In a way, the upcoming election is just a big big distraction, a spectacle that is taking up a lot of attention that would be directed elsewhere.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those folks who is against voting. I've always voted and I think for this election it is even more important to vote, and I've talked to a lot of people who feel the same way, some who have never voted in a federal election who feel that they must this time. But voting is just the base level of involvement in civil society. You gotta do at least that, but you should do a lot more.
Lately it seems like the "a lot more" is eclipsed by watching debates and other election-related crap.
I've been involved with setting up and promoting 2 screenings of a film about the disappeared, murdered women in Juarez, Seņorita Extraviada. The first one was this tuesday, which conflicted with the vice-presidential debate. About 8 people showed up. The second one we stupidly scheduled for the same night as the last presidential debate, next Wednesday.
And every activist meeting I go to people say things like "oh the turnout was good considering it's election season." sigh.
In related news, PriceGrabber has a special election 2004 section. At first I saw it and thought it was just a crass new area for selling election-related crap, like stickers and t-shirts and yard signs, or something. But no, it's actually pretty freaking useful and almost radical in terms of excellent uses for web technology - it allows you to search for candidates and find out how much money they've raised for their campaign. Brilliant!! And it shows that Kerry has now raised more than Bush. That's pretty surprising.
Also today Mark Morford, that favorite spastic columnist of mine, writes along these lines, and expands out to an even bigger picture. But I swear I was intending to blog this general idea even before I saw his article! really!!
Posted by steev at Octubre 8, 2004 08:13 AM