Voter Registration

[Andy Mancini]

I'm sorry, but there is something about the recent "register to vote" push that bothers me. While reading billboard.com, I came across an article on the new A Perfect Circle album, "eMOTIVe", which is supposedly has an anti-war/Bush slant. Later in the article, lead singer Maynard James Keenan implores us to register to vote. To be fair to APC, a lot celeberties (mainly musicians) are doing the exact same thing.

Is anyone else bothered by this? Getting people to vote is a noble and just thing to support, but not like this. It's almost as if these musicians are saying "register to vote... just as long as you don't vote for Bush." Chicago band OK Go (a personal favorite of mine and avid Kerry supporters) are registering people to vote at their shows. Now, let's say that I go to one of their shows and I want to register as a Republican. What do you think would happen?

Look, this is not a political thread. If anything, it has to do more with hyprocracy than anything that Bush or Kerry said or did in the past couple of months. I just bothers me how some people can push a political agenda while claiming to be non-partisan.

[Czar Gato]

Yeah, I get that vibe everytime I watch MTV (which isn't often, since the whole channel has fallen into a craphole). Although to be fair, they have done some reporting at the RNC. I wouldn't register to vote at a concert anyways, especially if I felt the band/singer was pushing their agenda down my throat (that goes w/ both Kerry and Bush supporters, btw).

[SSJPabs]

I'm sorry, but there is something about the recent "register to vote" push that bothers me. While reading billboard.com, I came across an article on the new A Perfect Circle album, "eMOTIVe", which is supposedly has an anti-war/Bush slant. Later in the article, lead singer Maynard James Keenan implores us to register to vote. To be fair to APC, a lot celeberties (mainly musicians) are doing the exact same thing.

Is anyone else bothered by this? Getting people to vote is a noble and just thing to support, but not like this. It's almost as if these musicians are saying "register to vote... just as long as you don't vote for Bush." Chicago band OK Go (a personal favorite of mine and avid Kerry supporters) are registering people to vote at their shows. Now, let's say that I go to one of their shows and I want to register as a Republican. What do you think would happen?

Look, this is not a political thread. If anything, it has to do more with hyprocracy than anything that Bush or Kerry said or did in the past couple of months. I just bothers me how some people can push a political agenda while claiming to be non-partisan.Not really. Individual groups or persons can support whomever they want or however they want. If someone you like has a differnet political view and are doing their best to make their view prevail then that's well within their rights. For instance a concert. If they are shilling for the Dems, and it matters to you more than the music, just don't go. For example, I will never listen to another Toby Keith song as long as I live, and I used to really like Toby Keith!

Am I trying to stop him? Am I threatening him? Destroying his proprety because of his political views? Will I look down on people who enjoy his music? No! And no one should. If they are actually registering people to vote at their shows they need to do so. In MANY states (BUT NOT ALL!) the registration process does not involve picking a party. So really obviously there's a huge push for Dems to get out the vote but they're not always going to ask you what party you side with. Now maybe if you are the kind of person who would start a band you are just more receptive to one party than another.

So basically I think you're hyper reacting to a much more massive push by Dems to get their base to the voting booths.

[EinBebop]

If they are shilling for the Dems, and it matters to you more than the music, just don't go. For example, I will never listen to another Toby Keith song as long as I live, and I used to really like Toby Keith!Shame there weren't more libs around like you when the whole Dixie Chicks fiasco went down. :D

[Merrytoon]

I'm a democrat, but I don't think it would bother me even if it were the other way around. I applauded George Bush for pushing voter registration in his speech when he visited here, even though I can't stand the guy. Different groups can tell you who they think you should vote for, but in the end, YOU'RE the one in the voting booth and you can vote for who you chose. They're just trying to get you to see their point of view, which is their right as Americans.

[sun]

Do it, if the whole thing turns you off, then don't vote that day, fine, your right, but at least a million have died for your right, so what if there is a voter reg at a concert, slanted toward one party, both sides are playing this game..The Republicans are trying to get church lists of evangilistic congergations so that they can get the names of those in the congration and register them, since they are so likely to vote--forget it, just register and vote for who you want..Stuart,,,,

[cross blues]

I think the whole thing has to do with younger kids (not all of them, but a large part) being more ignorant, just because they haven't been exposed to as much information. Also, the younger population is much more impressionable and these bands see that if they lead with something, they can probably get the youth to follow blindly. This isn't only about getting 18 year-olds to vote now, it's about warping the minds of 14 year-olds so they will grow up with the mindset that these bands want them to. And in my opinion, it couldn't be more wrong. People pay for tickets to see these shows. They go to be entertained, not to have political views crammed down their throats. I wouldn't have a problem with it if the purpose was to educate kids so they could make an informed decision, but this isn't like that at all. Most of the time it's about making Bush look like an evil warmonger. And that's just stupid.

[MrBananagrabber]

I think the whole thing has to do with younger kids (not all of them, but a large part) being more ignorant, just because they haven't been exposed to as much information. Also, the younger population is much more impressionable and these bands see that if they lead with something, they can probably get the youth to follow blindly. This isn't only about getting 18 year-olds to vote now, it's about warping the minds of 14 year-olds so they will grow up with the mindset that these bands want them to. And in my opinion, it couldn't be more wrong. People pay for tickets to see these shows. They go to be entertained, not to have political views crammed down their throats. I wouldn't have a problem with it if the purpose was to educate kids so they could make an informed decision, but this isn't like that at all. Most of the time it's about making Bush look like an evil warmonger. And that's just stupid.
I don't see how this is trying to brainwash kids or anything. If a band/artist leans towards one party and they want to plug it at their concert, then so be it. This is a huge election coming up, so of course most people are going to be active and voice their opinions.

[AndreaBeaumont]

This is hardly the case. Last year when I was part of the young democrats chapter at my HS we went to public places and registered people to vote and didn't care if you were repub or demo. We just want people to vote. It's important, great thing about our country. We had long friendly civilized convo's with some young repub's about views and stuff and they wanted to help register people at our public booths and they did! It's not always a squall line that divides republicans and democrats just some of the time.