans about going green. Now, you can buy the same products incouraging people to vote (in general or for a specific candidate). While it is good that these trends get people to vote or involved with a good cause, but shouldn't we want to vote because it is a priveledge that we get that can change the course of our country for life? Shouldn't we protect the environment becasue it effects every single person on our planet? Even if this isn't the reason, I guees the ends can justify the means. A scene from the movie the breakfast club sets a good example for young people today: Brian explains that he knows having a fake id that says he's 68 is bad, but he took that risk to vote. What if everyone wanted to vote that badly and everyone who could did? He got a fake id so he could vote, what will everyone else do?
2 comments:
thats a really interesting point and i think its a valid question to ask: whats next for the extent to which kids will go to vote? just how much can "you should vote" be publicized and made an example of?
And also-if someone gets so involved in the whole "trend" of being active in politics and the elections that it drives them to vote underage-they're in some ways counteracting the whole idea of the democratic republic they're supporting. After all, there's a reason people under eighteen aren't allowed to vote. At least in my opinion, it seems like often times people will fully support candidates whose beliefs they even pay attention to, because their parents or all their friends like him or her. If your vote is being fueled by a trend, rather then your actual thoughts on a candidates position on topics-your vote is turning the election into a popularity contest rather then a decision over which candidate is better suited to run a nation.
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