By now, most everyone has seen the JibJab parody of Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land” which has been sweeping the ‘Net.
While the creators of this parody, in my mind, are comedic geniuses and have latched on to a bi-partisan, middle of the road parodic stance that seems to sit well with all constituents, the fact that there’s been a vacuum for such a comedic stance concerns me to no end.
Ever since the 2000 election was finally completed in its blazing glory of disputed dimpled chad and supreme court judgments, I’ve not-so-secretly hoped that the fiasco we all witnessed would be the wake-up call that the American electorate needed to change its approach regarding the downward spiral of electoral politics.
Instead, what we are witnessing still, just a few months before the 2004 election, is a continued jade and exhaustion among the populace regarding the future of American government.
Instead of rising up and submitting a unified plea for injection of reform and rejuvenation into the campaigning and electoral processes, our downward spiral has intensified, with the name-calling and character attacks taking center stage in any kind of issue we might actually care about.
The underlying problem, for a majority of Americans, is that we are completely apathetic to the end result, as we are no longer receiving any lip-service to the actual problems we face as a nation.
Any statements a campaigner may make about how they plan to fix a problem (whether truthfully or not) are ignored in favor of attacking the character, history, and the treatment with certain biological/pharmaceutical agents to make one’s face appear less gaunt.
Of course, our American media isn’t helping, as they feel that we are too ignorant to concentrate on anything other than dirty words and sound bites about Botox, the war in Iraq, or which medals Kerry has received that should actually have been dispensed.
This is, of course, the same media that has discovered our innate fascination with reality TV, and has thus turned the 2004 election into “Botox Eye for the Medal-Awarded Guy”.
Therefore, our jade and apathy continues along the same downward spiral the electorates are following themselves, and we, as a populace, are hoping, screaming and shouting for any kind of discussion on the actual issues we care about, hopefully by the time we reach the major debates.
At this point, I make no public plea for a mass swarming of the polls on Nov. 2, nor do I ask you to vote for a specific candidate. I, of course, will be casting my ballot that fateful day, but my real curiosity will be satiated by the percentage of the populace that votes.
In 2000, 102 million people (or 83 percent of the registered, eligible populace) actually dropped their name in the hat of who they wished to vote off the electoral island.
If this year’s numbers are lower, it will be the proof in the pudding that American citizens are tired of our new “Race for the Presidency” reality TV show, and I will dread the thought of the 2008 elections. If the numbers are higher, then maybe I can retain hope again for the next four years.
Here’s to hoping.
Originally printed with permission in The Daily O’Collegian, September 10th, 2004
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