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November 21, 2006
No more elections, no more suffocating ads
After this year’s midterm elections, Hamline’s campus felt a wide variety of emotions. Some of us with a more conservative bent may have thrown up our hands in frustration-others that are more sympathetic to the liberal point of view may have felt a certain degree of vindication that the Democrats have finally won.
As for me, I felt a greater overriding emotion-relief. Of course I recognize the vital importance of voting in a democratic society, and in particular the importance of my peers going out to the polls.
The aggressive marketing campaign from Halloween onward was threatening to make me lose my marbles. Everywhere I looked, it gazed unblinkingly back at me, reminding me of my vital civic duty. Not even my dorm room was a safe haven-Republicans and the DFL alike slipped little pieces of paper under my door letting me know why I should vote for their esteemed candidates. I got a flier warning me that “if I thought Halloween is scary, you don’t even want to think about a Democratic government! Tax hikes! Illegal immigrants!”
It’s a self-perpetuating problem-political ads need to get pushier and edgier to get our attention, and all these extra ads trying to be pushy and edgy make it more difficult for a politician to make successful advertising, so he or she must continue making his or her advertisements more attention-grabbing; the end result is a very cluttered living space for Hamline residents.
So I’m happy the elections are over. I’m glad that at last I can somewhat escape advertising in my own dorm. I can see the floor of my dorm room again, and aside from reminding me that I need to get a vacuum cleaner, it tells me that these aspiring political activists are no longer lurking in my building.
When will this advertising calm down for good? I perceive no end in sight. As long as politicians need votes, they’ll feel that they need advertising. I just hope that in the future, a thoughtful politician will decide to take the quieter, less aggressive route and leave my walls alone in favor of appealing to my aesthetic sense.
We can do research on our own, candidates: the best public servant is not the one with the most money spent on fliers and poster material. Put away your slogans, and try to grab our minds and hearts, not just our eyes.
Posted by dwright at November 21, 2006 08:11 PM
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