Chances are you’ve gotten a link in an e-mail to a YouTube video, followed the link, and spent a few moments watching a video of paper turkeys eating a pumpkin pie. Okay, so maybe not paper turkeys, but it was something funny, dangerous, cute, or just plain stupid.
The big question to be asked is - why? Setting aside the obvious joy of passing an afternoon watching potato wrestling, a dog driving a car or any number of people hurting themselves, as well as the guilty pleasure of surfing the net at work, why do we feel the need to make ourselves into instant worldwide stars and collect our 2 minutes of fame? Why do we feel the need to watch?
I’m of the “wasting-time-at-work” variety myself, but I did some asking around just to see what people would say. A couple of people like to watch music videos, most people prefer the funny and outrageous videos. No one had any idea why anyone would post a video of themselves falling off a skateboard and landing hard on a stair railing, though a couple people suggested that posting videos of friends hurting themselves would be funny.
Whatever the reason, YouTube has become such a part of popular culture that politicians are jumping on the bandwagon and using it to promote themselves. Last Thursday, the Republicans threw a debate and we were all invited to come ask questions. The same thing was done last summer with the Democrats. It’s a modern day version of the town hall meeting, set up for a much larger village. On the surface, it’s a good idea. Real people asking real questions to get a feel for who these politicians are when they aren’t reading from a prepared mental script. Catch them off guard, we think, ask them if they wear boxers or briefs, see how fast they think on their feet.
The problem comes when a few thousand questions are sent in and there is only time for 34 of them to be answered. Surprisingly, all of the questions that were sent in were serious, versus the Democratic debate that featured a question asked by a snowman. Maybe it’s my doubting soul, but I’m very curious when the only people who had questions to ask were serious, conservative voters.
I’m interested to see what will come in the future as the internet becomes more and more the media of choice to reach voters and if it encourages more people to be interested in the running of the country. By the number of videos I found featuring stunts gone wrong and people applying themselves to the pavement with force, YouTube certainly encourages some sort of action. Then again, I’m not sure if it’s YouTube or gravity that’s having the most impact.
Article by Jenn
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