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Well, I’m glad I just saw Eminem’s political opinions on BET. Funny to see that someone who flicks off television cameras seems to have assumed the position (at least in his mind) of a political leader. The video is pretty patronizing (i.e., “Today’s Lesson” on the blackboard at the beginning of the video and the following quote from the song):
“Let me be the voice in your strength and your choice.”
Yay, democracy. Everybody put on a black hoodie and vote the way I tell you to. Sounds to me like the people we’re fighting.
Frankly, I don’t care what anyone thinks about the Iraq war. The more I learn about WMD (in my class on that subject), the more I see that chemical weapons are basically crap compared to conventional weapons. Biological weapons are another story, but they still aren’t nearly as dangerous (in their actual, mass-delivered form: they’re harder to deliver than one would think) as, say, high explosive shells. I think the debate comes down to enforcing UN resolutions: should national sovereignty be breached as a result of a broken resolution? I say yes in many cases (including Iraq), some say no (which I completely understand on a policy argument basis), and that’s okay. That’s a leadership style and a policy debate. And if you think Bush misled the American public, you are entitled to count that against him when you assess the candidates’ characters.
As for the scene in the video of the eviction of the poor Hispanic woman, I went to irs.gov and keyed in fictional information for a single mother with two children and 2 jobs (total annual income of $40000 [pretty generous at minimum wage or slightly higher], with $2000 of that going to childcare costs [low] and $1000 going to medical) and that person will pay exactly $84 in taxes. I didn’t manipulate this at all: my first run came out to $0 in taxes, so I went back and doubled the income to $40000 and lowered the child/medical deductions from a total of $6000 to $3000.
I’m not saying that poor people aren’t poor, but I am saying that poor people don’t generally pay taxes. I would honestly love to hear an argument against this, because I always wonder what the hoopla is about when it comes to “taxing the poor.” I realize that the middle class tax rate is a genuine political debate, but Eminem was suggesting low income people in his video (Are your parents worried about being evicted?).
Anyway, these “Get out the vote and vote my way” campaigns really piss me off. I don’t want people who are “informed” from an Eminem video to vote. If you have cable to see the damn video you have just the same access to CNN (or, God forbid, FNC!). :)