Sunday, February 10, 2008

Tell me what is best for me



A friend sent me this link to find that helps you decide what candidate you should vote for. My initial reaction was that it is pretty cool. I really have been going back and forth trying to decide between Obama and Clinton.
I answered a bunch of questions and according to their results I should pick Obama for President. Clinton was a very close second.

First off I do believe that this web site is legit but the cynic in me does wonder.
What if a certain candidate/organization/demonic person set up a web site similar to this one and fooled people into believing that they should vote for their candidate of choice? I mean what if a fanatic Barack Obama supporter put up this site in which no matter how a person responded they were going to be fooled into believing that they were most closely aligned with the beliefs and values of Obama regardless? What if Obama actually won an election because of a misleading "select a candidate" web site?

I believe a scenario like this is entirely possible because we Americans would much rather have decisions made for us then to actually have to do the work of forming opinions based on personal investigation. It is much more convenient to be told what we want, what we like, what we should do then to actually take the time to decide these things on our own.
Situations like this happen every day.

Just yesterday I was at Chickfil-a and I was unsure of what I wanted.
Chickfil-a worker: Which combo would you like?
Altmike: Um.... (I didn't realize I wanted a combo....I guess I do)
Chickfil-a worker: You want a chickfil-a chargrilled chicken sandwich?
Altmike: Um....well....um....yeah sure.
Chickfil-a worker: Ok then you want combo #2. You want to supersize that?
Altmike: Um....well...um yeah ok.

The point being....
Day in and day out we are being led into situations that may or may not be in our best interest. In hind site, I should have had a garden salad! I didn't want all that bread! And fries!
Besides, did I even take a second to see what a combo included and figure out if it really was a "deal" and if it actually saved me money...or whether what I was being led to was even actually good for me? Nah, too much work.

And as for the "select a candidate" website...
I realized that after I responded to the questions and got my Obama-friendly results, I didn't even take the time to see why I was most aligned with Obama according to......them.
When I went back and really looked over the issues from a number of different sources I saw that the candidate that best represented my views and values was....Hillary Clinton.

Be careful.
Be wary.

Somewhere below the radar screen there is a possibility that you are being force fed into believing a certain candidate running for the highest office in this country is most aligned with your values much the same way you are being force fed a chargrilled chicken value meal at Chick fil-A.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm an Obama volunteer who likes the original Chickfil-a sandwich, no so much the grilled one. Hmmm...seriously, if someone voted only because they took one of those surveys, yikes! Most of the Obama supporters I've met so far have seemed to be well informed, though I can't quite say that of the Clinton supporters or people I've called. Still, ignorance abounds in every camp, and sometimes a sandwich is a good choice not because of its marketing, but just because its damn tasty!

Anonymous said...

You're probably the only person in America who eats at Chick-a-fil votes for Hillary since she has yet to get a vote below the Mason Dixon line, and Chick-a-fil's have no market share above the Mason Dixon line.

I look at an old calendar from 1986 and I think of McCain. I look at a Franklin Planner from 1998 and I think of Hillary. Obama is the 16 gig I-Phone.

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