2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographSex sells politics
By Hetal Bhatt
Posted: 9/28/04 Section: News
- < prev Page 2 of 2
Although each group says they are attending to peoples' everlasting desire for sex, student reactions to the groups have been rather lukewarm.
"I think it's great," said Neil Schindelar, freshman in ACES. "It could get a lot of people to vote because they know they'll probably get to have sex along with it."
But fellow student Devin Chambers, freshman in LAS, thinks the groups are tarnishing many people's moral values.
"I think it's very unethical because it's like soliciting prostitution to people in order to make them vote with your cause," Chambers said.
Collins disputed that argument, and said that incorporating sex into politics is not immoral at all.
"First of all, there's no prostitution involved except possibly buying someone dinner and drinks," she said. "Secondly, patriotism and sex go hand-in-hand together. Both are fundamental rights of ours and they are what keeps America going. Without sex, America would come to a grinding halt without any grinding."
Along with the debate over Votergasm's morality, Chambers also is skeptical that F' The Vote's sex-driven advocacy methods will succeed.
"I doubt it'll be effective at all because the people who are supposedly pledging not to vote for Bush might only say that because they want to have sex at that particular time," he said. "But when they enter the voting booth, they'll probably still vote for Bush. At least, that's what I would do."
Ultimately, it is not the sex that the groups are focused upon but the prospect of getting young Americans involved and getting each other involved in the November elections. Martin said that even if associating sex with politics is an easy way to get young people talking, it's not the sole approach to starting dialogue between them.
"People can argue whether our tactics are right or wrong, but in the end, our goal is to create some communication between politically opposite people who normally would never associate with each other," he said. "Whether or not they're having sex is not the important thing; the important thing is whether they're talking to each other."
"I think it's great," said Neil Schindelar, freshman in ACES. "It could get a lot of people to vote because they know they'll probably get to have sex along with it."
But fellow student Devin Chambers, freshman in LAS, thinks the groups are tarnishing many people's moral values.
"I think it's very unethical because it's like soliciting prostitution to people in order to make them vote with your cause," Chambers said.
Collins disputed that argument, and said that incorporating sex into politics is not immoral at all.
"First of all, there's no prostitution involved except possibly buying someone dinner and drinks," she said. "Secondly, patriotism and sex go hand-in-hand together. Both are fundamental rights of ours and they are what keeps America going. Without sex, America would come to a grinding halt without any grinding."
Along with the debate over Votergasm's morality, Chambers also is skeptical that F' The Vote's sex-driven advocacy methods will succeed.
"I doubt it'll be effective at all because the people who are supposedly pledging not to vote for Bush might only say that because they want to have sex at that particular time," he said. "But when they enter the voting booth, they'll probably still vote for Bush. At least, that's what I would do."
Ultimately, it is not the sex that the groups are focused upon but the prospect of getting young Americans involved and getting each other involved in the November elections. Martin said that even if associating sex with politics is an easy way to get young people talking, it's not the sole approach to starting dialogue between them.
"People can argue whether our tactics are right or wrong, but in the end, our goal is to create some communication between politically opposite people who normally would never associate with each other," he said. "Whether or not they're having sex is not the important thing; the important thing is whether they're talking to each other."
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.