Monday Moaning: Popularity Votes!
The title is as I meant it to be. After all it is the system we stand behind without really knowing it. It isn’t a democracy anymore when we vote not with our mind or heart but y simply following someone else. Or maybe we did hear a bell ring but have no idea where the clapper is.
We have been in a state where voting has become more fun than serious business. And it all happened in a very fast tempo.
All of a sudden we were asked to vote for our favourite. Mind you that alone is already a wrong way to vote even more so when it is a competition in singing. It happened before that when we had to call but soon as the sms fast votes were introduced we got addicted. It was fast and easy and to top of it off they soon started to give away prices. Who cares they spend 40 cents on a text.
These days it became cheaper and more and more we are using our second screen to cast our vote of our favourite.
Again it is that favourite, not best but favourite or worst case, the most popular.
Ooh have we not al voted for the best looking dude though he was of key, at least he was good looking. Kind of a miss universe except this time on Idols, the voice or Xfactor they had to be dreadful at something as well.
Pretty sure as soon as you read the programs mentioned you flushed a little if one was guilty of voting for a hunk or beauty. He may not have won since the jury thought he or she wasn’t good enough but he ure made it pretty far and gathered millions of viewers to cash in by the makers.
Populism is just a new criteria to make a choice.
It is a pretty old idea though, as we have know some of it as group pressure, where we got along with what most in the group said just to be sure we felt to th point we belonged somewhere. These programs these days are no different. We check with friends, and pretty much talk all day about it and come to a consensus that all chose one and the same.
One teacher will have the entire school behind him and the street he lives in, whether he was any good or not.
This kind of choices are made by popular demand and status improvement. Belonging to a group of winners and have the right to brag you was right all along.
If this was just it who would have cared. We talking TV-shows here. Multimedia with their likes isn’t that much different. The more you get the higher up the ladder you will go and more people will start to notice you. In the end that starts to become the goal.
Marking this as guide we can even see that it has shifted up towards more important issues as we see now in the US. Is this our educational system at work as well.
Presidents elections. For real. What is going on there.
Can’t say much about that though since it has been happening here for many years. But being in a small country it isn’t noticed as much when compared to the USA elections. Nevertheless it is only getting worse.
Every president puts up a front and says things to gather voters. True or false isn’t much of an issue it seems. You want to be popular and gather as many people behind you with simplicity. That way they do not have to think so much.
Spin doctors and the likes all know very well how the media works and even our brain. We end up voting based on a single statement.
One can only ask what his kind of voting will cause in the long run. Our kids are being brought up with this kind of system from the start and even in school. It was bad in my time when you had to belong in a group, it is getting worse with the digital age.
More and more we are disengaging from social events and more and more we are engaging through the media. Where we can’t hide our choices or lie about them. Oh I can feel you thinking right now. We all said one thing to one friend and something else to another. Choosing was less absolute or was just done to say what they wanted to hear.
This might well be the flip side of the coin as more is done online the choices become resolute and absolute and everyone can see them.
Not to mention that bullying also is increasing based on what people are saying or how they are behaving.
Could it be that our popularity votes and choices are back firing. Did we make the right choice just by following looks and simplicity.
The mind is interesting material when you think about it. How we come to conclusions and choices seem to have gone from over thinking and thinking to just feeling.
Our wants of belonging are growing while we distant ourselves from the things close to us.
Just building a wall, isn’t the answer. Labels may show diversity it also creates prejudice. Following a crowd may make you feel stronger, the strongest person who stand alone with his or her believe has to be a lot stronger.
As long as a believe doesn’t hurt people, it should be okay.
Next we need to start thinking again and vote smart after hearing facts or following your truths and believes. If they are not worthy to be chosen why should you follow those who chose them.
Make a choice without regret and make sure its your own. Because the popularity votes aren’t always right.
Best Wishes
Ranting Crow
Ranting Crow 