I have a confession. I don't like MySpace.
I registered with MySpace a while back, have my own page, and have looked around on occasion. I am not an active MySpace user, hate the constant advertising, and am of the opinion that majority of active users of MySpace are in the younger phases of their life that they are still defining themselves and their own individual 'voice'. As such, I don't have much in common with them.
Imagine my surprise this morning when I saw that MySpace had launched a 'Declare Yourself' campaign, to get young people to register to vote. Their own banner states that "During the last midterm election, less than 30 percent of people made the decisions for all of us." They provide a blank webform, you fill in your information, and they will present you with a .pdf worthy for printing. I suspect that less than 50% of their members are actually old enough to vote, but hey, every single involved voter counts!
Mea Culpa MySpace, Mea Maxima Culpa. I had no idea that you would use your massive subscriber base for noble purposes, and thought you were just lining the kids up to be sheared by the major record labels and other 'friends of Murdoch'.
For the country's sake, I hope the MySpace people are effective in getting registered voters. The dismal turnout at elections, and the absurdly-high incumbent-reelection rate, are tragic. Lets hope that it is not too late to energize the newly-voting-age generation to be civically active. As Bertrand de Jouvenel said "A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves."
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