Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I don't really think voting is for old people (If you don't vote you get stuck with people like Bush), but i bought the shirt anyways. Most people I was around just ignored it, except for one, that simply said, "I don't like that very much" and then went back to what she was working on. And she was, like, 20-some. I'm pretty sure I ordered this from the place they make all the H*R t-shirts, but that's beside the point. Any thoughts?

Most people think, "My one vote doesn't mean much, so why bother?" The problem is that so many believe it that it's a whole ton of votes, not just one. Everything from "Vote (name of politician)" ads to the "Get Out and Vote!" Million Dollar Spectacular on The Price is Right is doing its part, but mainly it falls on deaf ears.

Why? Because our (American) culture is becoming more and more apathetic. It's cool to not be too interested in anything (especially important things), otherwise you're a geek and should be set in a pen with other geeks. (Of course, not all geeks are geeks of important things. See: Homestar Runner Wiki.) Anything requiring effort that does not directly benefit the self (see: anything except sex) is considered a waste of time, boring, or not worthwhile. Apathy is a horrible, horrible thing, and it's partially causing the downfall of society.

Downfall, bah. People think things are getting worse and worse, but at least we no longer keep slaves, nor do we have continual lynch mobs, commit genocide, behead criminals...the world's definitely not decaying and I have a tendency to think that people who think it is never had a hard look at it. I won't dispute that voter apathy is a problem but I think it always has been...

Hello, Kef? 9-11 mean anything to you? How about genocides in Sudan? War of aggression in Iraq? Beheaded hostages? Columbine? How about this reality for you: Crack cocaine? I have looked into a man's eyes and seen the tears as he told me how he stole from his mother's purse to feed his habit. You are the one who hasn't taken a good hard look at the world.

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We have always had terrorists, renegades, insane criminals, drug addicts, and worse. I do not deny that these are problems and that big problems surround us every day, and I do not mean to trivialize them. However, the presence of problems does not mean things are getting worse or even that they aren't getting better. Moreover, many of the problems are abroad -- we used to have them here in the United States and all over Europe (near eradication of Indians, slavery, Holocaust). I think the size and scope of our problems are diminishing, ever so slowly. What I'm saying is if we look at the big picture and see everything, and see the good along with the bad, and how far we've come, then perhaps things aren't so bad now. Every generation has its scandals and this one will not be free of them -- not by a long shot. But I still think things are better than they have been before.

- Kef

Okay. I see your point now. It's just that when I read your post, it sounded like you were trying to say the world is getting better. But what you meant was that it wasn't getting worse.

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Well, I think it is getting better, I just concede it isn't some great dramatic improvement. ^^; But as with all things, if we give it time, I think we'll be just fine in the end. It may take ten years or ten hundred thousand years, but sometime there will be no more bad days...

Actually, I'd have to say that's far from the truth. As long as there are humans living on Earth, there will be people who do bad things. The outlook of the government on such people may change, but short of introducing fascist regimes, there's not much they can do to completely stop anything bad from happening.

Well...I voted. And I'm not old.
My vote counted too. uhh...Yeah.

There was some sort of controversey in the fall concerning the "Voting is for Old People" shirts. Some girl was boycotting them. I think it was on MTVU. I loved that channel (the "news" reports were awful, but the music was so much better than MTV or MTV2).

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If by 'old' you mean 'over 18,' well, then yes, voting is for old people.

Yeah, voting's definitely not for kids. You must be thinking of Trix.

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Trix is really for silly rabbits.

Silly kids, Trix is for rabbits.

But seriously, I care a lot more about politics than 99.99% of the general public.

AgentSeeThroo, all votes count. Unless you live in Florida or on an overseas military base.

Actually, William S, you might want to read Stupid Product Rants for a different perspective on the Trix Rabbit.

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Kids are often no more ill informed than a great many voters.

Yes, sadly. Especially with the advent of the Internet, many (many does not mean all; do not interpret this as a generalization) young people are better-informed than their parents.

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Here's my opinion: You should only vote if you really know who and what you're voting for. Don't just vote because you saw some commercial telling you to.

I know that this is my thread, but I found this on the website for this really awesome book I'm reading, and since it's about voting, I thought I'd share it:

POLITICIANS DON'T WANT YOU TO VOTE. Voting means you're passionate about the issues, enough to get out and do something about it. Voting challenges the status quo. But the politicians in Washington don't want you to do that. They want you to sit back and enjoy the ride while they drive the country down the path of big business handouts.

Makes you think, huh? Little bit?

Didymus, I oficially award you +1 cool point. You're the first non-Sudanese person I know who was aware of this before I told them. Not that you need the point, but the Sudanese I've met have been apalled at the American ignorance on the subject, and the fact that I knew the facts really impressed fellow from the Sudan I met last year. For those of you who don't know, 2003 was a partial treaty decreasing 20+ years of systematic genocide of Christians by a Muslim extremist government. I can not mention the actual horrors in a forum chidren might read since Joey Day is accountable to the COPPA.

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Kef, please realize that everything bad you've said has gone away only went away with a fight. In fact, in most cases, it was a few Christians who stood against the amoral masses. Hopefully, the same kind of bravery and individual courage that ended the opression of Black slaves will resurface. "Society" never accomplished a good like you talk about. Individuals, courageous ethical ones, make the illiterate to read. The starving to eat. The slaves freed. The bigotry addressed. All of the bad things you address as happening elsewhere happen where Christianity is not allowed.

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I only vote in the races I've researched to my satisfaction. If a couple names I never heard before show up on my ballot on election day, I leave that field blank.

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I think those shirts are interesting because they bring up a point.

Voting is ridiculously important. In the 2000 election, voter turnout on the whole was what.. less than 50%??? So that means that W wasn't necessarily the most popular man for the job. If voter turn-out had been up at somewhere about 80% and W won, then I would have felt "well, at least that's what the country really wanted."

Then again, let's think of the Reagan case, where I believe he won 49 of the 50 states.. now that was just super intense. I would not have voted for him, but what can I say? America clearly wanted him up there, and that's what they got.

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Hot!

Im pretty well-informed, I find things on the Internet. My vote in my school's mock election will help.
I live in a red town, so a bunch of parents are Repuplicans, therefore, in the mock election the parents will tell their children only their part's point of view. I actuly reaserch things. A lot of kids will vote for Bush though, and im libral...-_-; Almost all the kids on mybus hate me cause i'm a democrat. The teachers are democrats(they don't show it. They don't want some of the kids and parents to hate them, like my freind josh is in a libral school and he's conservitive, he has to hide it) tough, thats good.I have people to disscuss politics with. Most of the kids I talk politics with know NOTHING about the election... They repeat what they hear in Political T.V. ads(the Aboulute WORST source of info.).

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Spaceballs: The Sig

At my school, all that most people care about is sports and music. Just sad.

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THE DEMENTED CARTOON MOVIE!

Useless advice of the month: If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now. It's just a spring clean for the May Queen.

So was I, but I was a liberal in a conservative high school. But tell your friend not to hide i, but rather to be proud of it. If people don't like him because of it, then too bad.

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You were and outspoken liberal. Me i had liberal thoughts but I kept them to myself.

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But sometimes you have to speak out, because you you don't talk, you won't be heard.

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that's becuase being Condemed to hell was not something i was striving for.

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Meh, take what you can get. If he wants to send me there, I'll tell him that I'll meet him down there as well.

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Yeah when I am sitting on my cloud in heaven i will look down and see you in Hell and I'll say "OWN3D"

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