Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2004/10/29/p_wright_meets_p_diddy_votes_bad_boys_for_life.php
Friday, October 29, 2004
Sean Combs—Puff Daddy—P. Diddy—is finally speaking out on the burning issues of the day. The hip-hop impresario recently launched a campaign to encourage young people to vote called 'Vote or Die.' If you believe "Citizen Combs" (as he references himself of late), America's kids are constantly let down by the political process and it's our duty to do something about it. The main thrust of his movement involves Vote or Die designer clothing, which will be hawked in high-end department stores and over the internet.
But why speak, when Diddy can do so for himself? And far more eloquently, I might add: "We have the power to make things cool, hot, and sexy—from the clothes we wear to the cars we drive to the bling we buy," he declared. "Now we're going to make voting cool. We are the true leaders of today."
These are fine autumn days at the College, the skies clear, the air crisp, the leaves towards the end of their turning, and the bonfire architecture for Dartmouth Night confidently raised on the Green. But even mellow Hanover can't elude the Siren songs of pop culture. As Alisha Levine '07 told the Daily Dartmouth, "I think that Rock The Vote, P. Diddy, and Outkast are doing a great job making the concept of voting attractive to college-age voters. They are all super-cool—if they are doing it then it must be the cool thing to do."
Many here are hoping to make voting just as super-cool. James Wright—President Wright—P. Wright—urged young people to "speak out" in his Convocation address, because "the long-term health of our political system depends upon the engagement of the young—upon your engagement." Linda Kennedy, the director of Student Activities, organized an event with the Town Clerk that simplified the registration process for students who want to vote in New Hampshire. "We served fifty pizzas and two-hundred red, white, and blue cookies," Kennedy said. "And we registered hundreds of students."
Kaelin Goulet '07 founded 'Vote Clamantis in Deserto,' a non-partisan student organization that wants more Dartmouth students to have their druthers. "I think it's hot to be politically active," Ms. Goulet explained. "Voting," apparently, "is the new pink," so Vote Clamantis issued a catalogue of reasons for young people to vote, like "to feel important," "because you get a free sticker," "because everyone is doing it," and "because P. Diddy votes."
Now, in fairness, these are quite obviously tongue-in-cheek, and the list included a few sound points ("because your ancestors died for it," for instance, or "because a lot of good tea was thrown out so you can"). But most are along the lines of, "because MTV is actually trying to rock your vote."
Not incidentally, 'Rock The Vote,' MTV's national advocacy group, was on campus last week, headlining a rally on the lawn in front of Dartmouth Hall. Rock The Vote president Jehmu Greene served as keynote speaker, joining Vermont Representative Bernie Sanders and John Kerry's 'Energy Advisor' Dan Reicher '78 for an afternoon that promised to be "THE pre-election event of the season."
But it was notable only for its banality. It's no surprise that the "non-partisan" grounds for the rally were quickly and transparently discarded or that the rhetoric lilted entirely leftward. It's no surprise that the 'Bread and Puppet Street Show' was uncomfortable and abstruse, the chanteuses shrieking something incoherent about boots and chicken soup. It's no surprise that a precocious slam poet dismissed the President as a "cokehead frat-boy" (that's P. Bush, not P. Wright). And though practically all the pepperpot shouted from the podium demanded an exclamation point—Get involved! Get pissed off! Speak up! Speak out! Make a difference! Make your voice heard! Make some noise! Be loud! Just vote!—it's no surprise that so much of it went over like so much wet cement.
That's because there is a great deal of frivolity to it all. There ought to be ways and means enough to involve the politically-minded kids without resorting to calls about 'street cred.' Rather, these appeals are the crassest kind: they're targeted at disinterested, apathetic, or ignorant young people, to gull them into casting a ballot. As Brown Professor James Morone saw it at a panel discussion here, "You will win big if you drag those who don't vote to the election bloc." When Rock The Vote supplies "a few reasons 2 vote" like "EXPRESS YOURSELF" or "DO IT," they're leading most youths on, deluding them into thinking that they've something interesting, important, or original to add to the political discourse—when in reality, they don't.
If voting is treated frivolously, it becomes a sort of Philosopher's Stone, as though disinterest, ignorance, and apathy can be wished away like I can turn this lump of lead into gold. But a vote isn't sorcery and it certainly isn't a commodity: pop cultural charms otherwise, voting can't be rocked, or bought like bling, or pimped like a ride.
What voting should imply is a sense of maturity and a thoughtful commitment to the life of the Republic. For those that don't get this—for those who think voting is cool, hot, and sexy, or for those who vote because they want to feel important or because they fear for their lives—well, their lack of participation in politics isn't "sad" or "regrettable," as someone put it at the rally. On the contrary, they know who they are and at least have the good sense to steer clear of the polls on Election Day.
It's not P. Diddy who's the reasonable one here. "The American people deserve, and indeed need, a more substantive engagement of the real issues that confront our nation and our world," P. Wright continued in his convocation address. Elsewise, "we shall all lose, because we will have allowed ourselves to be distracted from matters of substance."