Elections are stupid
Issue date: 10/5/04 Section: Opinion
Look, I know everyone is sick of seeing Bush vs. Kerry in the Brock Press. I know this because members of the Brock Press staff are sick of reading about Bush vs. Kerry on production nights. They tell me so, loudly and repeatedly.
George Bush and John Kerry do not have any tangible, immediate effect on the lives Brock students. Hell, unless you're in the army, they don't have any real effect on the lives of young Americans, either. They're two old, unbelievably rich, thoroughly out-of-touch white guys trying to fearmonger and smear their way into an incredibly powerful job where you get people to call you Mr. President all the time, thereby giving your ego a hand job every time you walk into the room.
The problem is, most Americans, particularly young Americans, seem to be fairly cognizant of the fact that these guys are both dipshits and are accordingly put off the entire political process. Luckily, both Democrats and Republicans seem to have found a way to engage the crucial 18-to-24 demographic; bring in a team of celebrities.
Now, I was a fan of the original Rock the Vote campaign in 1992, when George Bush the elder ran against Bill Clinton, the man who would become the pimpin'-est Commander-in-Chief ever. MTV brought various music celebrities out to stand around and look serious in well directed, moodily lit black-and-white spots. I mean, if anyone could get America's disaffected youth to the voting booth, it was Ice-T. They didn't endorse anyone, and they kept the message simple: Voting is important, even if the candidates are dillweeds. Not surprisingly, youth voting numbers went up following the campaign.
At some point in the last decade, though, the Rock the Vote concept got tragically distorted. It's horribly mutated progenies are currently defacing the American political scene, even more than the lowbrow dialogue of negative campaigning and the fact that Dick Cheney is a horribly unattractive man.
The worst offender is P. Diddy's Citizen Change initiative and its odious and borderline-nonsensical tag-line "Vote or Die." Diddy wants to get young voters, particularly young minority voters, out to the polls, which is undoubtedly a good thing. Unfortunately, he seems to think the best way to do this is to deliver long, directionless verbal manifestos about "Making politics less political" - OK, I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not far off, either - and shouting "Vote or die" a lot, while encouraging other rappers to do the same. I think there's a flaw in his logic somewhere.
I'm not trying to single out the hip hop community for misguided forays into politics. REM haven't even been musically relevant since 1994, so I'm not quite sure how much weight they carry on political issues, ditto Bruce Springsteen. (Maybe John Kerry thinks these acts are hip with the kids, thereby proving how out of touch he really is). That said, at least the Dems celebrity backers seem like they can carry on a semi-decent conversation. The Republicans heavy hitters are Kid Rock, Charles Barkley and Shannen Doherty who, combined with an eight-ball of cocaine, would make a great tabloid cover, but a less than satisfying political discussion group.
I usually extol the virtues of voting until I'm blue in the face, but maybe if people think they need celebrities to tell them who to vote for, they should do us all a favour and stay home on voting day.
George Bush and John Kerry do not have any tangible, immediate effect on the lives Brock students. Hell, unless you're in the army, they don't have any real effect on the lives of young Americans, either. They're two old, unbelievably rich, thoroughly out-of-touch white guys trying to fearmonger and smear their way into an incredibly powerful job where you get people to call you Mr. President all the time, thereby giving your ego a hand job every time you walk into the room.
The problem is, most Americans, particularly young Americans, seem to be fairly cognizant of the fact that these guys are both dipshits and are accordingly put off the entire political process. Luckily, both Democrats and Republicans seem to have found a way to engage the crucial 18-to-24 demographic; bring in a team of celebrities.
Now, I was a fan of the original Rock the Vote campaign in 1992, when George Bush the elder ran against Bill Clinton, the man who would become the pimpin'-est Commander-in-Chief ever. MTV brought various music celebrities out to stand around and look serious in well directed, moodily lit black-and-white spots. I mean, if anyone could get America's disaffected youth to the voting booth, it was Ice-T. They didn't endorse anyone, and they kept the message simple: Voting is important, even if the candidates are dillweeds. Not surprisingly, youth voting numbers went up following the campaign.
At some point in the last decade, though, the Rock the Vote concept got tragically distorted. It's horribly mutated progenies are currently defacing the American political scene, even more than the lowbrow dialogue of negative campaigning and the fact that Dick Cheney is a horribly unattractive man.
The worst offender is P. Diddy's Citizen Change initiative and its odious and borderline-nonsensical tag-line "Vote or Die." Diddy wants to get young voters, particularly young minority voters, out to the polls, which is undoubtedly a good thing. Unfortunately, he seems to think the best way to do this is to deliver long, directionless verbal manifestos about "Making politics less political" - OK, I'm paraphrasing, but I'm not far off, either - and shouting "Vote or die" a lot, while encouraging other rappers to do the same. I think there's a flaw in his logic somewhere.
I'm not trying to single out the hip hop community for misguided forays into politics. REM haven't even been musically relevant since 1994, so I'm not quite sure how much weight they carry on political issues, ditto Bruce Springsteen. (Maybe John Kerry thinks these acts are hip with the kids, thereby proving how out of touch he really is). That said, at least the Dems celebrity backers seem like they can carry on a semi-decent conversation. The Republicans heavy hitters are Kid Rock, Charles Barkley and Shannen Doherty who, combined with an eight-ball of cocaine, would make a great tabloid cover, but a less than satisfying political discussion group.
I usually extol the virtues of voting until I'm blue in the face, but maybe if people think they need celebrities to tell them who to vote for, they should do us all a favour and stay home on voting day.
