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You've Got Mail... From Your Favorite Politician
By Tiphanie Meeks, Staff Writer
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Mar 20, 2007 - 4:27:37 PM -
As the 2008 presidential election approaches, candidates find ways to catch the attention of voters both new and old.
According to sources such as The Associated Press and Myspace.com, ten presidential hopefuls, including Democrats Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Joe Biden, and Dennis Kucinich and Republicans McCain, Rudolph Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, have set up MySpace profiles to boost future voting percentages into favorable status.
This day in age, technology is now become the single most used propaganda tool. It allows falsified or factual information to be produced, downloaded and 'virused' all over the world, reaching the wrong people at the wrong time.
Throughout the ages, candidates battle with new age technology to gain a passage over their opponent. May 17, 1948 Thomas Dewey and Harold Stattan debated on the first radiobroadcast republican election, which reached from 40 to 80 million listeners. In 1960, the televised presidential debate which claimed the candidacy for Richard Nixon and J.F. Kennedy viewed to even more voters. This new technology update caught the eyes of several Americans.
Opponents now and days spend millions of dollars a year for campaigning ads. Although commercials and debates are a part of everyone's diet, candidates cleverly target the younger generation of voters, ranging from 18-30 years of age on MySpace.
Myspace.com has over 100 million members, making it the literal jackpot for the parties. Along with other sights such as YouTube, Facebook, and Friendster, candidates easily make their way to the top.
On an average 100 to 150 million people tune into the presidential debates, which mainly reach to the ages of 30 to 70. But these debates only happen sometimes, and only last for a few hours. MySpace on the other hand is on 24/7 and allows access to virtually anyone whether real or fake.
Chris DeWolfe, MySpace's chief executive shares that as the most trafficked web site, MySpace will probably be a key element in the upcoming election. Sure propaganda is the key to success in the election, but is allowing candidates to promote their views crossing the boundary? After all, do we not deserve a break from the continuous battle of politics? The only website that allows kids to be kids and allows adults to break free from the stress of life, has now been intruded by political figures.
Allowing the candidates to provided adequate facts on their views are a great way of allowing voters to get the true information that might persuade a decision, but it is still an invasion of personal turf.
Kucinich's profile pictures his wife and children along with instruction on how to pronounce his name audile, which is Koo-SIN-itch, and Romney's page plays Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation."
MySpace allows voters to know their presidential candidates from their views down to favorite TV shows and zodiac signs. By the way, Romney likes the show 24, and Obama is a Leo. MySpace also allows new voters to know the facts instead of voting for someone randomly or not voting at all.
With new propaganda techniques linked to MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and Friendsters, the world wide web is not as safe as we thought it was. They took away our radios, TVs and billboards and now the web, so when you get a new friend request from one, mind the cliché "never trust a politician." Welcome to the 2008 presidential race, they've been waiting.
© Copyright 2007 by Cleburne
High School
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