I'm a regular flurry of posting. I just wanted to point people towards Gordon's post about that voting meme. The one where you see pictures and then answer questions about the pictured person. He said a few things I didn't say myself because I didn't want to send any potential voters to that site.
I can't comment on his site, so I'll just say here he's totally right, and add my own thoughts about how that was set up the wrong way. Honestly, does knowing what Bill Frist looks like and what position he holds mean you have any idea what his views are? How does that make someone a better voter than a person who doesn't know the pictures but happens to have listened to and read transcripts of the guy's speeches, and knows his voting record?
A much better idea would be to give quotes about policies and match them up with names and jobs. But, hey, what do I know? I'm just someone who prefers to look at online newpapers over twenty-four hour cable news when finding out about the world.
Thanks for the link - I'm still trying to decide whether to keep Haloscan (since so many people have problems with it), or go back to Blogger's comments.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks - this is a contentious election, and I would rather people vote based on the issues, not just a "who is this" test.
Although I agree that there are better ways to go about the same point (as you said, an issues test would also be nice), I don't think the test is really as bad as you guys make it out to be. A personality identification test can be a general indicator of how exposed you are to current events much in the same way something like this might be used as a simple history quiz in high school. Especially today where I'm guessing majority of the US population get their news in a visual medium (tv, the Internet), I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with expecting average reasonable Americans to know who these people are. It's not like any of the personalities in the test were really obscure, most if not all of the people in the quiz are daily newsmakers. The average American SHOULD know who these people are because these are the people who regularly decide what the fate of the world of tomorrow is.
ReplyDeleteThen again, maybe I'm not that offended simply because I got an A- and I'm not even an American, and I won't be surprised if your average non-American customer would fare well in the test as well. Americans should be expected to pass this test as well.
Okay, took the test... was this written by a Daily Show fan (or Keith Olbmermann) because nearly all of the people included in the quiz get frequently featured on those shows.
ReplyDeleteStill, I wonder why it matters if someone can tell Gwen Stefani from Laura Ingraham. I'm not sure why anyone should be expected to recognize Ingraham. And Paris Hilton from Ann Coulter? Sheesh. Yeah, that's a sign of an informed voter, an ability to differentiate a pretty pop culture figure from a pretty (so I'm told) Republican pundit.
Took the test out of curosity, got an A. I attribute that to Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann. Some of the pictures aren't very good, though, some people I could only recognize due to the quiz being multiple choice.
The web site reminds me of a Sean Hannity rant I read about on Media Matters where he said that people who can't recognize Nancy Pelosi and plans on voting for a Democrat shouldn't vote because they don't understand that their frustration with their representative is going to unleash SAN! FRANCISCO! VALUES! on the country.
I kinda empathise with the "Don't Vote" sentiment, having torn my hair out after a study showed Bush supporters getting his positions wrong in a quiz. I might understand better if that were the quiz' approach -- a "don't vote if you don't understand the candidate you're voting for" but still, telling Americans not to vote is just plain wrong.