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Barbarians at the Gates
ILuvJoesMom writes "Hot on the heels of Wednesday's news story, Warcry has an editorial up with strategies for defending the video game industry from the oncoming hordes. 'If you're sick of hearing politicians kvetch about video games, make it worth their while to stand up for them by voting for them and supporting them. Given the choice between a hundred thousand overprotective moms with ballots in hand and a million gamers at their computers, I'm going 'mom vote' every time, and I imagine any politician hoping to stay a politician feels the same. This is that 'elected' thing I was talking about earlier. If you're over 18 and not a felon, then odds are you have the right to vote, and that's more powerful than a thousand 'I think Congress sucks, who's with me?' threads on the message board of your choice.'"
The greatest victory of many lobby groups and political parties has been to persuade the average voter that their vote does not really matter.
It does and no vote is wasted .
If we want our views heard then we need to need to shout them out and make sure that they know we are not alone . These lobby groups have realised this , unfortunately many have also realised (as i said above) that making making people believe it doesn't is a great way to get your ideas through .
If you feel an injustice in government then you need to make your voice heard.
beat the self fulfilling prophecy .
One well voiced eloquently spoken opinion can change the course of world events for years to come , let's just make sure that the voice is of the Masses and is well informed.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
A letter costs around .50 to write (that may be an exaggeration depending on where you live) and when 20,000+ people write you a letter about the same subject it can speak as loudly as any cash bribe.
Remember the only way they are able to keep receiving their precious cash bribes is if they stay in power.
Lobbying does not require money only consensus.
I may be a tad antiquated in my views , but i still believe they can be very affective.
I believe In America they have a nice saying "by the people , for the people " , would be lovely if we could realise that dream.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
If you've never found it worth your while to vote but the fear of video game regulations spur you to the polls...please stay home and don't vote. Really. Just stay at home.
If war, taxes, social security, the looming spectre of Supreme Court nominations, national defense, freedom of the press, a sense of civic duty, job creation, prison overcrowding, welfare, seperating church and state, defending your Constitutional rights, metropolitan transit, energy policies, trade policies, and being a decent human being weren't enough to make you cast your ballot, well, fuck off and don't vote.
Thanks.
The Republican who's using videogames as a scapegoat, or the Democrat who's using videogames as a scapegoat?
"Do you expect me to talk?" "No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!"
Why doesn't /. start a political party?
The +5 informative department could gather things that sort of looks like facts.
The +5 Insightful & Interesting departments reinforce each other in the debates, while ruthlessly moderating the opposition down.
The +5 Funny & Offtopic departments could crack jokes if things are starting to look bad.
The +5 Flamebait & Troll departments could work together distract and smear political opponents.
The Chair Corp. comic(*00-12)
Here's some free, complimentary clue: nowhere in the definition of democracy does it say "but vote only on the issues cornface deems important."
t he-day and not with trivial matters like our censoring the press and awarding ourselves extra powers.")
The whole _real_ point is to elect the people who best represent _my_ interests, whatever those interests might be. If enough people thought their most important issue is having quicksave in all games, or subsidizing implants for porn stars, that's it. Democracy means they can and in fact should see to it that those issues get heard.
The whole idea in a real democracy is that it's the people who decide for themselves what's important for them, and what's not.
Having one elitist asshole in an ivory tower telling you what should you concerned with, and what you should trust Big Brother with unquestioning, that isn't democracy. That's how democracy breaks. That's how your rights get taken away: by waving around strawmen you should be concerned about, if you were a good upstanding citizen, in stead of the real issues. ("If you were a real patriot and a good citizen you'd concern yourself with combating terrorism/imperialism/drugs/whatever-strawman-of-
Plus, hey, it happens on my tax money anyway. So please don't tell me that you've already decided for me what my money should be used for, and that I shouldn't vote if my opinion doesn't match yours. It's simply not your decision to make. If I decided that I'm ok with my money being used on welfare, but I'm not ok with it being used to censor the media (including movies, games, comics, etc), I should jolly well have a chance to vote just that.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.