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Video Game Characters to Get Out the Vote
Thanks to Gamasutra for the heads up about a political music video starring video game characters that is to start airing on MTV today. The newest "Choose or Lose" video will feature characters from popular video games such as The Sims and BloodRayne and is intended to encourage youth voters to show up at the polls. The video will air for the first time on MTV today on TRL, and afterwards can be seen on the MTV Choose or Lose site. This follows closely on the heels of MTV2's Video Mods series, which uses video game footage for the visuals in music videos.
to get people to vote, obviously they don't need to be voting.
An informed public is far better than one that just votes to vote
useless link requires a login! Anyone have a mirror?
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I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
... I voted for Lara and Sonic
--
Free gmail invites
Is it that I got old, or does it actually suck as unrepentantly, and unrelentingly as it appears to?
So for whom is the Master Chief voting? I'll wager Republican, since the military likes to vote that way.
Of course, that could explain the sudden demand for electronic voting....
Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
I just think it's a sad statement on your country when you have to use every big name rapper, actor, and now video game characters, in order to get people to just register to vote.
Another get out and vote drive. It's cool they use video game characters. But I can't help but feel these "public service announcments" are politically motivated.
Before I seem like a troll, lets consider:
Anyone who is not a felon, at least 18, and not an african american from florida, can register to vote. *drumroll*! I'm just kidding. That last part was uncalled for. But disenfranchised voters is another discussion, and a more serious one. So lets just say, most people who are 18 and not in jail can vote. They have the right. Politically motivated disenfranchising laws aside.
Why do we care if people vote or not? Why do we try to chide them into it? If you are directly affected by the policies of your elected officials, you will probably vote. If you don't care, why should you be made to vote?
And then they have these voter drives. Why does MTV care if their viewers vote? I'm guessing somewhere somebody has statistics that shows men 18-24 or whatever their demographic is, is "predominatly left" or "predominantly right". So, lets use propaganda to mobilize them. Lets mobilize a flock of voters that carry our view.
Its dumb, if you care vote, if you don't, don't. I certainly don't care if you do or not. The only crime is if you do care and you don't vote.
A much more serious issue is voter disenfranchisement - people who do care, who would vote, who are silenced. That is a huge issue. Why dont we see any commercials with video game charactars that say "voter disenfranchisment is bad"?
I like civic participation but i'm for civic knowledge first, if you don't care, don't go in and blindly pick because MTV tells you too! That doesn't help anyone.
Easy guys, I put my pants on one leg at a time. The difference is after I put on my pants I make gold records!
I know we are in trouble when videogames idols are persuading America to vote. What character would you personally listen to? I'd love to see Lesiure Suit Larry telling our youth to vote ;)
This is my signature.
"Musha moy mi la! Fo sha ta nee ra may dah! Losa men tar RISHO!"
I can hear the masses screaming in pain now.
Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
MTV has announced the release of "Stand and Choose," a non-partisan, animated music video created in co-operation with 12 major video game publishers, and featuring more than 50 video game characters encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. According to the press release, "Stand and Choose" features what are described as "some of the most popular video game characters", including the stars of The Sims, BloodRayne, Mortal Kombat, SSX3, Leisure Suit Larry, Sonic Heroes, SpongeBob SquarePants, Outlaw Golf 2, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Unreal Tournament 2004, DRIV3R, Splinter Cell, Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy, and many more. "Stand and Choose" will start airing as a music video on Wednesday, October 6th, debuting on MTV's TRL, and will also be viewable online on the Choose or Lose section of mtv.com. The video was produced and directed by the producer of the previously mentioned, game related 'Video Mods' show on MTV2.
Get ready for Slashdot's election campaign to start airing commercials next week, it's titled "Choose or Loose".
[Intro] Hi kids! In the time it would take me to make Koopa my bitch and show Princess Toadstool MY plumbing, you could have gotten online and registered to vote! [Thumbs up, Mario theme plays]
I know nothing
And if you want to preserve your second-amendment right to shoot up hookers, get out and vote! Also I particularly like being lectured to by the likes of P. Diddy.
If video game or animated characters are needed to get some people out to vote, doesn't this indicate that these people SHOULD NOT vote?
I'm all for democracy and for maximizing voters ability to gain information from governments so that they are informed voters. But if it requires cartoons and animated characters encouragement to get someone out to vote, that to me implies this person doesn't have the desire or knowledge to vote.
Isn't this kind of useless? Wasn't the last day to register to vote a couple days ago?
The "Insert Quote Here" line is almost as predictable as inserting an actual quote.
I'm all for high voter turnout. But I also think people should be informed before rushing to the ballot box.
I don't really care for a lot of these recent "get out the vote" efforts. A lot of people who don't vote don't have a clue about who is running. Many can't name the president, and certainly not their congressman. Do they know where each candidate stands on even one issue? Probably not. They do know who just broke up in Hollywood though, and the last person to be kicked off Survivor.
If these people flock to the polls, they'll simply dilute the votes of people like you and me, who really, honestly, and deeply care about voting. They will probably vote for whoever their friends are voting for. They might randomly pick somebody off the ballot. They'll probably just pick whoever they recognize or like more from the 10 seconds they saw them on TV. Is this a good idea? Not really.
Convince people to care, then convince them to vote. That's what I say.
Slashdot Syndrome: the sudden, extreme urge to correct someone in order to validate one's self.
Isn't it ironic that I can't view a video encouraging people to register to vote because I'm not registered on that site?
The problem with these get out and vote campaigns are that they imply just showing up makes you a better citizen. I'd argue that uneducated/uninformed voters deciding who leads this country is as big a threat to the world as Osama Bin Laden.
Isn't apathy the publics way of saying "we're tired of your bullshit"?
I mean honestly vote for Bush or Kerry the net result will be the same. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and the middle class remain terrified about what tommorow will bring.
I don't think people "forget" to vote or just don't care to. I think they honestly don't think that it matters one way or the other. So long as the sheep [re: public] watch TV and believe what they see the actual vote doesn't matter.
This vote has long since been decided. So long as Bush and his fellow cronies can push that big bright red terrorist button the masses will fall in line.
See what I don't get is people go on about how "we are safer with Bushes leadership". Well you know what? Life isn't safe. You could be flying on a terrorist free plane and shit could hit the fan [literally] and boom you're dead.
You could be waiting in a doctors office when an earthquake hits and you get smushed by a ton of cement, etc, etc, etc.
It's what you do with your time that makes your life. If people accept "Big Brother" on their street corners with machine guns [like in New York] how free are you to live what precious life you have left?
Now I won't presume to tell people how to vote. Personally if I lived in the USA I would vote for a non-major party like the Libertarians. Fuck I would vote for Arnold any day. At least he got rich making movies and not foreign policy.
My dear brotheren Americans cherish what precious commodities of freedom you have left. Another decade of "fighting terrorism" and you guys won't know which way is up. You'll have to turn to polly shore movies to see how "good" life used to be. And that my friends is truly sad.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
You know, if Mario or PRincess Peach, or maybe even Sonic in a pinch, told me to vote, i'd consider it. But i have no emotional investment in Bloodrayne or the Sims.
Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
This aired on MTVU at my college a few days ago. It was really neat to see my favorite characters all in one video.. not to mention Lara Croft.. :D
I used to be of the mindset that if you need to be encouraged to vote, you shouldn't be voting. But I've since changed my mind.
No one is born realizing the importance of voting. Somewhere, you are socialized, and you come to believe that voting is important. Maybe it was due to school, or family, or friends. But not everyone has that experience. Some people come from families were there was no pattern of voting. Or their schools sucked and never talked about it.
So that's why I do support these "unconventional" methods. And I think you should, too. When a large segment of the population feels disconnected from their government, the entire society becomes unstable.
There are good and bad points to it.
I would love to see everyone voting, it should be mandated, or there should be atleast tax breaks for voting. our current set of elected officals are so off base it is sad
not to mention the fact they pander to the elderly, the young of this country are screwed, we are going to be left with amazing bills due to our parents generation, and who knows if we will still have a country
a) Who do you think MTV wants to see as president? b) Who do you think is underrepresented at the polls? While legitimate, don't believe for a minute that campaigns like these are without partisan motive.
I seem to remember Mario flying the Red Star every time he annexed a new level in Super Mario Bros.
Get out the vote?
Optimus Prime: "Hey Spike, where're you going?"
Spike: "I'm going to go vote! I have the power to choose clean water, new schools and do my civic duty to the country."
Optimus Prime: "Now you're talking!"
Everybody: "Transform the world, Vote!"
Or maybe a nice Thundercats ad
Snarf: "Meow, Lion-o you know who Dick Cheney reminds me of?"
Lion-o: "No Snarf, who?"
Snarf: "Mumm-ra! That's why I'm voting for John Kerry, he won't blow up Thundara the way Bush/Cheney are!"
Lion-o: "Wow Snarf, I like our planet. I never thought of it that way. Maybe I should vote in this election."
Panthro: "Snarf, get your liberal butt out of here!"
Snarf: "Panthro, you're such a closet homosexual!"
Everyone: "Hahahahahahaha! Get out the vote!"
But then we're a generation that was taught environmental rights and wrongs by Captain Planet and the Planeteers...
No wonder the world laughs at us. We don't watch news programs or stay informed... We have animated characters tell us what to think and how to act.
Go vote slacker boy, or I'll stick this BFG 9000 up your...
Maybe they will expand on their Video Game campaign and start using Porn and Free Beer to get people to vote.
I want to be encouraged in this way.
It will motivate me.
Please?
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried"
In Florida, Ohio and a few other of the crucial States. Good timing, people.
Sometimes seventeen/Syllables aren't enough to/Express a complete
you'd have nice rotating blocks (in a tic-tac-toe pattern) with alternating pictures of the candidates (as in the bonus game in Super Mario World after collecting 100 stars).
If you can make Mario hit the blocks so that your candidate shows up three in a row, your vote counts. Get more than three in a row for multiple votes.
Get three Nader's and you get a sunflower suit
If you get no matches, it's a vote for Bowser.
(I'll leave it to others to come up with the prizes for Kerry and Bush, though I'm looking for something along the lines of Tanooki suit of Mass Destruction...)
--
Was it the sheep climbing onto the altar, or the cattle lowing to be slain,
or the Son of God hanging dead and bloodied on a cross that told me this was a world condemned, but loved and bought with blood.
I think that MTV, while it may be biased towards the left, is mainly interested in motivating young voters.
The people that run this country are, by and large, over 50. "Out of touch" doesn't begin to cover it. Add to that, the fact that 20-somethings are notorious for not voting. (And for not really caring how the elections turn out.)
Politicians barely even pretend to listen to the concerns of "young people". If we were to turn out in record numbers in this election (regardless who we vote for) the political system would take notice. And they would speak and act towards the concerns of young people in this country (drugs, AIDS, poverty, student loans, unemployment...) rather than the concerns of older people (estate tax, social security, imprisoning everyone)
-tom
It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
I've seen suggestions that we should conduct a lottery in parallel with the election. When you go to vote, you can choose to contribute a dollar. If your number (or whatever) is chosen, you get the pot. Actually, this might be more enticing if there were 100 or 1000 winners.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
MTV plans to improve voter turnout further by driving people away from the TV during voting hours.
How? By constantly playing insipid reality TV shows that make each Survivor look like an episode of Nova, and refusing to play music videos altogether.
It's so crazy it just might work. I know such a plan would stop *me* from watching MTV.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
these characters to help get the youngins into the voting routine.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
So you give a bozo the power to raid you home for having bootleged copies of movies you cannot go to see to the cinema due you live from a minimun wage working at walmart. Sounds even smart to use the only characters you use to escape reality to bring you back to it.
At least in US Presidential elections, anyways. It's the Electoral college vote that matters :) (aside from the few states that assign Electoral college vote based on the popular vote)
(for the record - I would like to see the Electoral college done away with, despite the fact that I wouldn't trust the dumb masses to elect anyone worthy of "governing" me anyways)
The problem in this particular case is that people are not motivated by parents, teachers, other family members, friends, or all the headlines... but they are motivated by a fictional video game character? That is scary.
The truth is these ads are pointless - if someone's not motivated to vote by real life events, I think a very small number will actually be swayed by a fictional game character. It boils down to just a giant waste of money... another "public service" that was not completely thought through.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
The NRA has selected Duke Nukem as their new spokesperson.
Really want to make the vote interesting? Use a slight takeoff on the electoral system.
Get a number of groups of people together in some online game - say UT2K. Each group is for a different candidate... have a ladder tournement with Kerry and Bush teams starting on oppositse side of the ladder.
Now simply have teams duke it out, and the winning overall team gets all player votes for its candidate of choice!
Now that's what I call a real game of Capture the Flag.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Mario and Luigi: While they are independent contractors and likely own their own LLC for their plumbing business, they would side heavily with the unions. Besides, their gratuitous use of "mushrooms" would tend to look for a party with some liberal laws. My guess? Democratic
Link: Heavily independent, but believes in the maxim that there is always a damsel in distress. Tends to alter the time-space continuum. Republican
Lara Croft: Big on guns, big elsewhere, too. Values the ability to use her body any way she pleases and keep her prized possessions to herself. Libertarian
Donkey Kong: Takes a stand that no one should be in his jungles, going so far as to take hostages and have rescue parties sent in. If you ignore the fact that he is a monkey, he has some decent environmental goals. Green
--Chag
It apparently takes video game characters that appear in Playboy to get people to vote! Freud would have a field day with this one!
Never confuse volume with power.
The fact that only 50% of the population bother to vote is a reflection of the lack of political representation.
http://www.fairvote.org/factshts/wta-va.htm
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I'll bite...
The registration process ain't about preventing fraud -- it's about preventing voting.
How so?
--trb
Since when does MTV play music videos? I thought they were strictly about reality shows.
What's next? Objective reporting on Fox News?
- Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.
I was going to start with that, but figured not as many people would get that.
I think my TV's busted
if not this country's dusted
'cause I think I saw 7 Mary 3,
and they were on the MTV
They were telling the people to rock the what?
Talentless hippies, Hootie wannabees,
Southern fried kings of mediocrity
Now let me get this straight
you want MTV viewers,
the worlds biggest losers,
to vote?
the idea's wrong
in fact there ought to be a law
if you can sit through a Silverchair video
you shouldn't be allowed to vote at all
--The Vandals
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
or neighbor, or a friend in their local hula hoop club or whatever, to get people to vote, they're still encouraged to vote. At least I think so.
Likewise, voting is civic responsibility for those equally bad at math.
...but MTV appears to have a relatively decent site, choose or lose (http://www.mtv.com/chooseorlose/), with information about each party, their candidates, and links to non-partisan sites like FactCheck.org. I'd rather see MTV push this website hard so people have a clue about what's going on and can make a more informed vote instead of rushing out and pulling that lever for the guy they think their favorite rapper would vote for.
So what is standard? Lots of posts saying uninformed people shouldn't vote, but no body wants to back it with any specifics.
Ever consider that voting is part of the informing process? Yeah, it's nice to think someone could get informed and then vote. But is it really so bad if someone responds to some "get out the vote" campaign or the political discussions here by going to polls, and then that leads to more research into the issues?
I wouldn't recommend that going into the poll cold and voting randomly. But I'll take it, if it gets someone who wasn't going to vote into the booth. Because maybe this time it's, 'well, I've got some time to kill until the 'shrooms kick in. Might as well vote.' And then next time it's, 'well, I guess I'll vote again. Might as well read some of the referendum questions ahead of time.' Who knows, some one who wasn't high up on the 'informed' scale might get involved and actually learn something.
The opposite approach, discouraging people from getting involved and voting, leads to a lot of, 'nope, still too stupid to vote again this year.'
The uninformed person is the one who thinks voting isn't worth the time or the effort. Discouraging people from voting doesn't target those people, it creates them.
The actress Wendy Hoopes who did the voice for "Mona Sax" in Max Payne 2, is currently doing LAX.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
The video will air for the first time on MTV today on TRL, and afterwards can be seen on the MTV Choose or Lose site.
Having seen this year's candidates, I think this belongs on the MTV "Choose and Lose" site.
Because it's creating a buzz about voting. For so long the percentage of eligible voters actually voting has been so low in this country that we obviously do need to remind people that democracy will not continue to function (some might say it's not functioning now) if the majority of people do not vote.
By building up the notion that voting is the responsibility of each citizen, hopefully voter drives like this will reverse the trend of declining voter ranks and bring some change to the current status quo in Politics and elections.
I agree that someone who's not motivated by ANYTHING else and sees these commercials is probably not going to be motivated by the commercial alone.
What about the millions of fence sitters? The people who are a little motivated by current events; a little motivated by their family; a little motivated by friends. What about when they see hte commercial and this motivates them a little more? Is that a bad thing?
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I take no responsibility for any spelling mistakes in the above post.
If choosing your elected officials isn't motivation enough to vote, than you shouldn't be voting. With a lottery, you'd end up with people voting that just went in and marked the first candidate on the ballot in each category, or marked the ballot 'randomly'. It would be a simple matter for election officials to garner a few more votes for their favored candidates by making sure they were first in their categories.
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
It would be a simple matter for election officials to garner a few more votes for their favored candidates by making sure they were first in their categories.
There is a bias for the first person listed on the ballot. It would be easy to randomly arrange the names.
Here's an alternative point of view: if you aren't informed and motivated, please don't vote. An uninformed vote is worse than no vote.
I've been trying to do a lot of research laely into the candidates for our upcoming election, and discussions I have with other people are for the most part an extremely disappointing experience. I am frankly shocked that people would vote "just to get W out of office" or "I vote for Bush because I hate Democrats" etc.
I hear a lot of rhetoric about "throwing your vote away". This is usually used as a reason to not vote for Nader, or the Libetarian party, etc. But it seems to me that a vote "just go get bush out of office" or a vote for a party just cause your parents raised you republican or democrat is really the wasted vote.
I think people have lost the focus that a vote is your own personal voice on how our country should be led. It's a sad state of affairs that we're stuck in this 2 party mentality where often people don't vote because they understand the issues of their candidate, or even know what their candidates' stance on the issues are, but cast a vote solely because it's their family tradition, or their hatred towards the other opponent.
I really wish that we could push through an electoral reform that would allow for multiple votes (#1 choice, 2nd choice, etc) or something. I think the power of the people has been stolen by this charade where it's not about the issues, or who is really the best leader, or what a political party will do (or not do) for a country, but something that is done in a thoughtless, rote manner.
I saw excerpts from Faranheit 911 where some protester says "I'd rather vote for a single celled organism than vote for Bush". What does that say about the value of your vote sir? I realise that's his opinion and he's entitled to vote with his opinion, but what does a choice using that methodology do to our country? Is Bush reallly absolutely the worst possible leader of our country? Is there no one worse to be our leader? What if Manson (heck, Charlie or Marilyn) were up against Bush? Is that still his stance? Would you let a convicted murderer lead our country over Bush?
Don't get me wrong, I don't like Bush very much. I am not convinced he's a good leader or that he's been entirely truthful to the American people, or our allies overseas. I feel the same way about Kerry, and Edwards. I am a little more comfortable with Cheney, but I suspect that's mainly because he's got a ton of experience in dealing with suprise crap, rather than anything else.
After a little research so far (I registered on the deadline) I haven't really found a platform on either side I care for. I want to use my voice, cast my vote, and not have it 'wasted' by not being cast. So how do I vote?
I'm against abortion (the CEO of my client was adopted, so was a close friend of my father, and I have a 7 month old daughter so I can't conceive of abortion being a good thing).
I like the environment and want to take care of it, but I don't want to rely on forgien energy sources either.
I don't like the UN, I think it's lost it's relevance.
I think socialising our medical system will be a huge mistake, and the main culprit of rising health costs is the trial lawyers and frivilous lawsuits (see Overlawyered.com for details.
I think everyone should have the same rights. I think the government should NOT be involved in the institution of marriage at all, it's a religious practice, not a civil one. Calling a domestic union is an insult to religion.
I don't believe in subsidizing farmers to not grow crops, I want legal marjiuana, I want the war on drugs to end.
So how should I vote? And do the new electronic voting machines allow me to write in a candidate if mine ends up to have not been popular enough to get listed on the ballot in my area?
Since some people feel that social or economic background determines voters, here's my stuff: I'll be a first time voter this year. I barely graduated high school and have worked full time since I was 14 years old (50 hour work week
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With all these get out the vote advertisements, an important (at least to me) question is not answered. Why should I vote? I DON'T live in a "battleground" state. As such, the electoral votes for my State are ALREADY known in the sense that everyone is pretty damned sure who it is going to go to. I could vote for RMS and the electoral votes will be the same. MY lack of a useful vote is the direct consequence of the "winner take all system."
"The newest "Choose or Lose" video will feature characters from popular video games such as The Sims and BloodRayne."
Nice to see MTV is continuing their long, happy relationship with Playboy models. Or CG Playboy models. Or... Um, whatever.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
How is this a troll? Overrated might be hard to dispute, flamebait might even be concievable (lord knows there are any number of idiots ready to defend the "system") but troll?
We need more than just getting the quantity of voters higher. In case no one has noticed.
"The newest "Choose or Lose" video will feature characters from popular video games such as The Sims and BloodRayne..."
When I first saw this, I thought that the A-list characters would be doing this: Mario, Luigi, Samus, and Donkey Kong; maybe with a cameo by Bowser to help drive the point home.
If they can't get the best of the best to help push us to vote, then just how important is this, really?
--
Welcome to the land of the easily amused...
Face it, the "Republicans" threw fiscal conservatism out the door to pander to the social conservatives, who they they betray. The "Democrats", hell, I can't even tell what they stand for, except "we're not the Republicans".
Maybe if voting could actually make a difference in where this country is headed, more people would get involved. But as the adage says, then it would be illegal.
They only way to fix this is to the the voters involved AT THE LOCAL LEVEL where there is still room for some real differentation.
this has been on MTV-U, MTV-University channel we get at my school, for a couple days already. I saw it in the cafeteria but couldnt hear it at all so I had no clue what it was about.
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I would be truly ashamed. It should be embarrassing to a political party when they need to resort to campaigns such as this to gain support. This really adds insult to the injury of the Motor Voter Act.
They get rid of the electoral college bullshit.
My vote currently doesn't mean as much as people in other states...and that's the bottom line.
They need to take a raw count of votes so that everyone's vote will have the same weight.
Maybe they should focus on that instead of these ridiculous "Rock the Vote" type things.
It's "Get out the vote!" not "Get out the registration"
There are always tons of people who are registered to vote but don't actually vote. When I registered this year to vote they suggested that I get an absentee ballot because I would be more likely to vote that way.
There's a huge difference between getting people to register and getting them to vote. Say everyone in the United States is registered but only 2% vote. That's a lower turnout that having 50% of the population registered if only half of those vote.
In a sentence: It doesn't matter if people are registered to vote, it matters that they vote.
Most of them are better than the originals!!!
I wonder how time these guys spend on developing new animations for these videos.
And is anyone actually making money off of them?
Surely that should be "choose and lose"...
Yes, popular characters such as Bloodrayne. Who? Oh, you mean the ridiculous-looking female vampire from that mediocre game who is now getting more press coverage than international war crimes because there's a new Bloodrayne game coming out?
If it wasn't for the fact that they're publishing Guilty Gear and Psychonauts (and published Bomberman Generation), I'd send out a Jiffy bag of fuckings to Majesco.
Video game characters posing for Playboy?
Naaah, can't be...
*g*
np: Local - They Are Local (Children Of Mu (Disc 2))
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
I think it's pathetic commentary on the Democratic party that they feel it necessary to pander to children. While there are many fine upstanding young adults under the age of 25, few have the life experiences and wisdom that are necessary to make decisions about governance.
The Democrat party caters to these impressionable and immature voters, catering to their adolescent tendancies of rebellion.
I know my politics are a heck of alot different before I was 25 then they were when I was past 25. I realize now that I was the stereotypical dumb kid, which is exactly what you should be, just not a dumb kid and enfranchised.
Sadly, I can still remember watching actual music videos on MTV as a child. Now it's just another crappy channel that no one would ever buy if it weren't already bundled with basic cable (like HSN, public access, Lifetime (i.e. the Ovary Channel), etc).
And then there would have to be counts at the end of the election to make sure the ballots were truly randomly distributed, since this new lump of bodies who just vote to enter the lottery has been added...
Bottom line, if someone isn't motivated to show up to vote because of the intrinsic importance of voting, why pay them to do it?
Denver Isuzu Suzuki
I think basing motivation off of a video game character is about as reasonable as having motivation to vote from such issues as
1.) making the bible the law of the land and ditching the constitution
2.) creating anti-choice liegislation which infringe on a woman's right over her body.
Oftentimes the REAL WORKING people out there don't get out to the polls because by the time their commute from work is done, the polls have closed. Doesn't Canada do this???
No, but if your boss is nice, he/she should give you time off for you to head to your local polling station!
"Demobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Neocons..."
Came up with it the other day. It's been stuck in my head.
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
The day I'll vote (I'm a UK citizen) is when the following apply:
1 It's free for a candidate to stand for election, not the £ 1000 plus as it is now. Too many frivolous candidates ? If people want to stand on a daft platform that's their right.
2 There's a mandatory box on the ballot paper that says "none of the above"
If the majority of citizens nationwide vote for "none of the above" then government should be put on hold for four years. i.e. all current laws/taxes etc. are kept "as is" but nothing new can get implemented and nothing can be changed.
That way there'd be some incentive for the corrupt, self serving, bastards that end up as MPs to actually promote something positive. If they don't then nobody cares and they don't get to be an MP.
Personally I think all politicians are shite. As soon as somebody stands up and says "listen to me, I'll lead you" they should be shot, burned, hacked to bits and fed to pigs. Then take the remains and bury 'em in a garlic patch to stop the undead bastards rising up.
Democracy ? What democracy ? Pah.
It's all "feather the nest and fuck the rest" (as some rather apt Killing Joke lyrics would say)
Sky subscribers are morons. They pay to be advertised at !
I think that's a great idea! Last election the 12-17 age range had the worst turnout.
---
Those who can, do
Those who can't, teach
Those who don't know how, supervise
No, Canada does not do this. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that in a Westminster Parliamentary System, there is no fixed dates for an election... hell, an election can come with 3 weeks notice, which is a little harsh to impose on employers.
This is a repeat, since assholes moderated it as troll, when it's quite sincere. Wake up people, not everything controversial is a troll.
They've artificially reduced our choices to two sellouts that they pick, but voter turnout isn't high enough to legitimize the sham?
Why not just have them vote for me? It can be the whole Saddam Hussein thing, where 100% of the people vote, and vote correctly.
MTV started in like 1981, I believe?
It was cool, in my memory anyway, at least until I started high school in '89. It definitely was sucking by the time I graduated in '93. It seems to be sucking more now than in '93, but it's hard to say for sure since I avoid watching it.
I heard a figure once: that MTV wasn't in the black until 10 years after it started. That would put the date of profitability at ~1991? And by my own reconing the date of suckability was between 1989 and 1994.
Now it may well be that the middle-school version of me was unable to tell what was cool. Certainly it would appear that way based on my wardrobe. But I would put forth the fact that MTV was cool when it was "all music, all the time". Now it's "all mass-market corporate force-feed trough, all the time" and that is pretty lame.
I wouldn't say "MTV sold out" so much as "MTV eventually gained enough value that corporate entities decided they would like to buy MTV out".
Either way, what once came from a creative heart somewhere now comes from a wallet. It's not too hard to see the difference.
Illegal. (IANAL). I believe that the ballots must be the same for every voter in a given district (maybe even across a state?).
Randomization would be thrown out like spoiled meatloaf on a Saturday night.
Stay home and watch a movie or something. MORE POWER FOR ME!
I don't want people who watch MTV to vote. Those who voluntarily watch that inane crap just don't deserve it.
Self awareness - try it!
I choose you Pikachu
Thats why here in Brazil, our voting day is always at Sundays.
And weve got 100% eletronic voting.
The manufactor of the eletronic voting machine is PROCOMP, a company that was bought by DIEBOLD
The infra-structure is so good, too bad the big mass of the population is analphabet and manipulated by the bad politicians.
-MY NAME IS ENEAS
Personally, I want people to vote because that makes it more likely we'll have a government that actually represents the people it is governing.
I've been wondering what "the right thing" to do is - vote for who you think is best for you, or who you think is best for the country.
Certainly, if everybody voted for who they thought was best for them, the end result might actually be the person best for the country... but if not everybody thought like that, then the results might not be truly representative of the will of the people...
Let me give you an example... let's say the vast majority of the middle class actually liked tax cuts... you'd think that the wealthy liked them, too, because they payed proportionately more because of progressive taxation. However, there's a certain point beyond which you don't really care how much you're being taxed... if you're really set for life, like a lot of the hollywood elite (the Barbara Streisand types, for example), then you might believe you're being magnanimous by voting for someone who would raise taxes... something you believe is better for the country, but not necessarily for you....
In other words, you could have a slight majority desiring lower taxes - but enough of them vote contrary to that to sway the election...
Don't mean to make this partisan (it's obvious what I'm talking about), it's the general idea, not the specifics... it could even go the other way, for example, with people at the bottom of the scale who pay no taxes voting for someone who might reduce taxes in hopes that the overall economy might improve.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
President: Luigi
Vice-President: Gannondorf, Zelda
Secretary of State: Samus, Metroid
Secretary of Defense: Snake, Metal Gear Solid
Secretary of the Interior: Spyro
Secretary of the Treasury: Lara Croft, Tomb Raider
Secretary of Commerce: Sly Cooper
Secretary of Education: Pikachu, Pokemon
Secretary of Energy: Sonic
Attorney General: Tommy Vincenti, GTA Vice City
Surgeon General: Dr. Mario
Well, it's not all bad:
Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff: Master Chief, Halo
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Who gives a whoop about the election, why do we have to put video game characters in a video to get to see Music Videos on MTV?
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
"Get out and vote, or I'll kick your pansy ass!"
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Precinct Person: Your name sir?
Gordon says nothing...
Precinct Person: Sir? Your name? Oh - I see it says "Freeman" on that suit of yours. Here is your ballot. Proceed to the voting booth and "use" the voting machine.
Gordon says nothing...
Precinct Person: Oh and sir? Please leave the crowbar here.
At first I thought this was going to be something about voter registration fraud.
... Oh, wait! get OUT the vote?
Then I thought maybe it was an add-on for The Sims.
And then
Totalitarianism can be quite stable.
Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
... Chun Li and Morrigan show up. Rawwrrrr!
Not that it makes much statistical difference in presidential sized elections.
Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
Encouraging people - any people who are eligible - to vote is not a bad thing, period, end of story. People who vote, even if they suspect their vote doesn't matter, even if they have to hold their noses while doing so, are going to have a higher sense of franchise, are going to have more of a sense of connection to the process, and maybe, just maybe, some of them will take the opportunity to get involved and fix what they feel is wrong. The first step to changing the world is getting your ass off the couch. If it takes Sonic the Hedgehog to do it, so be it.
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
I'm going to vote for Kerry because Dave Matthews told me so.
100% Insightful
Choose Again.
Damn, didn't notice... I was too busy playing doom3
I've heard a lot of noise recently about voter registration deadlines passing. I know the last day to register in Illinois was yesterday, and I seem to remember hearing a large number or other states were approaching their deadlines as well. Is this really going to have any impact if these newly excited would be voters find they can't register?
For many (not all) elections, I read up on the issues, head to the polls, look at the ballot, decide there is no candidate among the available choices that I can vote for without feeling like I was abetting the destruction of democracy in America. So I turn in a blank ballot, which I'm sure is counted as "voter error" even though it isn't.
Voting is important, in theory. In practice, however, I've found it to be a profound reminder of what we've already lost and are unlikely to ever get back. Perhaps you are Canadian and think voting is important--you may be right. But voting in the United States is, more and more frequently, just choosing what kind of bricks to throw onto the sinking ship.
Mod this however you like....
What a sad narrative of our society that it takes cartoon characters from video games to encourage voters to do their civic duty.
It's depressing to think that these people are going to choose the person to occupy one of the most powerful positions in the world.
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.
... keep making jokes. That'll win the election.
Simmons, I want you to poison grunt107's next meal.
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
Why does the USA not have a National Voting Day, in which all Americans get the day off?
It's part of an intelligence test. The people who are smart enough to go "Hey, boss, I'll be in a little late tomorrow/today because I'm gonna go vote before I come in," get to vote. The stupid and apathetic do not.
perhaps people dont vote because alot of what politicians say is shit.
as long as i have been paying attention, since the early nineties, it has been the same thing over and over. 'we have to fix this, that and the other thing'
since both parties want to be the ones to say: 'we fixed that for you' nothing will get done. i want a politician who will have some balls. i wanted clinton to say: 'yeah, i did her. mind your own damn business.' i wanted bush to say: 'iraq violated a dozen or so U.N. resolutions we need to send a message to the world that that is not o.k."
in closing of this short rant. if politicians could say what really needs to be said and have integrity, more people might just vote.
always mosh clockwise
Donald Rumsfeld's signature is on the fake draft card because it would be on a real draft card, seeing as how he is the Secretary of Defense.
Dumbass.
MTV ANNOUNCER: And now, a message from The Sims
MAN: Fraba dey...huhhh...ka tey do una so
WOMAN: UNA MOI! UNA MOI! Hmmmmm! [MOTIONS TO STOMACH]
MTV ANNOUNCER: And that was a friendly reminder from The Sims to get out and vote! Or feed them, I'm not entirely sure, check their aspiration meters...
"Here's a spoiler: You're will die alone."-Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
didn't i see one of the pong paddles endorse George McGovern?
Actually, there are plenty of unhappy soldiers in Iraq who aren't likely to be voting Republican in this election:
"Dear Dad, Iraq sucks..."
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1005-22.htm
I can see the Sims being "cool," but Bloodrayne? Who even played it? And of those who played it, who liked it enough to think, "That'd be a cool movie and/or political statement on MTV." There's a second one coming out (maybe?) and a movie, all to the tune of no one whistling. This smells of money from a marketer's ass to me.
The newest "Choose or Lose" video will feature characters from popular video games such as The Sims and BloodRayne
The Sims had popular characters? and what the heck is BloodRayne...
I think that a Red vs Blue ad would be both entertaining and persuasive.
Are you kidding me with this? Some voter is torn over the important issues of the day, and it's a cartoon character's urging that finally gets them out to the polls? What kind of person put off taking action until Bloodrayne confirms that it's a good idea? Please explain to me how this is the kind of good judgement that will build a better tomorrow, or why on earth we'd want such a person expressing their opinions about anything.
"Yeah, I know that voting is, like, important and all, but I just didn't feel like, you know, doing anything about it. But, like, then I was watching MTV, and I saw Mario say that voting was cool, or whatever, and now I'm totally gonna vote. Rock!"
Don't make me laugh. If the only thing standing between these people and the voting booth is videogame character endorsements on MTV, then don't do us any favors, Mario.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
I'm pretty sure that "popular" and "BloodRayne" don't belong in the same paragraph, much less the same sentence.
Love the Third Amendment?
Sound scary? It wasn't. Almost to a person, everyone there was extremely appreciative that we were making sure they were registered to vote. Sure, we ran into a number of resident aliens and even a few convicted felons (we have to ask if they _can_ vote; if they can't they usually tell us why). In a few cases, neighbors warned us to avoid going into yards or just to be careful in approaching the local "trouble" houses.
I even registered one tough guy walking down the street. I probably would have avoided him entirely if I had wandered into the neighborhood accidentally (hell, I probably wouldn't have been there at all). And he turned out to be quite friendly and appreciative.
I wasn't working for a partisan organization; we'd register Democrats, Republicans, Greens, "no preferance", whatever. The only people who were rude were the odd folks that refused to vote. I had one guy tell me that politics were for other people. When I tried to explain that virtually every aspect of his life had some political bent (welfare, health insurance, even cops on the beat) he would have none of it. It was disappointing, but what are you going to do?
I'd think this's going a bit far. What's the legal voting age? 18? I'm 25, and I haven't really watched MTV in years. Isn't the channel mainly for the 12-16 age bracket anyway, now? Or am I just "old"?
As an aside, now that the bill to reinstate the Draft (Democrat-sponsored) has been killed, has MTV stopped its fearmongering to get the kids to vote (you know, "vote or else they'll draft you and send you off to die!")?
Global warming is neither science, nor politics. It is a religion.
I appreciate having the right to vote. However there is nothing more damaging to know 4 years later you voted for the wrong person. Imagine voting for Bush now, and then end up out of a job with loans and mortgages. You'd be kicking yourself for voting Bush. Vice versa Kerry might be the same. Note, I am not taking sides here!
It's best to just exercise your vote as a citizen by voting Ralph Nader, Howard Stern or Mickey Mouse.
Have we met?
"How so?"
Take a look at how streamlined those Canadian elections are. Here is just one example.
As long as you have ID and proof of residence you can register even on the day of the election. This is not encouraged but entirely possible. It is all the process you really need to prevent fraud and allows for people to vote. Last I checked some states force you to register almost 60 days in advance. Oops there goes the whole last month where people have the most information available and have seen both candidates in at least one debate. Also once registered you can depending on the state be tossed and depending on the state may not be notified. This results in a disapointed and disenfranchised voter. This is to say nothing of the simple standardized ballot that Canadians use.
AC
Here's some more evidence that Super Mario is a pinko communist. The anti-Koopa sentiment springs from Mushroom Kingdom propaganda.
I was going to check out the link in the story but I couldn't be bothered.
Where was the Get Out the Vote! folks when Bill Clinton was running for re-election? I remember they were noticeably silent that year.
They claim to be non-partisan but they are hypocritices.
Not sure if a video help get people out to vote...
but this free game at http://www.whackthevote.com/ will get people to vote...
vote for the candidate they don't like with a big hammer!
BTW, Kerry won by a landslide when I played.
Hi,
I finally read your reply in this other thread:
here
I usually get a mail from slashdot when I get a reply. Sorry it took me so long. Maybe this time the mail didn't come or was lost, or I deleted it by mistake. Anyway, I remembered the question and looked back through my log to find the post and any replies.
So to reply, I appreciate your points and generally agree with you. My project is playing with linux now to address a few of the things you mention, such as including only the best technology for each area (not 5), and good documentation.
I am just playing at the moment, however, and have no idea if the project has any future. At the very least I am improving my skills.
-Mike
#6495ED - cornflower blue