Election Day

[GreatScott]

Originally Posted by Jono

Seems the voters in Oregon and Alaska know whats up.

Mmmhmm

[antiant]

Originally Posted by Desmoluci

This is America, if you choose not to vote, that is your right.

Absolutely, but many who choose not to or voice that they don't, often get bombarded with ignorant or illogical statements. Statements such as, "You have no right to complain," "You're uniformed," "You're apathetic," etc. There's also uniformed voters, too. I find these statements problematic because it is assuming that there is only one way to make a difference and that is through the concept of voting. It's also assuming that you're not intelligent, or that you don't care, as I stated earlier. The same goes with the phrase "serving your country." It is often propagated that to serve your country you have to do that via the military, but guess what? There are other ways to "serve" your country, the military is just one option and or choice. This type of thinking permeates this culture and it's problematic.

Before voting was a right for some people (women, people of color, etc) they still had a voice, they still found other means to change something they didn't like, despite not having the right to vote. If you take the illogical statement, "You have no right to complain because you didn't vote." Could you apply that same "logic" back in the times of slavery where it wasn't even a right? Did they still have a "right" to complain, if they weren't even allowed to vote? You see how that statement falls flat on its face? Voting didn't give people their voice, if they weren't allowed to vote. They still managed to change things without voting. When you put it in this context, you can see how empty those statements are.

Having choice(s), gives you a voice. To not vote, doesn't mean that you aren't doing something, you're just not doing it the way the "majority" is doing it. Choosing to vote (or not) is just one action that someone can do because we have freedom of choice. Voting is not synonymous with voice, it's just an action of many actions that you can or can't do because of choice.

Originally Posted by Desmoluci

If you have an idea for a better "system" and "different alternatives and methods", there are a lot of people who would be interested in hearing them.

There are a lot of ideas on better systems, but if your source of information comes from major media conglomerates then of course you're not going to hear about them because it doesn't serve the media's best interest. Ratings pay, why would they gamble on other sources of information, when this is a sure cash cow? If you let things (people, groups, etc) dictate to you their information, then you're at fault for thinking that's the only option. You (the general you) must broaden where you get your information, if all you know is one option. This goes with most things in life. Alternatives are plentiful, you just have to do the research. The internet is a valuable way to find alternative sources of information on many different things and so is the library.

Originally Posted by Desmoluci

The great thing about our country is that we can agree to disagree.

You can do that in other countries too, not just America, but yes, that is a great thing.

[Somchai]

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

Is that just for Russians or the rest of the world too?

That's for Russians and it means that no russian data may be stored outside their borders.
But it also means that Google and Apple could build server farms inside the Russian borders and store the data there, but with the internet there would be no safety that they could be transfered to the U.S., by the way China already has prohibited the usage of MS-Products in Government Offices, IBM is in problems to sell their products worldwide and so are others: Cisco, Dell, HP and many more.

[CC Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Somchai

That's for Russians and it means that no russian data may be stored outside their borders.
But it also means that Google and Apple could build server farms inside the Russian borders and store the data there, but with the internet there would be no safety that they could be transfered to the U.S., by the way China already has prohibited the usage of MS-Products in Government Offices, IBM is in problems to sell their products worldwide and so are others: Cisco, Dell, HP and many more.

At least Progresso will still be able to communicate. Their high tech system used on their commercials has been around for a long time and is un-hackable ("un" not meaning United Nations).