The student blog for Drake University first year seminar entitled Visual Politics

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Election Gameday

                November 2nd, 2010 was Election Day here in America.  Many people are eager for the final the results as they wait in hope that the person they voted for is successful in the polls.  There was much news coverage on just about every news station out there. 
                As I watched CNN and a number of other news stations I examined all the graphics on the screen trying to figure out what it all meant.  As I started to understand the thought of how much this whole day is like game day for a sport.  People wearing colors for the party in which they support, at the bottom of the screen it shows results of elections in other states just as a sports station would.  The more I thought about this the more this whole election just seems like a game.  Who can control the most seats in the house and senate?  Politicians are filling our heads with negativity of the opponent running against them.  I feel like this whole day was just like game day and I feel like the news stations did not help the case. 
                The stations had a counter on the bottom of the screen that showed how close either side was to controlling the house or the senate.  The backgrounds of the news stations have many fancy T.V.s that displayed the results when they would come in.  They had many reporters from all the different states gathering information and interviewing people.  Every so often when a politician would win, they would televise their acceptance speech and them thanking their supporters. 
                I feel like politics has been turned into a game then people working together to create a better country.  It seems like all everyone cares about is what party you are, whether you support blue or red.  I feel like people need to get back to the real purpose of making the country a better place.  With the republicans controlling the house it will be interesting seeing what progress will be made in the years to come.
Alex Kaster

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