What's interesting is to compare and contrast the November 22nd print version that appeared in The Economist (very short):
For salewith the longer version dated November 14th that appeared in The Politico:
A poll of New York University students revealed that 20% would give up their vote in the next election for an iPod and two-thirds would do so for a year's college tuition. Half would renounce their vote permanently for $1m.
...66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give up the right to vote forever for $1 million.Which version says more and what difference does it make to the reader? How might the shorter or longer version be better or worse for cultural perceptions of college students? In what way does each contribute to stratification along class lines and to concerns about wealth, power and prestige in the U.S.?
But they also overwhelmingly lauded the importance of voting.
Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important."
Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference — including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.
The class — "Foundations of Journalism," taught by journalism department chairwoman Brooke Kroeger — polled more than 3,000 undergraduates between Oct. 24 and 26 to assess student attitudes toward voting.
Posts
42 comments:
I didn't know how people would give up something as important as voting for economical help or for something as simple as an ipod. I mean I completely understand that tuition at NYU is expensive and that the new ipod is pretty cool but what upsets me is that when people always complain about presidents. People choose not to vote because they feel that one person cannot make a difference when if every person that felt that way voted, their decision would matter and would make a difference.
Last year I took a journalism class for a semester and my teacher taught us how every form of writing (newspapers, magazines, etc) is biased. If people were to read the short version in The Economist, they would think that NYU students would give up their vote for a price. But, if people were to read the longer version in the Politico, they would get a better aspect of the students' reasoning and logic - like how they still believe in the importance of voting - which is why I think the longer version is better for cultural perceptions of college students.
in theory, i think i would consider giving up my vote for a very limited period of time only if it's in exchange for free tuition. i beleive that at this point in my life, even if i was to vote for someone and my vote made the difference in the elections,it is highly probable that i'd b making a wrong decision; like voting for the democratic candidate because i think i'am liberal. in that case, there would be a good chance that my needs would not be represented.so, i would rather wait and get a good and free education.Consequently, in the future when i better understand the politics and issues affecting me and the country, i will be able to make a more educated decison in the elections.i think there are ways to be poilitically active without voting.lobbying is a good example of that and quite often more effective.
also, for some, it would just be something like going back to the days where you had to be 21 or older to be eligible to vote.
david b.
Although I believe it is very important that each person has a right to be a part of government. I would consider giving up my vote for a free ride and especially for a million dollars. People always think that it doesn't really matter because they just one vote out of millions, but the problem is if everyone thinks this way then nobody would go out to vote. On the other hand, if people dont care enough to vote, then chances are that they don't care or know much about the choices they are making.
The Economist provides a rather shocking message that americans value money more then their right to vote, whereas the Politico provides a broader message that some still value the right to vote. Magazines as we know convey different points of view , therefor you must make your own judgements according to experience and knowledge . While its hard to maintain a living things such as the right vote should be held important. The shorter version shows that college students are more concern about expenses then their vote. People may not vote, since they think their vote doesnt matter, but then they should not complain when a president has bad policies. Doing research about the candidates does matter, because at least we know what type of leader will represent us and will have a better understanding of the important issues in our society.
cynthia via
a lot of people dont even use their right to vote, even though they think it is important. some people dont even think that theyre vote counts because they are just one person among millions. what is one vote gonna do? i'm willing to bet the majority of college students probably arent even registered to vote. giving up ur vote for a year isnt that big of a deal many of the students in the survey probably werent even planning on voting in the first place. but giving it up forever means that u will have no say for the rest of ur life. maybe thats why the people running for president have to raise 300 million dollars to run their campaigns. so they can pay people not to vote for the other person.
I don't find it suprising. I mean, seriously, our generation or a lot of the people i know are filled with materialistic wants. We are also undereducated in our politics and it's effects on our lives. I personally would probably do the same. I think the majority only said voting matters because they wanted to look good. Apple has hyped their products and it's just getting into our society. Also we must consider that a year at nyu is about 40 grand. Nobody has 40grand to toss around.
I strongly agree, this is not surprising at all. however though, I think everyone at least would consider giving up their vote for either a million dollars or a "free ride" in NYU(not for an ipod touch obviously)this is another example of how overconsumption and materialism play a huge role in people's lives. we would do anything in order to get the latest good or gadget in the market. As far as the differences between both the short and long article, I think the two of them provide the same shocking information. however, the Politico article somehow lightens this by giving away other statistics such as 70.5 percent of the students think that vote can make a difference.
This is in response to David B.'s posting. I completely agree with what you said about there being ways to be politically active without voting. That's awesome! But I remember when our class once had a group assignment on what our ideal nation would be and what its main components would be. I remember that that although everyone had some great ideas, there was one that wished that only those who have a great understanding on politics could vote. But what I don't understand is that...what is it that makes a person politically knowledgeable? A person smart in politics could've thought that presidents like Bush, who everyone thought was ohh so great, were good for the nation but look how far we've gotten. It doesn't really matter how much knowledge a person has on politics really. It all depends more so on the president's determination to do as he promises. So although, yes free tuition is great, maybe people should rethink how important their vote is whether they know much about politics or not! It's more so based on having hopes that the president will do what's right...
While the world is at war, America is at the mall. People no longer focus on what is going on in U.S politics because now our lives are not greatly affected by it anymore (not that we notice anyway). We feel that political figures cannot change our lives anymore; we feel that only we ourselves can control our lives.
In the U.S, our economy relies on things such as surplus and competition. With this comes provocative advertising and an intrigued society. This has made more people susceptible to wanting to gain wealth, power, and prestige. (it is obvious through our interest in lunatic celebrities).
I think that The Economist version reveals the information much clearer. The words like "One vote can make a difference" and "voting is very important" by NYU students are misleading. They already alleged that they would give up those rights (power) for economic benefit (wealth), so their actions would contradict their allegation of voting importance for them. They just want to pretend that they care about elections when in fact they don't.
It makes sense for the people to actually give up their voting rights for materialistic benefits. Many people who are capable of voting, but they decide not to because they either don't know much about politics and/or they can't find anything beneficial from voting or simply just don't know how to, so why not just give up their voting rights for something else that is physically there and of value.
I think that this revelation only emphasizes the dissapointement of many with the political system of two parties that are not very different form each other. while republicans claim to be conservative and democrats liberal their actions as presidents and congressmen do not show that. They are both very influenced by corporate world which is paying for their campaigns and it is obvious they have to pay back. what we see then is a total disconect with their voters. For example while Wal-mart is the biggest sponsor of republicans hillary was on the board of directors of this company that is destroyign american economy, enviroment and culture.
i think that the reason for people to choose not to vote is also teir dissapointement with the situation and offered choices. In 2004 there was the biggest tournout of voters in 30 years and still 4 out of 10 people elligible to vote chosed not to.
I belive that voting is extremely important and I continue encouraging americans to vote becasue i cant. But the reality is that its not only that people think they cant make a difference but they are not being offerd good choices.
one thing that i also find very interesting is that the approval rate of congress is below 25% but in 2004 99% of them were reelected. If there is such a dissapointement why dont we want to make a change and we keep the bums in their seats?
So in conclusion it is nor suprising that peopel would give up their voring rights for tuition. as of now there is not a single candidate that woudl offer a vission of good future and changes that need to happen in the government andf society for the young generation.
I am not suprised by this article. Most college students and especially in New York think that their personal votes will not count in determining the elections. In fact, probably most of the people surveyed probably have never voted before. I am not shocked by this occcurance because i am one of these people, voting feels hopeless to me and i would trade that right for an ipod touch or free tuition anyday. Everything has a price in this world and the price for my voting freedoms are not worth much to me.
I think the article just tell a truth among the most college student who will be in the middle class of this society. who are not really care politics, who are just want to make more money and have a better life. Maybe it is bad to hear this and a little bit sad about this happen to U.S young adults, but it happen around the world. I never read New York Times until i chose the Public administration class. Eventhough i just care about to have high score of this class,i don't really care what happen in the politics in this society. Most people don't have ambition to be Bush or Clinton except that you born in a politic family. I remember i have a friend who is study in Japan, he could say out what is the most popular movie star in Japan, but he doesn't know the president there. Is it sad or just general?
im SHOCKED! How can someone give up the freedom to vote? I understand that NYU is expensive but still. I would never give up the right to vote, even if im a zillion dollars in debt.
oh and by the way everyone who is voting please research the ONLY man who will turn this country in what it need to be
RON PUAL
oh i didnt answer the questions haha. well the second version says more. Just look at the statistics it tells, the first one is good to just know what is being talked about but the second one just makes you relize excatly the percentile.
As for cultural perceptions of college students they both arent very good. Even though 90% said that voting is important its still not good that they would give up the right to vote.
I guess that the students feel that since their vote doesn't count they wouldn't mind not voting. Maybe they feel that you need to be wealthy and know politics before you can vote. Who knows?
whoa whoa hold on...you support Ron Paul?? I'm not trying to attack anyone personally here, but the guy is crazy. A return to the gold standard? Absolute destruction of social services? Our country would descend into chaos. You should also check out some racist comments the guy made on some newsletter he used to publish.
I dont find this surprising at all. I think the numbers were a little over 20 percent of registered youth voters (age 18-24) actually voted during midterm elections and less then half take part in presidential elections. We all know voting is important and that people died for our right to vote but I dont think its a matter of importance, Its more of...will my vote actually matter. Especially in NY, NY almost always votes Democrat...and by landslides. Most major states that carry a large number of electoral votes usually has there party already picked out and its easy to predict for sure who they will vote for, states like NY,California, Texas, etc. One party is always overwhelmingly favored over the other in these states so one single vote wouldnt change the outcome. I personally think the countries voting system with the electoral college is a total flaw. It doesnt work. Take last year for example. How is it possible the a person (Gore) wins the popularity vote but loose the election?? The only places where voting would actually matter are in undecided-split-down-the-middle places like Ohio. So if I were offered money and I lived in big states like NY then yes I would take it cause its a sure bet NY will vote Democrat in terms of presidential elections. But then again I might move to another state at some point in life then thats a whole different story.
I also think it's a little sad to see that students would give up their right to vote for an ipod touch. Maybe it's because students feel like their one vote alone will not make a difference in the election. I think it's a little contradictory because people will say that they'd give up the right to vote and then when a president is elected that they dont like, they would probably regret their decision.
Toni Spina
steve said:
Look at the news of today. It only revolves around celebrities and their faults and situations. Politics is not the major concern of your average American these days. The concerns usually revolve around food, music, and celebrities who tend to screw up even though they practically have it all. Voting is not important to society today.
Personally, its not that i don't care, just that no ruler can make a difference in society besides God. The fact, that a president or governor may do something beneficial in society(which doesn't happen that often) doesn't mean that they will take everything bad away, because to be truthful its humanly impossible. Humans have limits to what they can do. Yes its true that if we work all together we can make this world a better place, but unfortunately the government does whatever the heck they want anyways. They use our taxes for unnecessary things and spend this money without consulting the public. I mean, don't they get some of this money from the people anyways? So it would be good if the people could be told where is their money going to. I work and get so much money taken off from taxes. The more you get paid, the more money they take away from you. It isn't fair to me if they aren't using the money that i work so hard for to help children in need or something more beneficial in society(something that i would think proper using it on)....but then again what is fair in this world?
An example of what i just mentioned is one of the before videos(Blogs). I believe it was 2 blogs be4 this one, the video shows how the U.S Federal system spend less than half of what Nintendo spent(which was $140 million dollars) on research & education. What did they do with the rest of the money? =/
This is why I'm not surprised if people would give up their privileges to vote for a tuition, which could actually help them get farther places in life..because this world is indeed all about the money and if you don't have money, the government wont help you buy a house, a car, pay for your children 's necessity's or etc. Yes its true that there is Medicaid, insurance and other methods implied by the govt, but this won't get people past a certain place. Mostly people go get a higher education to get out of their little "hole" and become someone in life. The government doesn't offer this. They just offer enough to be somewhat "stable".
I also agree with everything Cynthia said before, but when it comes to the last line saying "look at the lunatic celebrities"...its true, but if you think about it some of them actually do more for our community then our own government does! People like Christopher Reeve, Ricky Martin and ...just to mention a few, have opened many beneficial programs to help children in need. Many donate their money to help find solutions. Others give money to help find cures for illnesses and diseases. Many others run campaigns to help find a cure (Ex:breast cancer).
Where is the government? "Most of the time"(im not saying always..dont kill me here people lol)they are too busy trying to find someone to run a campaign for, so they can ascend and have "POWER".
-Katherine Vasquez
*I respect everyone's opinion! I'm not insulting anyone or starting a riot here, its just my own perspective of things.
I completely agree with the example that Calvin Chou gave about Al gore! It's exactly what I'm refering to when i say the govt does what they want anyways...
OH and for the before posting i put up, i forgot to fix.."Christopher Reeve, Ricky Martin, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie (adopting kids), Shakira & Sammy Sosa (making schools for the poor) and Oscar De La Renta just to mention a few"...
*despite of the many scandals they have as artists
If you turn either article around you can see this scenario:
The men in power offer a million dollars for each citizen in America to never vote again. Half the citizens take the money and never vote...again.
Oh wait. We do that already for FREE!
If we all vote we do our part to tell other Americans what we want that way the government always does what a majority of people want.
Well, i personally would take the ipod and the tuition. The ipod would come as being a bit materialistic but tuition really would be helpful because it is so costly. But i really wonder what would happen if in some insane way, EVERY1 gave up their voting rights...What would be left? power mongering politicians fighting over the control of the country and democracy would fall apart.
I've never voted before (partly cause i just turned old enough to vote :] ) but i believe it still is important.
-William Chen
This is for Aaron. YES i supprt Ron Pual. He is THE ONLY candidate that speaks the truth. The US dollar is @ an ALL time low, Oil is @ ALL time high. We are losing our civil liberties. The constitution doesnt excist anymore with Bush and these neo-cons in power. Our money isnt backed up by ANYTHING.He wanst to get rid of the federal reserve because we dont own it.they produce money for us at a price. the more money they produce the more in debt we become At least with Paul money will mean something.
About the racist comments, i dont know anything about that and if you can show me the link and the proof that he supports those comments ill give you the benifit of the doubt.
Wow...to tell you the truth...I was not surprised with the results of this survey...many people I know would definitely give up their right to vote for these kinds of factors. I personally, would never give up my right to bote on an iPod...that doesn't sound right to me, but however, for a tuition I'd probably think about it because in my opinion, I feel that sometimes the voting system is unfair. I feel that our votes doesn't count at times. During the infamous presidential election of George W. Bush and Al Gore, it was clearly known that Al Gore was the true winner. However, Bush ended up winning. I found that to be unfair and corrupt and ever since, I lost part of my faith and trust in the voting system. I would definitely vote, because I want my opinion to be counted but I don't know whether it would actually make a difference. I mean, if it won't make a difference at all, then I would choose to give it up for a year and get some tuition money, because it would make a difference for me and my family. I just hope that the time comes for me to vote, it would be worth something...I just turned 18 so I won't be able to vote untill next year.
P.S...Prof G...I forgot my password =/...so I will be posting with my name up I guess...
i don,t think that any right attributed to a person has a price whatsoever. just think about when a vote is determining a presidential tie, then what would be its price? However, i can understand a young student worrying so much about how to finance his/her education. Now my question had they any other means to finance college, if the answer is an absolute no, then such a decision seems to be legitimate. i rather sell my right to vote than strip at night for a couple of hundred bucks. That how i see it. At least what they giving up belongs to them.
Babacar
I can believe that people would give up their right to vote for an ipod touch I would do the same. I think the problem is that there is not as much emphasis put on voting in this country and not many people from the younger generations care. I myself don't even know much about politics, which I'm sure is the case, and problem with a majority of students.
I think that the idea that we always want what we cannot have applies here. When there were restrictions on voting in the united states, the vote was considered to be a priviledge. And now that all citizens over the age of 18 can vote, voting being something that was inherited to them through generations of blood sweat and tears- it is no longer as appealing. It's funny how when things go to a disadvantage to someone, they claim that they need the right to say and speak out against it- yet given the freedoms to vote and to make a change- most pass it off as nothing significant. Or perhaps more interestingly what these statistics might be saying is that people feel helpless with any leader, and therefore the right to chose for the lesser of the two evils is not so valuable.
Valerie Grebenyuk
I would give up my right to vote for free tuition, not an ipod. I think the reward is greater than what I am giving up and if I get the right to vote back i dont think I have lost anything, because I work now to keep myself in school.
It’s kind of funny how so many students would prefer to give up their voting rights for an I-pod. I would have never thought that so many people would prefer to give up something as important as voting to an electronic device such as an I-pod. On the other hand I understand that tuition can be extremely expensive and sometimes overwhelming but to give up your right to vote is a bit much. To give up your one chance of actually voicing your opinions and being apart of the decision making process is some what crazy. Another reason why I think it would be crazy to give your voting rights is because when the wrong president is picked and doesn’t necessarily run the nation up to their standards; the people who have given up their right to vote would be the first ones to complain.
~* Ashley Wright*~
this shows how manipulative media can be and how misinformed peopel can get if they trust everythign they read and hear. When I read the politico version it became evident that the situation is not as bad as it was portrayed.
It is easy for me to relate to the results because I would also give my right to vote away for full tuition to NYU. NYU is a well-known college and is very expensive. So I would be saving almost $50,000 a year. Not to mention, I'll be giving away something I don't even use. Most people I know don't even register to vote, like myself. So it would perfectly okay with me to get my tuition paid if I went to NYU. There is so much talk about this because some people think that the right to vote is priceless. Some would argue that why would you give away something that people have faught for years over. But for me personally, it wouldn't hurt to give away my vote, since I don't use it anyways!
Elvin Ramos
if i were in the same situation as any of these nyu students, i would give away my right to vote for free tuition also. my friend goes to nyu and he saw this video and said he would give up his right to vote fro free tuition also
I believe it to be s easy to give up voting because most college students do not not see the affects voting can have because sometimes it is believed that the process is unjust. I think the decision is based on the type of student. In a way the method might work. If voting rights are given up, more students will attend college. Since people learn from other people, the "more educated" can educate those who are lacking such a benefit around them. These people are the youth. Therefore, by the older generation giving up their right to vote for education, the youth who is next in line to vote will be more educated then those before them. That's my logical opinion.
Venus
It seems that the right to vote is somewhat taken for granted.. For those of us who would exchange the right to vote for something like an ipod or college tuition or whatever, how about we just take away everyones' right to vote and just make America the new totalitarian country, huh.... how does that sound? so , before you decided to choose an ipod in exchange your right to vote, ask yourself that question again...
i personally believe that people have lost faith in voting. we don 't believe that we count anymore or that one vote can make a difference, especially since Bush's election . that's why it isn't surprising that students aren't too interested in politics and would rather get free tuition- at least that it worth something for them.
-Jenny U
Sean Dickenson
I think this shows us our today society is thinking. If they knew how hard people in the civil war and before that fought for us to vote they would not say this. I think they do not understand that people died for us to vote. Also they have to be put in an realistic situation to understand the meaning of voting.
Reading this post brought me to recall several conversations with my peers. I have come to see that many people that think that voting doesn’t make a difference. Many believe that their one vote won’t change anything. Well, how about looking at the overall picture? If thousands of people feel the same way and don’t vote, it becomes a bigger issue. That one vote multiplies and can change the outcome of an election. If you don’t vote you’re giving up your right to in simpler terms, complain about things you don‘t agree with in government. This nation has ideals that serve as a foundation for everyone. The structure of our government is so that we elect Representatives to represent us in Washington D.C., this is part of our indirect democracy. If people paid close attention to local politics than they might see a difference as it reaches national levels.
Jessica Gil TV24A
The idea of whether giving up a vote on something in exchange for another thing really depends on what kind of issues you're voting for. For example, if you are given a vote for an issue that is not your concern, you'd rather give it up and exchange for something that you concerns more. However, if you consider that vote is more important to you than anything else, you wouldn't give it up for other stuff because your vote counts and will alter the outcome.
Nowadays, an I-Phone is the most desirable item that every teenager would want to get, maybe that's why they want to exchange that for an opportunity to vote.
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