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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
... I voted for Lara and Sonic
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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'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.
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.
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.
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.
About a million years ago, back in 1992, MTV was actually partially reasponible for getting the 1st President Bush out of office.
Way back then, the USA had been involved a war in the Middle East. The folks fighting it weren't quite aware of actually who they were fighting for. At that time, a young politician from Arkansas came to light, and MTV went all out - personal interviews, polls to their audience, even a personal audience with said candidate, with questions from the audience. Sure not all the questions were relevant (boxers or briefs?), but the candidate was brought directly to the audience by a fairly major force in their lives - in terms they could relate to. A young candidate being brought to a young voting constituency in a way that had never been seen before. That candidate's opposition basically shrugged that audience off... and paid the price.
MTV was pretty big back then, but back then they also actually showed videos too. MTV news actually consisted of something more than just record release party announcements. Kurt Loder actually seemed like a real, authoritative, news anchor - or at least sincere one - not some snotty kid in glasses and a t-shirt with a microphone.
The Rock The Vote campaign they (co)sponsored back then was amazingly effective. It brought a huge voting population onto the scene, which would normally be apathetic, and tried to educate them - at least to some extent, even if it was one-sided. These days it's half-hearted at best. Recycled slogans with little or nothing to back them up.
I can almost understand why the younger folks are more apathetic these days. I remember a time when I really thought people with important titles, important positions, and who made important decisions were people to be respected and listened to. Now it seems more and more evident the world is a global high school for super rich men with unlimited resources to fling poo at each other, and the only thing we little bitty humans can do is say...
"Damn. It smells like shit in here."
...Rob
The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
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