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Hey yall! For those of you who don't know me, I'm kc12. Before I begin, I would
just like to say that these are my opinions, and no one has to agree with them. =)
Anyways I'm just writing with regards to the recent senator race. I would
like to congratulate Alicia and Suga246 on running a great race and OrEoBaBy on
her victory.
In one of last week's articles I noticed that City Hall was questioning why this
election didn't receive as many votes as the previous election, which was the
first election Whyville ever had, by the way. I feel that many Whyvillians, including myself, lost
interest in the election this time 'round.
It wasn't until a couple days before
the debate that I got around to reading each candidate's platform. I also went to
the debate; it was very interesting to see how each candidate responded to the
questions they were being asked. But something was missing from this race.
I know the running for senator isn't a popularity contest; however,
I do
feel that candidates running for senator should be a little more involved in
Whyville. I'm not saying all of them weren't, by the way. But I'd noticed that only one of
the candidates wrote articles in the Whyville Times before the senator race.
Okay... so everyone's not a writer... but what about owning a store, being a Y-mail
helper, or participating MediaWiz's Media Hour etc? As I said before, I'm not
saying all of them failed to do these things. I just believe that if you're
going to be the person to represent Whyvillians, you should be really active and
involved in Whyville.
I was very curious to know how my fellow Whyvillians went about voting for their
new senator. So I surveyed a wide variety of Whyvillians and asked them the
following questions. The most common responses I got are written below the
questions:
1. Did you follow the recent senator race? (Yes, no, what's the senator race?)
Sorry to say, but the majority of Whyvillians answered no to this question.
2. Did you read each candidate's platform?
Once again, Whyvillians either said 'no' or 'not all of it' to this question.
3. a) Did you vote?
Even though many Whyvillians didn't follow the race, or take the time to read
each candidate's platform they voted anyway! This leaves me wondering what they
based their votes on...
b) If you answered yes, what made you vote for the person that you did?
For this question I got responses like: 'they seemed nice,' 'I thought they would
make a good senator,' 'I forget' (I couldn't believe that answer), 'they won last
time' (no comment), 'I liked her hair,' 'she looked pretty'... and the list goes
on....
4. How often do you read the Whyville Times? (Often, sometimes, rarely, never)
I think this is one of the problems. Doing this survey, I learned that the
majority of Whyvillians read the paper sometimes or rarely, which is very
unfortunate, because they are missing out on so much!
From all the information I gathered, I realized that many Whyvillians miss out
on a lot cool activities and fun stuff by not reading the Whyville Times. If
Whyvillians didn't bother to read the platforms in the Times, or the debate
transcript (if they missed the debate), and have no knowledge about each of the
candidates (except for how they look and "seem"), then how could they
cast an informed vote?
Well,
from the above information you can see that that's what many of the votes were
based on. This survey leaves me wondering whether this was a fair race. Don't get
me wrong, I am definitely not saying that OrEoBaBy is undeserving of being
senator; she as well as the other two candidates had great ideas as to how to
improve Whyville!
Overall, I guess I'm trying to say that there needs to be a way to attract more
people to read the Whyville Times. As Alicia said, there should be more things
in the Times like contests, comics, etc. Another thing that could be done is
sending important information from the Times right to our Y-mail.
I believe one
of the problems is that many Whyvillians get the wrong idea about the Times. If
they knew more about what the Times had to offer, then maybe they would more want
to read it. A lot of people only see Whyville as a place where they can meet
people and chat... but it's more than that, a lot more! If something is done to the
Times to make it more appealing, then I'm sure many people will realize that!
Editor's Note: It's true, according to recent statistics from
City Hall, a surprisingly small number of Whyvillians read the Times regularly.
That's why we're trying to advertise our little paper more effectively. What other ways we can we encourage folks to read the paper?
Also, how do we make the senate race more interesting?
Isn't it important that everyone get involved in politics? Otherwise,
you're less likely to be represented by the people you like and trust -- that
goes double for the real world! Or does it? What do you think??
One more question -- how many folks did you actually survey, kc12? Please let us know in the BBS! Thanks!!
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