i don't see why everyone is interpreting low voter turnout among the youth as a bad thing.

have you ever had a political discussion with people in our age range? i'm glad they're nowhere near the polls

He may be overestimating some people, but he's on the right track. The "i-dun-give-a-shit" lot are present (and probably plentiful) in every demographic Ronin mentioned; they tend to be the ones, IF they vote, who will be swayed more by the buzz within their demographic. They hear all the "smart" people around them talking about how good "Party X" is, they're more likely to vote for Party X, because well, that's what the smart folk like and they must know better because they're smart.

And so Ronin's point stands: nobody is PROPERLY playing to the buzz-spreaders in "the Internet generation" demographic. They sway the necessary percentage of the soccer moms and the ethnic minorities and the blue collar working stiffs, and they get a buzz going within those demos. But the older segments of those demos are shrinking and the new members aren't keeping up the buzz, and so the "i-dun-no-how-to-vote" gang, having nobody to follow, just stay home.

^^ I fully agree that those who are ill-informed should not be voting at all. But ignorance is different from apathy.

The problem is, just because an age group is apathetic doesn't mean they do not have needs and interests that needs the government's attention. But because of their apathy (and low voter turn out), political parties are not giving their needs and interest their fair share of attention.

And then for those who care, they are stuck in the abyss because their age group doesn't draw enough clout.

what is "our age range"?

maybe you are hanging out with the wrong people...

I'm 31 and the people my age are well informed and we always have drunken political discussion's.

i'm in my early 20s

anyways look at the majority of people with post secondary education - they simply parrot what they learn in school without ever questioning, and have few life experiences as supplemtary knowledge

Well, I'm 32 and almost everyone I associate with are well informed and actively participate in political discussions.

I'd even cautiously assume that he majority of people who participated in this thread at 27-28+.

A little sad the younger gen of RS was not really interested....

Double LOL at the Vancouver Sun photo from this afternoon:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-...ry/8390048.jpg

well, people in your age range typically have life experiences, and more general knowledge that leads to greater political awareness

whereas within my age range, many people who do hold political opinions tend to merely mirror what they have learnt in school, as that forms the majority of their experiences and perspective

Of course she will, and no it's not - it's happened before, and it's something that's expected to be a possibility in our system... so much so, there's a specific process in place to deal with it: another MLA in a strong Liberal riding steps down, CC takes his seat, and a by-election is held. Now losing THAT vote would be embarrassing... but that's why you choose the riding carefully.

[quote=godwin;8237719]Let me guess, you are too young to remember Glen Clark? Corrupt and Dix+Clark kinda go hand in hand.
A friend was very big the last couple days on admonishing people for bringing up the infamous memo without actually knowing what the memo was about... I say, that's really irrelevant. The issue is that Dix was nailed for and admitted to fraud - the content of the fraud really doesn't matter.

It amuses me that all these supporters are bitching about the government not helping to keep their employer coming back... how about their employer being a fickle bitch with no interest in them or their jobs, who places the bottom line even above their own souls?

This one's kind of amusing to me, for the fact that the BC ecoweenies aren't screaming about it just as much as they were over the BC route... because, what, if a pipeline break happens in the Yukon, it's going to get into the rivers, and then just STOP when it reaches the BC border? Nevermind the pipeline would have to either cut into BC, or cut across the Alaska panhandle to actually get to the ocean... it's not a problem to BC's coasts if a tanker spill happens there, just as long as the tanker didn't come out of Kitimat? If something is a bad idea because of potential environmental damage, then it's still a bad idea no matter which side of a Provincial border it happens on... right? Or maybe not...

As opposed to undereducated males? :whistle:

Nailed it. Bringing the level of education into it is retarded. Some of the "smartest" people don't have high-level formal educations.

But if you want to look at it that way, consider Clark's victory speech, which very rightly started off acknowledging ALL those who put their names on the ballots and put themselves out there for all the abuse and back-biting and bullshit that politicians are subjected to - you step up to that plate, you're willingly putting yourself up for ridicule. Maybe all those highly-educated "smart" people are simply too smart to put themselves out there in that way.

Really? Resorting to twisting my words in some weird effort to make it seem like I'm sexist? Fuck off.

Oh so now because I think education is important for people running ministries (or the province) I'm retarded? Or because I don't have the same requirement for credentials as you do? Or because I have a different opinion? Where do you get off calling me retarded because I value a person's education in that sort of position. By the way I have an uncle who's severely mentally retarded and lives in a government assisted home (which the Liberal government has tried to cut over the years), so you're really showing YOUR level of intelligence level by using that as a slur against me or anyone else. Weren't you posting in the thread about using fag and gay as a derogatory word to describe something negative? Interesting, fucking hypocrite.

I already qualified what I said by noting that I realize there are several people in this world that do not have an education and are very successful, they are independantly intelligent and just didn't fit into the system of public or private education, that's fine, but the examples I listed are definitely not part of that group.

You're the one who specifically called out "undereducated females". Why not just "undereducated candidates"? How does their being women have anything at all to do with it?

Because the 2 candidates that I used as examples that I know anything about were both females asshole.

No, you're retarded for twisting MY words. Sure education is important. "Higher" education, or at least your definition of it, shouldn't necessarily be a breaking point, including for the party leader. There are plenty of things that rank far above having a bunch of letters after one's name.

B.C. 2013 election results: Who won in which ridings in Tuesday? | Canadian Politics | Canada | News | National Post

The whole coast north of Comox took NDP.

Yep, that's exactly it. No big politician has properly embraced the new media. Sure, as Romney demonstrated, you'll influence the boomers and older folks but, as Obama demonstrated, that generation is hitting that point where they're no longer the age group with the most pull.

I don't know about you guys but I check Twitter for the latest news. Not the TV, not even a website...I look to the people I follow and if they don't have anything, I can probably search for a hashtag. People that think Twitter is stupid aren't seeing it for what it really is...a complete real-time worldwide public communication network. That idea just blows my mind. You can get on-the-ground real time coverage of the Syrian civil war if you wanted.

I don't know how exactly a politician can harness this power to their advantage...that's for people with fancy political science majors to think up, I guess...but I think it's pretty clear that the current way people think of political campaigning is (or will be a few year down the road) a waste of money.

I think of them like pop-up ads. Just about everyone that grew up with the Internet...so 35 and below...is smart enough to tell what an ad on the Internet looks like and ignores them. I don't know about you but even when an ad is relevant, I still won't click them. However, think about how many pieces of spyware are on your parents' computers because they thought they were the millionth visitor and won a free iPad or that they were getting a free "virus scan and cleaning" from that nice website that just wanted to help.

ugh, you have no idea!

on a weekly basis my mom is calling me because she has "some virus" on her computer. she also EASILY gets 400-500 spam emails daily. keeps saying it is "telus' fault".

im like :rukidding: STAHP CLICKING THINGS!!!!!!! STAHP ENTERING YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS INTO EVERY SITE!!

I think it starts with accessibility. How many politicians have a Twitter but have an aide handle it for them? In this era of complete accessibility to EVERYONE ON THE FUCKING PLANET, that's just not going to cut it anymore. This is the Internet...where anyone can Tweet @KanyeWest and ask him what color panties @KimKardashian has on right this second.

Obama was the first (actually, Mike Huckabee...but then he BYUAAAAAH fucked it up) big time politician to truly take on Twitter but even he seldom tweeted himself. He does some pretty darn awesome things, though, like Reddit AMA. Obama hasn't even fully embraced social media but he does it better than anyone else on the big stage. Could you imagine a head of state that was just fucking cool on their Twitter or Faceboook? Like if Chris Hadfield was PM and he was just a regular dude and liked peanut butter sandwiches. Think about all the cool politicians mentioned above.

That's why I like Obama so much. You never get the idea that he's a big phony...that the personality he projects to the world is completely fake. Look at Mitt Romney. He kisses babies and hugs black people then goes to his rich white friends and tells them how the 47% are ripping them off. Yes, I'm sure Obama also has to make sure he doesn't say any stupid shit but whether he cracks a joke or gives a speech, he sounds sincere. Even Hillary Clinton won some cool points participating in the Texts from Hillary meme. Every joke Obama cracks goes viral. Think about how much more effective that is than any campaign ad you see on TV.

It might be unreasonable or counter-productive to expect the Prime Minister to post every one of his meals to Instagram or answer every one of the thousands of tweets they get but c'mon...everyone has a second to pull out their phone and talk to a few people themselves from time to time.

You should run for prime minister in the next election.

VOTE RONIN

Only for a white girl to win.

The thing with Obama is he was a community organiser, he had experience on how to make people feel that he is relating to them.. vs Mitt who is grows up and live in the executive suites, where relating to people is usually handled by PR. I doubt Obama or Kanye handles every tweet personally, but they have experience to know where to draw the line when PR has gone amok.

Justin Trudeau also had a simliar start with being a teacher and doing a lot of grunt work.

On paper, we need people who are both good with discerning facts and are well studied.. and also have the street smarts as a politician. Unfortunately reality tend to skew one or the other. Honestly the generation of undereducated female had long passed, when my dad graduated from med school it was 90 male : 10 females.. when my sister graduated it was 20 males and 80 females. Males are just not that good academically.

Election party at Sun Sui Wah!

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