29 November 2007

Silence or Suffrage?

Twenty percent of NYU students said they would relinquish their right to vote in the next presidential election in exchange for an iPod Touch.
[Washington Square News Survey]


I'm not sure if this says more about the state of the Union, the power of music or the power of consumerism.

What do you think?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

at this point, i'm so frustrated w/ politics in general that i might consider the same... well if it were the 16 gig iPod touch. ;)

maybe some think that their vote doesn't matter anymore.

maybe some are just spoiled.

maybe some just don't care.

i will say this: music has power. but is wanting a state-of-the-art iPod more about the music that will be played on it or the tecno-newness of the gadget itself?

i mean if you get an iPod touch but then fill it with crap is the technology being wasted?

i digress...


but yet again, Troy - your post has inspired me.

how many would renounce their belief and their actions of faith in exchange for a free iPod?

hmm...

Anonymous said...

I don’t think anyone should give up their privilege / responsibility to vote for material possessions, however, knowing that most NYU students are bleeding heart liberals that would vote straight democratic party, I recommend we give them all the iPod just to keep them away from voting

troy. said...

Tim -- you make a number of good points. After further thought, I believe this speaks more to the power of consumerism than anything else. We have been convinced that personal freedom lies in our possessions, when all it really does is tie us down to the next upgrade or model. I mean, I try my hardest not to buy into any of this, but I still get a little sheepish every time I pull out my first generation iPod Shuffle.

And let's face it, it’s a lot easier to gauge the results that come from filling an iPod w/ all the crap you want, than it is to gauge whether the vote you cast in an election actually mattered. Even more attenuated is gauging whether the person you cast a vote for is actually holding up to all the promises they originally made.

In fact, I no longer believe that it even matters which party has the "privilege" of holding the responsibility that comes with the oval office -- this great country of ours is run by more than one person or one party. And let's be honest, with one party you get some things and give up others -- the things that drive my life and thoughts run the gambit through both parties. And many other passions are not encompassed by either party.
This world isn’t perfect. It never will be. How could we ever expect our political system to be?

Man...talk about a digression. I have no idea where that even came from.

But while I have your attention (for which I am grateful), let me just say this for the record:

The love of Jesus floats outside this little thing called politics.