Education Without the Finger-pointing

Whatever your political persuasion, the day after election Tuesday is always the best television day of the year. With less than two weeks until Nov. 7, the polarized political atmosphere has made elections more about what you don't stand for than what you do. The resultant political ads have become an unpleasant reality.

You've all seen them: "Don't vote for so and so because of..", "A vote for so and so is a vote for..", or my favorite, "Vote for me because I'm not.." I'm not going to say that either party refrains from these ads, for one simple reason: they work.

When a beer company wants to promote their product, they show a complete asshole drinking their competitor's. When Apple wants to sell computers, they don't tout their own product. They do it with a hip young "Mac" actor standing alongside an uptight middle-aged "PC," noting their many differences before introducing Gisele Bundchen.

Our society has become so obsessed with pessimism, the bad side and the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality that we've stopped wanting to know the good side of things. The so-called liberal media is a product of this; America doesn't want to watch local high-school kids volunteering to build a house, but a car bombing in Israel is enough to make them put down the remote.

The same affliction affects the political ads the public bases their voting decisions on. Instead of positive statements about a candidates' record or an outline of their beliefs, we get the latest dirty laundry. This complete lack of information applies to specific issues as well. In the case of gay marriage, rather than inform the public about the actual merits or downfalls of the ban, the public is subjected to ridiculous logic.

One ad in particular left me just as clueless as the writers. It opens with a tractor crossing a field. A solemn voice says, "This is what will change if you vote no on the gay marriage ban." The tractor keeps trudging across the field for three or four seconds, nothing spectacular happens. The voice kicks in again, "Nothing. Everything will stay just like it was. No gay marriage."

Apparently, this ad is supposed to bring viewers to the unpleasant realization that gay people will inevitably bring the agricultural lifestyle of Wisconsin farmers to a grinding halt without any future possibility of marriage. The highways will be clogged with angry homosexuals on tractors leading 2-mile columns of pissed-off rush hour commuters daily until their demands are met.

In all seriousness, the intent of the ad is simple. Gay marriage isn't legal now, why do we need a ban? Why not take the time to convince people with facts and make them more informed so they feel a real desire to go to the polls? Just today my roommate agreed with me how important voting was before he admitted he wasn't going because he didn't feel informed enough.

This culture of disinformation doesn't make much sense when you think about it, especially for Democrats. Informed citizens are more likely to vote, and increased voter turnout favors Democratic candidates. If Democrats really want to win elections, they should concentrate on educating the public instead of participating in petty partisan mudslinging.