This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »
Do not allow paid political advertising on radio, tv, and internet.
Mass media is arguably the primary influence on the average person's decision-making. It was for this reason that tobacco product advertising was stopped. Political ads have become not much more than attempts to persuade voters to vote NO for something or someone. Most of the content is negative and derogatory, if not outright false. Useful, truthful information is getting more scarce with each election. More muck gets raked every time the campaign season rolls around. Better we should exercise personal initiative to inform ourselves about candidates and issues. Billions of advertising dollars are at stake so the mass media will probably flaunt their powers of influence to stop any such effort, I know the tobacco lobby sure did.
Closing Statement from edward long
123 comments by 23 participants covered the spectrum from status quo to take the vote away from women!
8 people agree with the idea of stopping paid political ads on electronic mass media. 15 people have other ideas. Most believe there is a problem with campaign ethics. Some of the suggestions are: free air time for candidates with fact checking; third party ads ok but not endorsed by candidates; do what other countries do; repeal sufferage; people need information made available to them because they will not get it themselves; a 9-step program was itemized in detail; purge voter ignorance by force-feeding education; all advertising is propaganda; people have already made up their minds so ads don't have much influence; 2 people like the idea but feel it is too difficult to execute (the tobacco ad prohibition carried little weight); one person prefers the status quo; one thinks negative ads are helpful. Thanks to all who shared their wisdom and energy. I will see if TED will allow a debate on this.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.
Daryl Roche
and until recently, they have politely kept that reality in the background so we can continue to live under the false assumption that they are otherwise qualified and decent human beings with our best interests at heart. Now they are more bold and less "polite" about obscuring these aspects of our political system and your.......
surprised?......
seriously.....you expect the rubber manufacturers to "re-invent" the wheel........
it is not the system that is flawed, it is the processes that support the system that need to change
edward long 100+
Daryl Roche
The system is broken from the inside......simply ending PPAs, a slippery slope of censoring free speech btw, will not miraculously fix the problems inferred by this discussion and may potentially create even greater issues down the road.... though I don't disagree something must be done to pull money out of the processes used to elect our leadership......
You've alluded to it here, an information pipeline, accessible to everyone, facts, voting records, employment histories, qualifications, plain english explanations of proposals and bills, ect. paid for by media as the cost of doing business in our country, checked for accuracy, and so on.....
But, this is only part of a much larger and complex problem that needs to be addressed before we can have and expect accountability within our broken democratic system....
Corporations are People, effectively negating "One person, One Vote"
Vast amounts of money contributed by "ghost" entities
No Accountability for Lying to the public in or out of office
Less than half the electorate actually voting
Rampant ignorance among the voting populace of the processes of government
PACs, Lobbyists, the list goes on and on....
An argument against the "Mass Media" as the Primary Influence on our decision-making during elections falls short...
just sayin
edward long 100+