As someone who lives in a country where voting is mandatory and no one even questions whether they should go or not, this whole situation feels so weird to me
In Australia, you get fined, if you have a valid reason the fine can be waived, but it has to be a good reason. Early voting is super super easy so there are a few reasons why you wouldn’t be able to
Countries where mandatory voting is in place doesn't mean you have to pick a candidate. You can vote for 'nobody' and your vote doesn't count for any candidate. You just fulfil your civic duty to vote.
I'm all for freedom of speech here etc but I also don't think it's right for a celebrity to have that much influence on something political like this. If as many people aren't as involved or informed enough, do we really want tons of people suddenly getting the urge to register to vote, especially when said celebrity is endorsing a specific candidate even if they didn't say who to vote for? Im glad someone outside the country sees the issue here. The cult like following said celebrity has is definitely not ideal.
uh, are you serious? she can't say who she's endorsing but we're okay with others spending billions to fund these campaigns? She can't tweet about the candidate she intends to vote for and encourage others to just vote (not even telling them to vote for Harris/Walz, but to just register and Vote), but you're cool with super PACs funding smear and disinformation campaigns to sway voters. Am I understanding this right?
False equivalency. You are taking these as direct attacks and standing resolutely in opposition to your stance. But in reality its people on the outside looking in and laughing at you.
Girl didn't do anything besides say who she's voting for and encourage others to register. And the person I'm responding to, and apparently you as well, think that somehow is a problem. Sure it's a problem we don't have compulsory voting, or that we have people that are uninformed enough to not be motivated into voluntarily voting without encouragement, but to act like someone encouraging them to get involved and get informed is an ISSUE is straight up delusional.
she can't say who she's endorsing but we're okay with others spending billions to fund these campaigns?
Now you are moving the goalposts. Okay, if you want my actual opinion, no neither her nor any political action committee should be able to influence elections. The reason being is that due to inequity of wealth it creates a lopsided speech where people who are incapable of performing critical thinking are then influenced to vote in a particular direction.
It undermines what a democracy is supposed to be. In an ideal society that is. Ours is so broken that we need massive reforms for our government to even be considered democratic, let alone to have appropriate political speech law enshrined.
I disagree that someone making a public statement about their voting decision is "influencing" elections. At what point to you became too popular to express your personal views? At what point do you become too popular to practice your first amendment right to speech?
EDIT: SHE TWEETED. She DIDN'T throw millions into a PAC like Musk, or use any of her wealth to fund advertising to pump a narrative. She posted a tweet on a public platform expressing her view and decision, and encouraged registration.
Glad to see this comment. I'm not necessarily criticising Harris, she certainly needs all the help she can get, but thinking about the fact that this many legal adults base their decisions to vote of all things off what their favourite celebrity says... This shouldn't be regarded or seen in any way as a win. And it's also decided purely by wheel of fortune — can easily work both ways. I'm rather taken aback by the amount of petulant comments countering the slightest hint of criticism and refusing to acknowledge this as an issue at all.
Except in this instance, you would have somehow forgotten your gutters needed cleaning when there's billboards everywhere reminding you, and the entire news cycle is dedicated to reminding you to clean your gutters. When friends and coworkers are talking about cleaning their gutters for the past fews months none of it rung any bells for you.
It was all until your favorite pop artist said that cleaning gutters is important that you remembered.
Young fans turning 18 and registering to vote because their idol inspired them to do so? At 18 I considered getting a Thug Life tattoo becuase Tupac was (still is) my favorite artist. I was young and whatever my favorite artist preached, I was all in on that.
The ignorance is 40-60 year olds voting for a celebrity that was a reality star and doing everything he tells them to. Whats your excuse?
Oh, please. Im sure the same shit would happen if Swift endorsed a politician in any country.
Dont blame Americans, blame Swifties. Who else but them is doing this? Europeans and Canadians always think they’re so fucking special. That Ukraine president’s a movie star himself. You’re going to mock that, too?
This is the country where the third pound burger failed because people thought it was smaller than the quarter pounder. Other nations have idiots, but ours are special.
Aww, are you mad a pop icon is inspiring her fan base to educate themselves and vote?!? Basically doing the exact thing our education system and govt has failed to do. Read her tweet numnuts. She says go read up on the policies that are important to you and vote accordingly.
The problem with it though is if people are really going to be interested because she says it, they're also more likely to vote for the same candidate that she endorses. If it wasn't such a large amount of people, it wouldn't be an issue but having that much influence is a cause of concern for something as important as voting for president.
Once again did you actually read what she said? Musicians are allowed to show support. Taylor didn’t tell her people to blindly vote for Kamala, she said Kamala supports the same side of policies she aligns with and that people should read up on the candidates and policies and vote accordingly. A very positive message. Small people just like to tear anything down they can.
What she says and what people will do without thinking are two different things. I'm aware of her message being positive and not telling people who to vote for but you and I both know it's unlikely to play out that way.
is it really that hard to get the point? people shouldn't need her to tell you why you should vote for Kamala. Doing it just because of it shows that they don't give a shit about it, they just want to please her, like the cult that they are
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u/chicasparagus 6d ago
A testament to how stupid and ignorant Americans actually are cos it takes a pop star’s endorsement to get them to vote.