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| Graphic: ABC News |
| If you voted for marijuana as a CitizenTube question, then your vote didn't count. |
Yes, questions about marijuana were the most popular in the CitizenTube voting Monday afternoon.
But YouTube, in a gutless move, decided at the last minute not to present the highest ranked questions to the President.
Initial reports that the President had ignored the marijuana questions were inaccurate; YouTube took pot, the top vote getter, out of the running.
President Obama never even got an opportunity to answer the most popular question of all.
Wait, what?
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| Graphic: easydreamer.blogspot.com |
| "We'll let you vote, but don't expect it to actually MEAN anything" |
If they were going to ignore the questions that got the most votes, then why, exactly, did YouTube ask viewers to go to the trouble of voting? And why did they go through the motions of counting those votes, if they were good for bupkis, nada, zilch?
Here's a more likely scenario:
YouTube blanched when they saw marijuana had once again proved itself to be a popular, mainstream issue by topping the vote.
So they chunked all the votes, and just picked the questions they would have asked anyway.
It seems obvious now that when YouTube said "We've collected the top questions," they didn't mean the questions viewers thought were tops. They mean the questions they picked to be tops.
"It's unfortunate that YouTube would shelter the President from something that's obviously on a lot of people's minds," said Ben Morris of the Marijuana Policy Project.
As pointed out by Morris, marijuana can no longer be safely regarded as a "fringe issue."
With recent national polls showing legalization approaching majority support, the time when politicians could afford laugh off the marijuana issue is coming to a close.
Last year, when marijuana reform questions topped the "Open For Questions" forum sponsored by the White House, the President did answer them.
Unfortunately, he chose to answer them in a dismissive and condescending manner, as in "what that says about the online audience," and never addressed the substance of the questions.
23 comments
Comments
nIk said:
If anyone was gullible enough to believe this was actually gonna happen.. i have a few items id like to sell you.... XD
this is the same bullshit he did at the beginning on the whitehouse site, where he ignored the top three answers. Same lies different face people.
Hello replied to nIk:
In a way I kind of think you're right. I don't think he should fear what the general public's reaction would be to him simply answering a question about marijuana, but I do think he might lose some support from republicans in congress, and with it his possibility to pass anything. Maybe the republicans would have never supported him on anything anyway, though. Who knows. Did his political move to not answer, in the long run, be better for the country than answering would have? We'll never really know.
Hello replied to Hello:
------My previous post was actually a reply to foo------
foo said:
Legalization needs to happen without comments by the president. He is in a tricky situation as it is, and having him announce his thoughts on the matter either way will hurt him, and hurt the chances of getting legislature passed. it is in our best interest to have the president keep his mouth shut on this issue, if you actually care about it.
brian replied to foo:
Yea Foo. Because being passive and not pushing what the people want has changed history in the past. Yea right.... This man needs to stop being such a lier. I agree with this nIk character. Same Lies Different face, its always the same with these politicians. What you need to realize is they all will promise you the moon until they get your vote, then they could care less. He has the power to end raids on dispensaries and start changing things for the better, but just like all before him, hes no more than a pupet to exercise the ideas of the party behind him.
Dale R. Gowin replied to brian:
Real change in the USA only comes about through direct action, not solely through political or legislative action. We've got to turn up the heat in the streets. The anti-slavery, women's suffrage, labor movement and civil rights reforms wouldn't have happened without demonstrations, strikes, boycotts, and other forms of direct action.
Chris replied to brian:
Always the same with these politicians?
Like it's always the same with these stoners? Good for nothing layabouts, living in their parents basements, smoking taxpayer money?
Fuck you. Ignorant generalisations are a smokers worst enemy, and what you're doing is no better.
Firstly, this is a global issue, nothing Obama can do is going to fix anything outside the U.S., and secondly, he's already said all he needs to on the issue. He's spoken about cannibis, and his previous use, without putting any negative connotations on it. And that's all he needs to do. Be honest, then withdraw. It's his job to listen to to the wants of citizens, not to try and sway them with his own opinions.
Leave Obama alone, and start getting people who might actually be helpful on the matter. Try Richard Branson. I'm fairly sure the only reason it isn't legal yet is because he's been busy sending people into space.
Meh said:
Where are your sources? i want to see where you got your information.
Ubangi Gonzolas said:
"what that says about the online audience,"???
It says, "We are going to the polls at the next election and we will remember how you treated us in a condescending dismissive manner and we will vote you on to your unemployment line." Got it dipshit?
G Suther said:
"YouTube blanched when they saw marijuana had once again proved itself to be a popular, mainstream issue by topping the vote."
You forgot a key modifier
"YouTube blanched when they saw marijuana had once again proved itself to be a popular, mainstream issue on the internet by topping the vote."
Don't confuse online voting with public opinion.
So the Internet polls are inaccurate. Must be why they were wrong about Obama winning. Oh, wait....
The powers that be would have us believe that the Internet is somehow separate from the rest of the world, and that it therefore "doesn't count" when it comes to matters of public opinion.
The reason they want us to believe that is because, for the first time i history, the powers that be aren't the sole gatekeepers of mass-distributed information.
So they are constantly implanting the message "you can't trust the Internet."
I say that's bullshit. The Internet is a reflection of the world WITHOUT the filters normally imposed on news by governments and corporations.
G Suther replied to alapoet:
Of course you can't trust the internet. In a public opinion poll, people are asked a question and give an answer, there's no room for error. In an internet opinion poll, there's no way to limit each person to one vote and so internet polls are always skewed towards issues the internet deems important.
You're point about Obama is irrelevant (and wrong). As far as I can remember, Ron Paul topped every single online poll during the primaries, yet he didn't win a primary or the nomination. Odd, no?
So you're honestly saying that if everyone one in America got to submit a question to ask Obama, the top question in the poll would be related to legalising marijuana. It wouldn't be related to the economy, or their jobs, or health care, or education, or crime.
Well if that's what you think, fair play, but I think an awful lot of other people think differently.
James Frolov replied to G Suther:
You must not have ever done statistics in college. Opinion polls can be skewd any way you want by how the questions are asked and the data interpreted.
Benji said:
Ubangi, I hate to say it, but the internet is an unfiltered source of information and opinions. Yeah, mine too. I know. I can easily understand his dismissive attitude toward an internet poll. Not to mention, you hardly help the cause by making innocuous threats toward a man who will NEVER see what you wrote. Rabble rousing is hardly useful.
Bill said:
How do you know it was YouTube & not the Obama administration who decided not to take the question?
nobdy replied to alapoet:
It may have been, and personally I suspect it was, an agreement between the Obama admin and Youtbue ahead of time. Obama clearly danced around the issue, throwing MJ advocates under the bus without a second thought last year - he certainly wasn't comfortable with the question and I can easily imagine him making sure he didn't come across it again.
Youtube claims that just because MJ questions got the most votes points to the fact that Mj advocates organized on the internet and pretty much rigged the voting.
So based on that (they claim) they felt fine censoring out ALL MJ related questions. Censorship is a big no-no in the US, I thought. So there should be proof rather than mere speculation that the questions were rigged before engaging in censorship (according to an AP online article today).
Do you think they had or even sought proof?
The censorship and the reasoning behind it is what was rigged.
Kay Lee said:
Media censorship and political propaganda are the only things keeping this prohibition alive.
Dean said:
All that needs to be done, is to put a stop to civil forfeiture of property, and legalization won't be necessary, it will be like in the 70's, when it wasn't worth the hassle to bust anyone.
Gerald R Reynolds said:
Does everyone not remember the lip service he displayed the last time medical marijuana or marijuana period for that matter,was brought up? He tried to ridicule his largest audience and support group,the on line community.This tells one how betrayed one can feel by Obama's actions to date. The first time we fielded questions the marijuana question was #1 also, that's when he chose to ridicule us. "Tells one what that says about the on line audience" he stated the fucker...sorry but I can't help but feel betrayed. Now, more question-ares and what happens...the top 3 questions were about pot....and we were again ridiculed, but he's going to go home and pop a beer cap waddaya bet?..but the last straw was the lip service he paid to the LGBTY...or the dont ask dont tell...He's the commander in chief all he has to do is say so and give a direct order and voila' fuck the others and the press....do the right thing mr so called christian...president...
