don't vote
That's a billboard I saw last week. It had a white background with just those two words across it in huge black lowercase letters. As I got right up on the sign I saw in tiny letters in the bottom lefthand corner the web-address dontvote.com Since I am a voter and I vote, I had to check it out. Turns out, despite it's rather negative connotation, the website's intention was to get people to check out the candidates and issues before they headed to the poles. Not a bad concept, but a rather poor delivery. If they actually wanted to get people to check out their site so as to make informed decisions, they should have put the .com after the big letters. The point, I'm sure, was to cause a sort of shock value when you saw the sign. Which is what it did for me. But by putting the website in itty-bitty font in the corner of billboard, you almost miss it. On the sign I saw, a small tree was blocking it until I was almost on top of it. Like I said, poor delivery.
I have another issue to complain about when it comes to political signage. I think there should be a law that outlaws all political signs except in business windows and in people's front yards. Cause when you see those signs in those private locations, you know those people have made a decision to support that candidate or issue. But when I see signs along highways or in empty fields or any other no-man's land places, all I can picture is cowardly people sneaking out in the dead of night, sticking those signs into the ground, and then speeding off in their cars. It makes me think that the candidates don't have any support from regular people so they have to sneak signs into places that no one will care. While I am fully aware that the majority of these signs are not put up by the candidates themselves, I am also as fully convinced that the candidates are aware this type of canvasing is happening. And I'm sure that their acceptance of this practice is to push a form of name recognition. If uninformed voters go into the poles and recognize a name, they are more likely to push that pin than some name they've never heard of. But I still think it's cowardly and pathetic. And in fact, it almost makes me not want to vote for them. Like I said, the candidates aren't placing the signs there, and it would be foolish to vote on emotion rather than on the issues. But it still annoys me something fierce. When you see a sign in someone's front yard, you know they are making a stand [of sorts] in support of what they believe in. And when I see a sign in someone's yard that I know and respect, it makes me want to talk to them and see why they believe in what they believe. All I'm saying is that I guess I'm hoping for a more perfect world where I can see a sign and know it was put there for a purpose, not to fill a quota. And as such, it will make me think a little more about what I'm doing when I vote. Is that too much to ask for?
I have another issue to complain about when it comes to political signage. I think there should be a law that outlaws all political signs except in business windows and in people's front yards. Cause when you see those signs in those private locations, you know those people have made a decision to support that candidate or issue. But when I see signs along highways or in empty fields or any other no-man's land places, all I can picture is cowardly people sneaking out in the dead of night, sticking those signs into the ground, and then speeding off in their cars. It makes me think that the candidates don't have any support from regular people so they have to sneak signs into places that no one will care. While I am fully aware that the majority of these signs are not put up by the candidates themselves, I am also as fully convinced that the candidates are aware this type of canvasing is happening. And I'm sure that their acceptance of this practice is to push a form of name recognition. If uninformed voters go into the poles and recognize a name, they are more likely to push that pin than some name they've never heard of. But I still think it's cowardly and pathetic. And in fact, it almost makes me not want to vote for them. Like I said, the candidates aren't placing the signs there, and it would be foolish to vote on emotion rather than on the issues. But it still annoys me something fierce. When you see a sign in someone's front yard, you know they are making a stand [of sorts] in support of what they believe in. And when I see a sign in someone's yard that I know and respect, it makes me want to talk to them and see why they believe in what they believe. All I'm saying is that I guess I'm hoping for a more perfect world where I can see a sign and know it was put there for a purpose, not to fill a quota. And as such, it will make me think a little more about what I'm doing when I vote. Is that too much to ask for?
posted by Sam at 1:57 PM
2 Comments:
Right On, Sam!
In S. Florida during the primaries a local judge who had been kicked off a bench was elected to a bench..go figure. Some pundits claim that in a local election for posts such as the school board the first or last name on the ballot has a better chance of winning than a name in the middle because most of the voters have never heard of any of the names and will mark either the first one they see or the last one they see. Kind of makes one wonder about the political process sometimes, huh?
But I have never missed voting..even when I was overseas several times and voted the absentee ballot..might not have got counted but I did vote.
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