Thursday, December 1, 2011

VOTE AGAINST

In the 2000 elections in the US, I had just turned 18. I was finally old enough to have my voice count. Growing up when Bill Clinton was running for president, propaganda in the community I grew up in had us hear repeatedly that Clinton is a pre-Jew basically meaning Clinton bad.
Then in the 2000 elections, George Bush was running against Al Gore with the vice president Joe Leiberman as his running mate. A very superficial teen at the time, I read somewhere that Leiberman was the head of the Zionist lobby in the US and my vote sure as hell was not going to someone killing Palestinians.

So, I voted AGAINST Gore in support of Bush.

Luckily, my ballot didn't go through because of technicalities, my inexperienced teen self couldn't bother to search and find out about the candidates. My young, excited self was just happy to have the chance to vote. My unversed, yet influenced mind was lazily under misinformed notions which allowed me to think I will be doing the Middle East a favor by voting for George W. Bush.

Thinking back to those times, I get nightmares. This is what had me rolling in fear of my second chance at a fresh vote. This time to my real home and nation, the one I live in and raise my children in. Egypt, as a whole, I feel is going through the same emotions I had in 2000.

My friends, who I love and cherish, yet probably may have different political directions than me, are, I fear, making the same mistake.

When voting for a candidate in the parliamentary elections, or the retake, I beg of you, do not use your vote as one against a candidate because while you are voting against someone, you are actually giving someone legislative authority, you are giving him or her your own voice. So whatever this person adds or distracts from the countries laws, in essence so are you. Most of the negative information you have of most of the candidates, is based on propaganda spewed at us from our media. We do not have as much of a chance to get to know our candidates but with as much time as we have we should try to get to know them.

Choose a candidate based on his/her credentials.

Based on what s/he is, not on what s/he's not.