Get an iPod some other way
Amanda Peterson
Padawan Child
Issue date: 11/28/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
How much do you care about your vote in next year's presidential election?
Put it up on the auction block, and see how high the bid would have to go before you would loosen your grasp on your largest symbol of political freedom.
What about an iPod? For a new iPod, would you give up your right to vote in the next presidential election?
Going once.
What about a year's tuition? If you did not have to pay tuition for a year, would that entice you to give up your right to vote?
Going twice.
Now raise the stakes. More money, but more sacrifices. For $1 million, would you give up your right to vote for the rest of your life?
Sold by the students with the most political apathy.
Students at New York University already answered those questions in a poll for a journalism class. Half of them said they would stop voting forever for $1 million, and two-thirds would take a year of college without having to pay tuition rather than getting to vote.
And 20 percent said they would take the iPod and run far, far away from the polling place.
But 70 percent of these students also seem to think that this vote they are throwing out the window actually does matter, including the 70 percent who say they would rather have a tuition-free year of college.
Now how does that make any sense? If you think you can make a difference, please do something. Somebody's got to - there is already 30 percent who seem to think they aren't going to effect any change.
Only 10 percent of the students polled said voting is not important, so that leaves 90 percent out there who think voting is important.
Apparently, a large portion of that 90 percent also seems to think voting it is important enough to give away too.
When I told my friends about this poll, I quickly found out that more than 20 percent of them would be handing their votes over for iPods at the first chance.
"None of the candidates are any good," they said. "I don't like any of them and, they won't do anything anyway."
You may not like any candidate who has proudly tossed his - or her - hat into the presidential ring for the election, but after Election Day next November, one of those people you dislike so much will be leading our nation.
Now might be a good time to decide what you want to do about that. And there are at least two viable options available for you.
First, educate yourself about the candidates. No candidate looks impeccable after publicists and the media have spun that person more than a washing machine, so read about that person to decide why it is you really don't like the candidate.
And if you still do not like any of them, start campaigning for change. No one ever said you have to go along with what the mainstream is doing, so do something different to create a change in the system.
Rather than fussing about the candidates and burying your head in the sand to avoid the election, I think now would be a good time to consider how your vote could get the most mileage for next year.
Amanda Peterson is community news editor of The Crimson White. Her column runs on Wednesdays.
Put it up on the auction block, and see how high the bid would have to go before you would loosen your grasp on your largest symbol of political freedom.
What about an iPod? For a new iPod, would you give up your right to vote in the next presidential election?
Going once.
What about a year's tuition? If you did not have to pay tuition for a year, would that entice you to give up your right to vote?
Going twice.
Now raise the stakes. More money, but more sacrifices. For $1 million, would you give up your right to vote for the rest of your life?
Sold by the students with the most political apathy.
Students at New York University already answered those questions in a poll for a journalism class. Half of them said they would stop voting forever for $1 million, and two-thirds would take a year of college without having to pay tuition rather than getting to vote.
And 20 percent said they would take the iPod and run far, far away from the polling place.
But 70 percent of these students also seem to think that this vote they are throwing out the window actually does matter, including the 70 percent who say they would rather have a tuition-free year of college.
Now how does that make any sense? If you think you can make a difference, please do something. Somebody's got to - there is already 30 percent who seem to think they aren't going to effect any change.
Only 10 percent of the students polled said voting is not important, so that leaves 90 percent out there who think voting is important.
Apparently, a large portion of that 90 percent also seems to think voting it is important enough to give away too.
When I told my friends about this poll, I quickly found out that more than 20 percent of them would be handing their votes over for iPods at the first chance.
"None of the candidates are any good," they said. "I don't like any of them and, they won't do anything anyway."
You may not like any candidate who has proudly tossed his - or her - hat into the presidential ring for the election, but after Election Day next November, one of those people you dislike so much will be leading our nation.
Now might be a good time to decide what you want to do about that. And there are at least two viable options available for you.
First, educate yourself about the candidates. No candidate looks impeccable after publicists and the media have spun that person more than a washing machine, so read about that person to decide why it is you really don't like the candidate.
And if you still do not like any of them, start campaigning for change. No one ever said you have to go along with what the mainstream is doing, so do something different to create a change in the system.
Rather than fussing about the candidates and burying your head in the sand to avoid the election, I think now would be a good time to consider how your vote could get the most mileage for next year.
Amanda Peterson is community news editor of The Crimson White. Her column runs on Wednesdays.
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