Are you too afraid to leave your dorm room on Election Day? Don’t want to get information about the polls on the television? Well many people seem to feel this way but luckily, they can once again hide from the real world, log onto Second Life, and virtually experience their ideal reality. On Second Life, there are different places set up for each of the two presidential candidates where they pass out free political tee-shirts and buttons for presidential supporters. Much like at the polls in real life, there are volunteers available to explain their candidate’s policies and try and sway votes in the last few moments. Well when I read this all, I thought that this is nice but why not just go out and vote? So I logged onto Second Life and teleported to Barrack Obama’s campaign headquarters. I was immediately approached by a man in an Obama ’08 Tee-shirt who asked me if I was registered to vote and if I voted yet. I told him that I indeed did vote and thanked me and went on to encourage others to log off of Second Life and get out to the polls. Then I eavesdropped on some other conversations near me. A few people were talking about Sarah Palin. Some liked her while others most certainly expressed a negative and harsh opinion towards her. Others were discussing the Presidential Bash on Saturday Night Live last night and I did not add into the conversation but I directed my avatar to laugh.
I was not surprised at all at the political environments on Second Life. I think it is actually a wonderful environment for the mere fact that discussing politics with people that you actually know can prove to be not such a wonderful situation. We tend to often have much different opinions that people that we care about so conversations concerning politics are often avoided. Lately, I have been constantly watching it on the television but that does not provide me with any means to talk or ask questions to the people who are voicing their opinions. However, if I log onto Second Life, I can ask questions to people and tell them what I think without the fear of being reprimanded. Will we soon not even have to leave the house to vote? I project that in the near future, there will be a way to cast your vote from your desk.
References:
SecondLife.com
3 comments:
I completely agree with the fact that Second Life is a good place to talk politics. I know that I hate politics and I was talking with my parents about the election in order to get some information, and my dad flipped out on me for sticking up for Obama about some situation we were talking about. He then proceeded to tell me that now matter what I try to tell him, I could not convince him to vote for Obama, which I wasn't even trying to do in the first place. So I think that it is great to have a place to go to where you can talk politics without hurting your relationships with your friends and family.
I can definitely see a future where voting on the internet is an option. But I think that it will be longer in the making, especially because many of the elderly people now would probably not know how to use the internet in order to vote. Plus, I think that many people like the tradition of going to the polls. But it doesn't matter how you vote, just that you do it!
Let me first of all say that I love how you made your three paragraphs red, white, and blue Kristen!! Very creative. I can definitely now see how Second Life can maybe be useful to some people even though I'm not personally a fan of the virtual world. You made some very good points about how it gives people a place to voice their opinions over the two candidates and just politics in general. Talking to friends and family about politics can be a hot-button discussion. I hate fighting with friends about politics so I guess it would be nice to just go online and fight with people I don't know about politics instead! I think it's cool that Second LIfe gives you that option but don't be too harsh with the people you're talking too because that too can make you mad even though its not a face to face argument.
First off, I thourghly enjoyed your satirical first paragraph. Secondly, that is an interesting thought and with the way technology is going, it is a sincere possibility that this may occur. Maybe we will just have to log on to a website with a
one-time use name and password, cast our vote, and log off with a feeling of contenment for joining in the democratic process of our nation. That truly is very interesting to think about.
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