The Value of Voting: Understanding its Importance and the Role of Education

Voting is one of the most fundamental rights that citizens have in a democratic society, yet many people struggle to understand its significance and how it can impact their lives. In this article, we will explore the importance of voting and the role that education plays in empowering individuals to make informed decisions at the polls.

Education is Key to Understanding Voting Issues

Unfortunately, many people feel overwhelmed by the number of issues on the ballot and lack the knowledge to make informed decisions about who to vote for or what policies to support. This can be attributed to the proliferation of misinformation and partisan propaganda that often dominates the media landscape. As one individual stated, "I hated reading those dadgum pamphlets and arguments... everybody's gonna throw mud first and foremost before presenting any type of facts." This phenomenon is particularly common among people who are not familiar with voting processes or have limited access to reliable information.

Fortunately, there are resources available that can help individuals educate themselves on the issues at hand. Organizations like the League of Women Voters offer neutral and non-partisan information about candidates and policies. Additionally, websites such as BallotPedia provide a comprehensive guide to voting procedures and candidate profiles. These resources can help individuals feel more confident in their ability to make informed decisions at the polls.

Empowering Youth to Participate

Educating young people is crucial for ensuring that future generations are able to exercise their right to vote and participate in the democratic process. As one individual noted, "I would take him [her child] to the voting booth with me... absolutely I wanted them to understand this is the single most important thing you do in a democracy." This emphasis on education and involvement is essential for cultivating a culture of civic engagement that will persist beyond election day.

In fact, many parents are already taking steps to educate their children about voting. By involving their kids in the voting process from an early age, parents can help them develop critical thinking skills, understand the importance of civic participation, and make informed decisions about who they want to represent them. This approach can have a lasting impact on young people's engagement with politics and their ability to participate in democratic processes.

The Impact of Voter Apathy

Unfortunately, many people feel disconnected from the electoral process, often due to a lack of involvement or awareness about voting procedures. As one individual stated, "it's easy to think where it doesn't matter... I don't see the impact." This sentiment is echoed by some politicians and media outlets that seek to demotivate voters through sensationalized reporting and divisive rhetoric.

The result can be a decrease in voter turnout, which has been exacerbated by social media platforms that often prioritize conflict and polarization over fact-based information. According to some experts, this strategy is designed to disenfranchise certain groups of people, particularly those from underrepresented communities. As one expert noted, "it's like they're using Twitter to flood the zone with BS... so when you see all that noise, you just throw up your hands and say ah screw it."

The Importance of Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is essential for ensuring that individuals have a voice in their community and can hold elected officials accountable for their actions. When people are informed and engaged, they are better equipped to make decisions about who to vote for and what policies to support.

Unfortunately, many voters feel disconnected from the electoral process due to a lack of involvement or awareness about voting procedures. This is particularly true for marginalized communities that have been historically disenfranchised through voter suppression tactics and partisan gerrymandering. As one individual stated, "the lifeblood of democracy is this idea that you can actually affect change... but if you don't like the taxes then vote." This sentiment highlights the importance of civic engagement and the need for individuals to take an active role in shaping their community's future.

The Future of Voting: Education and Civic Engagement

In conclusion, education plays a critical role in empowering individuals to make informed decisions about voting. By providing access to reliable information, educational resources can help individuals navigate complex issues at the polls. Additionally, involving young people in the voting process from an early age is essential for cultivating a culture of civic engagement that will persist beyond election day.

Furthermore, it's essential to recognize the impact of voter apathy and the tactics used by some politicians and media outlets to demotivate voters. By promoting fact-based information and encouraging civic engagement, we can work towards creating a more inclusive and participatory democracy.

Ultimately, voting is not just about casting a ballot; it's about shaping the future of our community and holding elected officials accountable for their actions. As one individual stated, "it's really easy to think where it doesn't matter... but I completely understand that." By educating ourselves and engaging with others in the democratic process, we can create a more just and equitable society for all.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhas been was nominated ages ago to fill it not soon enough story but yes well to fill an empty seat in the Federal Communications Commission she's a former Democratic FCC official she was nominated by the White House October 2021 okay a year and a half ago uh but the problem is the Telecommunications people hate her which in my opinion makes her the perfect person for an FCC commissioner yeah uh she has been consistently attacked and the Republican uh Congress has blocked her well on a couple Democrats also yeah mansion and Mark Kelly I thought more of him yeah and yeah there's a here's what makes me angry okay I get that politics is politics but they also there was a lot talking about her personal life she is a both she is a reformer I would say that she's a reformer who is understanding and understands the technical aspects of telecommunications at a very deep level like I've had discussions with her about carrier aggregation oh you know I know her she's great she is she is smart and sharp she is also gay and that has come up oh several times both officially and in this slimy underhanded like Astro turfy lobbying way and the Republicans are and I am outraged that Gigi's personal life is part of this at all and I just so like it's one thing yes I knew that Gigi might be a hard sell because she is a reformer and she's very much you don't get to be in charge of anything in Washington having openly stated your opinion right and advocated for anything you have to be as neutral as like I don't know it was something neutral water bread I was like wait Stacy's mom neutral neutral is light red you know my mom is the opposite of neutral but yes maybe the song um you just have to be incredibly inoffensive and yeah um I'm just so mad we lost such an opportunity and we haven't been able to regulate anything at the FCC for the last two and a half maybe secondarily part of this right is not just 100 let's not fill this seat so that we can't get anything done yeah she is absolutely an advocate for net neutrality and uh this is something telecommunications hates but it's something that you and I and everybody's listening to the show supports should support yeah she's very pro-consumer in all of her things and she's not afraid to call out the fact that we have basically a monopoly in our telecoms sorry not about we have a very anti-competitive telecommunications regime in the US in effect really yeah yeah well please like anyone's getting DSL nowadays you're either I mean if you're in one of the few areas where they offer that's a good point sure that's a good that's actually a really good point it used to be a duopoly now she was arguing that's it yeah way before because she technically understood what was happening in Broadband oh it's an acknowledgment unfortunately it's an acknowledgment of the importance the FCC has to these companies the power the commission would have if they were fully staffed and they they weren't being so viciously and frankly underhandedly opposed this isn't oh this you know this isn't really about policy this is about how we can undermine this um so it's a 2-2 split right now normally the FCC has two Republicans two Democrats and then a chairman nominated by the incumbent party the the president which would give it a 3-2 Democratic majority that's exactly what Ted Cruz and Mansion don't want right so that's right and I will I will point this out the telecoms in the EU have managed to convince I Margaret how do we say that Margarita Steiger yes they've managed to convince her to listen to their arguments that they that Netflix should be paying um paying them for uh clogging up their pipes basically so this is an argument that we've had for decades now in the U.S where is ETC BS double bill it's double billing complete yes Sutter BS but now the EU is like oh well that's that that makes sense okay so keep an eye on that because if they succeed in the EU they're gonna come right back here and be like well maybe now is the time and they did it during the pandemic because people were streaming so much Netflix while businesses were trying to also do work and the Broadband pipes couldn't handle it I I mean I I guess I mean look it's appalling to uh attacker because of her sexuality that's ridiculous but I guess you could make the case that this is what makes America so great is that uh you know you can fight something like this by spending money on on billboards in Las Vegas and and advertisements in uh in West Virginia and so forth the center for a free making that money no I understand that money it's corporations well this is literally just buying ads which there is even without citizens united has always been legal conservative groups this is from The Washington Post spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking sona's partisan and extreme leading a campaign focused in the states of several moderate Democrats who are already on the fence about Zone uh one billboard in Las Vegas hence Mark Kelly uh Gigi son is too extreme for the FCC this is a was paid for by the American accountability Foundation the foundation and another conservative non-profit organization the center for a free economy pace place more than two hundred thousand dollars in Facebook ads opposing soon the foundation ran ads last month saying she was dangerous because she served on a board that opposes anti-sex trafficking efforts and guess what that board was so first of all that's not what the board was doing but guess what the board was the eff she serves on the eff Electronic Frontier Foundation she's an advisor so they said oh the eff is in favor of sex trafficking and so Gigi son is in favor of sex trafficking none of that is true um and I would argue that like I don't know if y'all remember cops as a commissioner but Gigi is no more liberal than cops I would say Michael cops and cops yeah the cops that's a religious statement saying how polti was at this yeah and point out that Sone became an advisor of the eff after the bill was signed into law by President Trump in 2012 yeah years after Trump made it a law uh she also saw Fierce opposition according to the post from the Fraternal Order of Police which criticized her ties to the eff because it's opposed to Breaking encryption yeah well so are we that means governmental body Ernesto Falcon a senior legislative council at the Rights group uh called the Fraternal Order of police's opposition to sone's nomination purely political muscle and said it wasn't based on reality or facts she founded I was just checking to make sure because I knew she was involved with it she was one of the co-founders of public knowledge which was a group that was all about net neutrality it was a big Advocate against can't do it as we were I mean yeah that's that's not being in favor of of sex trafficking I mean it's not even close so really these were this was a smeared campaign the problem is that the moderate Democrats uh are were swayed by it they're wimps as our you know all politicians these days are utter you know what Joe manchin Mansion I don't know how to say his name he is not he is not a moderate I don't know what he is no but Mark Kelly is Jacqueline Rosen from Nevada is and um maybe there's I mean if you're in Nevada I guess you might say well my seat is uh you know it's a purple State my seat is at risk so I gotta give in on some of these things but these are bogus these are totally bogus allegations um anyway and who loses out we lose out because and this is why it should be important everybody listening Gigi son was an advocate for consumer rights for net neutrality for the kinds of things we want as opposed to Big Telecom big make no mistake about this big Telecom won a massive Victory here okay so what the holiday said because I I hate politics and and try not to pay any attention to it and I know that makes me a bit of an idiot or whatever but all all you just said was people were slinging mud about this person yes and why can't she just essentially just do the same thing because this that's all that scene is politics does nowadays is somebody just throws out a bunch of because I'll tell you why bandage slanderous stuff and even though it's slander nothing ever really I'll tell you exactly why I'm about it she doesn't have all four you know it's all about money to buy the billboard across the street that says that's BS this is this is the Telecom industry spends a lot of money to make sure that Congress and the FCC does its bidding we as users don't carry that much weight now you have an important point though the weight we have is our vote yeah and so that money would be meaningless if I could buy the right but we're affected by money and the electoral college but yes well okay but but if but honestly if we voted in great numbers in favor of net neutrality in favor of free free and Fair competition among telecom companies we would win that battle we win but we keep on but it keeps on being challenged again and again and again yeah you know this is the role of money in politics that's the problem man it's the role of money in politics ultimately I'm going to sound insensitive and I don't I'm not trying to be but I don't like the fact that she bowed out of this because of all of this ridiculous pressure the whole line of you know what do you believe in and what are you going to fight for and she sounds like she's she's the perfect person to fight for all of these and you're told you're told the chance to put somebody in so you get the chance even more graciously no no nominee Will Survive 18 months uh of this kind of stuff you just can't you in fact I was surprised they lasted this long it's because Biden really wanted her in that she was well Biden's under criticism too for not having supported enough not having gone to the matter yeah he he could have gone to the gone to the mattresses is that a phrase is when you're getting ready for a gang war so when The Sopranos go to the mattress or the in The Godfather when they go yeah the corleones go to the mattresses that's because we're having a gang war when you go to the mat it's a wrestling metaphor isn't it Jeff I I feel like they should have gone to the mattresses is I know there's a lot of money involved but man we the people get outraged over so much stuff that is way smaller in value you know where's the outrage from we the people on this where's outrage where we can actually get in and raise these two hundred thousand dollars half a million dollars well you're right you guys there's a lot of there's a lot of outrage about uh I don't know Google Twitter and so on so forth but the company we all universally hate is our phone company the companies that try to ruin the internet is the phone company yeah the companies that that spend this fortune on lobbying to kill things like net neutrality is the phone company we hate ma Bell's children but they cleverly managed to get away with it a lot more than the tech companies these days yeah you're actually raising the most important point and you and and it speaks directly to what you said about I just I don't like this stuff I don't I hate this stuff and I don't blame you I don't blame you and that's exactly what these companies want they want you to say it's too complicated it's too contentious I it doesn't affect me screw it and and so there's really only one way they can win if you and others like you don't get educated and don't vote if you don't participate so because they've got all the money they've got the war chest they buy these ads but it's also in their interest I think to keep people unhappy to keep people dismissive of politics you can't win it can't you can't make a difference it doesn't I'm not going to vote and that's how that's really the ultimate way to win because the truth out of my thinking sir I'm sure my thinking is man my vote I know it counts but I hardly ever go into any voting scenario with faith yeah and that's why we have it's really our job I believe uh uh in in the in the media to convince people like you you're the Target and we said you're the most normal person on the show you're the time to convince people like you that you're not only your vote count it's the only way to win against Deep Pockets and so that but it's hard you know explaining net neutrality I do this I've been doing this for 10 years trying to explain that neutrality it's very very difficult and companies make it even more difficult with giveaways you know explaining zero rating yeah explaining zero rating to people is very hard this is where T-Mobile says hey by the way you're going to get a year free at Disney plus and it's not going to count against your data cap and so that's all called zero rating it's a way that T-Mobile can put their thumb on the scale and make consumers go well there's nothing wrong with that I like that and so it's a very difficult thing but we have to do better I think we media has to do better educating people about what neutrality means why this is so important especially we on the internet we who use the internet to to broadcast to write to to communicate because it really is the one of the most important issues that the FCC has to deal with right now and ultimately and this is what the eff said by the way in response to sone's withdrawal um this is the uh the guy I just quoted from the eff Falcon he said it's never been about Gigi son it's always been about preventing the FCC from doing its job these companies that's what it sounds like yes they don't want regulation they've got the money to buy the Billboards to convince and by the politicians to buy the politicians and honestly if people voted money is only good to the extent that it sways people's votes if people voted ultimately that's the only real currency in any of this is your vote well as people vote and become more successful what we're seeing is that an attack on voting rights we cannot solve this here but yeah that was the other part is some people they it's apparently is a struggle just to be able to go and vote that should tell you something that should tell you something that means your vote is valuable because they're they're putting a lot of effort into keeping you from voting especially as a black person yeah they do not want black people voting in this country so that should tell you your vote is valuable everybody's vote is valuable and I I would have no fear for this country at all if everybody voted and everybody got educated before they voted that would be the best thing well that's the other piece is education yeah the education education I absolutely hated reading all of those dadgum pamphlets and arguments you know prior to voting because everybody's gonna again throw mud first and foremost before presenting any type of facts and then you finally get to the facts to figure out okay why am I voting on this why does this matter to me or does this matter to my family so on and so forth I hated reading those things what's that the League of Women Voters pamphlets those are pretty those are relatively neutral I would say and then if you have like hadn't seen that I'd just get whatever comes in the mail and then I go online and try to look at multiple different sources because you know I don't want to look at the League of Women Voters I don't know did they start because they were trying to educate women yes when we finally got the vote only oh my God was it only essential yeah that's a very trustworthy non and I would say non-partisan Source yeah I also go to a place called ballot pedia which I recommend to everybody yeah also really all about not partisan not arguing one way or the other but just about giving you the information because it's hard to get that information we're dealing with this right now with Michael who uh uh just got the right to vote you know in last year's win talk about vulnerable yeah and so uh and Lisa's great at least it's so good with this because she'll she sat down with his ballot she said let's go over each of these issues let me show you how to research it let me show you and then she says so now that you know this what do you think and he'd say well here's what I think and we said good there's your see check that box then and uh I think every parent needs to do this with their kids when they get turned 18. uh they do it before I do it when I'm voting I when I was a kid when I was a when our kids were little I would take him to the voting booth with me absolutely I wanted them to understand this is the single most important thing you do in a democracy this is this is the the this is my job this is your job it's your it's your job paying taxes and voting and and it's the lifeblood if you don't like the taxes then vote you know right all of this all of it the problem is it's really easy to think where it doesn't matter I don't see the impact and honestly when it and I think this is the intent when you flood the Zone with BS people throw up their hands they say ah screw it so this is this is the Vladimir Putin's strategy this is the trolls strategy this is to some degree the political party strategies these days and this is what this is where I think Twitter went wrong you flood the Zone with so much conflict and Bs that ant you go screw that I'm done and you know what I'm going to keep my head down I'm going to do my job I'm going to feed my family I'm going to you know watch a movie on Saturday night yep have a whiskey have a cigar yep and I completely understand that I often wonder how people who live in places like Putin's Russia survive and that's how you survive you just you say I you trust nothing that's not not even that it doesn't affect me I got the potatoes to to harvest I'm gonna make my vodka you know we'll see you later and and unfortunately more I see especially smart Geeks this is very common among people who love technology in our audience is there's they go ah it's just a cesspool screw it yeah but that's how people like Donald Trump get elected is the lack of uh involvement among people not so much who votes but who chooses not to vote right makes that happen well said Mr Jarvis and by the way the political parties know this and so they carefully tailor their message to get the voters they want to the polls which is why all these social issues are taking the the four because that's a hot button issue that can get you out to the polls galvanizes galvanizes people this episode of tech break is brought to you by ACI learning while organizations continue to seek out cyber security Talent the Cyber skills Gap grows bigger every day the average salary for cyber security specialists in the United States is 116 thousand dollars through it Pro's binge-worthy programs ACI learning can help Elevate anyone choosing to start their I.T career visit go.acilearning.com twit to get started today thank youhas been was nominated ages ago to fill it not soon enough story but yes well to fill an empty seat in the Federal Communications Commission she's a former Democratic FCC official she was nominated by the White House October 2021 okay a year and a half ago uh but the problem is the Telecommunications people hate her which in my opinion makes her the perfect person for an FCC commissioner yeah uh she has been consistently attacked and the Republican uh Congress has blocked her well on a couple Democrats also yeah mansion and Mark Kelly I thought more of him yeah and yeah there's a here's what makes me angry okay I get that politics is politics but they also there was a lot talking about her personal life she is a both she is a reformer I would say that she's a reformer who is understanding and understands the technical aspects of telecommunications at a very deep level like I've had discussions with her about carrier aggregation oh you know I know her she's great she is she is smart and sharp she is also gay and that has come up oh several times both officially and in this slimy underhanded like Astro turfy lobbying way and the Republicans are and I am outraged that Gigi's personal life is part of this at all and I just so like it's one thing yes I knew that Gigi might be a hard sell because she is a reformer and she's very much you don't get to be in charge of anything in Washington having openly stated your opinion right and advocated for anything you have to be as neutral as like I don't know it was something neutral water bread I was like wait Stacy's mom neutral neutral is light red you know my mom is the opposite of neutral but yes maybe the song um you just have to be incredibly inoffensive and yeah um I'm just so mad we lost such an opportunity and we haven't been able to regulate anything at the FCC for the last two and a half maybe secondarily part of this right is not just 100 let's not fill this seat so that we can't get anything done yeah she is absolutely an advocate for net neutrality and uh this is something telecommunications hates but it's something that you and I and everybody's listening to the show supports should support yeah she's very pro-consumer in all of her things and she's not afraid to call out the fact that we have basically a monopoly in our telecoms sorry not about we have a very anti-competitive telecommunications regime in the US in effect really yeah yeah well please like anyone's getting DSL nowadays you're either I mean if you're in one of the few areas where they offer that's a good point sure that's a good that's actually a really good point it used to be a duopoly now she was arguing that's it yeah way before because she technically understood what was happening in Broadband oh it's an acknowledgment unfortunately it's an acknowledgment of the importance the FCC has to these companies the power the commission would have if they were fully staffed and they they weren't being so viciously and frankly underhandedly opposed this isn't oh this you know this isn't really about policy this is about how we can undermine this um so it's a 2-2 split right now normally the FCC has two Republicans two Democrats and then a chairman nominated by the incumbent party the the president which would give it a 3-2 Democratic majority that's exactly what Ted Cruz and Mansion don't want right so that's right and I will I will point this out the telecoms in the EU have managed to convince I Margaret how do we say that Margarita Steiger yes they've managed to convince her to listen to their arguments that they that Netflix should be paying um paying them for uh clogging up their pipes basically so this is an argument that we've had for decades now in the U.S where is ETC BS double bill it's double billing complete yes Sutter BS but now the EU is like oh well that's that that makes sense okay so keep an eye on that because if they succeed in the EU they're gonna come right back here and be like well maybe now is the time and they did it during the pandemic because people were streaming so much Netflix while businesses were trying to also do work and the Broadband pipes couldn't handle it I I mean I I guess I mean look it's appalling to uh attacker because of her sexuality that's ridiculous but I guess you could make the case that this is what makes America so great is that uh you know you can fight something like this by spending money on on billboards in Las Vegas and and advertisements in uh in West Virginia and so forth the center for a free making that money no I understand that money it's corporations well this is literally just buying ads which there is even without citizens united has always been legal conservative groups this is from The Washington Post spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking sona's partisan and extreme leading a campaign focused in the states of several moderate Democrats who are already on the fence about Zone uh one billboard in Las Vegas hence Mark Kelly uh Gigi son is too extreme for the FCC this is a was paid for by the American accountability Foundation the foundation and another conservative non-profit organization the center for a free economy pace place more than two hundred thousand dollars in Facebook ads opposing soon the foundation ran ads last month saying she was dangerous because she served on a board that opposes anti-sex trafficking efforts and guess what that board was so first of all that's not what the board was doing but guess what the board was the eff she serves on the eff Electronic Frontier Foundation she's an advisor so they said oh the eff is in favor of sex trafficking and so Gigi son is in favor of sex trafficking none of that is true um and I would argue that like I don't know if y'all remember cops as a commissioner but Gigi is no more liberal than cops I would say Michael cops and cops yeah the cops that's a religious statement saying how polti was at this yeah and point out that Sone became an advisor of the eff after the bill was signed into law by President Trump in 2012 yeah years after Trump made it a law uh she also saw Fierce opposition according to the post from the Fraternal Order of Police which criticized her ties to the eff because it's opposed to Breaking encryption yeah well so are we that means governmental body Ernesto Falcon a senior legislative council at the Rights group uh called the Fraternal Order of police's opposition to sone's nomination purely political muscle and said it wasn't based on reality or facts she founded I was just checking to make sure because I knew she was involved with it she was one of the co-founders of public knowledge which was a group that was all about net neutrality it was a big Advocate against can't do it as we were I mean yeah that's that's not being in favor of of sex trafficking I mean it's not even close so really these were this was a smeared campaign the problem is that the moderate Democrats uh are were swayed by it they're wimps as our you know all politicians these days are utter you know what Joe manchin Mansion I don't know how to say his name he is not he is not a moderate I don't know what he is no but Mark Kelly is Jacqueline Rosen from Nevada is and um maybe there's I mean if you're in Nevada I guess you might say well my seat is uh you know it's a purple State my seat is at risk so I gotta give in on some of these things but these are bogus these are totally bogus allegations um anyway and who loses out we lose out because and this is why it should be important everybody listening Gigi son was an advocate for consumer rights for net neutrality for the kinds of things we want as opposed to Big Telecom big make no mistake about this big Telecom won a massive Victory here okay so what the holiday said because I I hate politics and and try not to pay any attention to it and I know that makes me a bit of an idiot or whatever but all all you just said was people were slinging mud about this person yes and why can't she just essentially just do the same thing because this that's all that scene is politics does nowadays is somebody just throws out a bunch of because I'll tell you why bandage slanderous stuff and even though it's slander nothing ever really I'll tell you exactly why I'm about it she doesn't have all four you know it's all about money to buy the billboard across the street that says that's BS this is this is the Telecom industry spends a lot of money to make sure that Congress and the FCC does its bidding we as users don't carry that much weight now you have an important point though the weight we have is our vote yeah and so that money would be meaningless if I could buy the right but we're affected by money and the electoral college but yes well okay but but if but honestly if we voted in great numbers in favor of net neutrality in favor of free free and Fair competition among telecom companies we would win that battle we win but we keep on but it keeps on being challenged again and again and again yeah you know this is the role of money in politics that's the problem man it's the role of money in politics ultimately I'm going to sound insensitive and I don't I'm not trying to be but I don't like the fact that she bowed out of this because of all of this ridiculous pressure the whole line of you know what do you believe in and what are you going to fight for and she sounds like she's she's the perfect person to fight for all of these and you're told you're told the chance to put somebody in so you get the chance even more graciously no no nominee Will Survive 18 months uh of this kind of stuff you just can't you in fact I was surprised they lasted this long it's because Biden really wanted her in that she was well Biden's under criticism too for not having supported enough not having gone to the matter yeah he he could have gone to the gone to the mattresses is that a phrase is when you're getting ready for a gang war so when The Sopranos go to the mattress or the in The Godfather when they go yeah the corleones go to the mattresses that's because we're having a gang war when you go to the mat it's a wrestling metaphor isn't it Jeff I I feel like they should have gone to the mattresses is I know there's a lot of money involved but man we the people get outraged over so much stuff that is way smaller in value you know where's the outrage from we the people on this where's outrage where we can actually get in and raise these two hundred thousand dollars half a million dollars well you're right you guys there's a lot of there's a lot of outrage about uh I don't know Google Twitter and so on so forth but the company we all universally hate is our phone company the companies that try to ruin the internet is the phone company yeah the companies that that spend this fortune on lobbying to kill things like net neutrality is the phone company we hate ma Bell's children but they cleverly managed to get away with it a lot more than the tech companies these days yeah you're actually raising the most important point and you and and it speaks directly to what you said about I just I don't like this stuff I don't I hate this stuff and I don't blame you I don't blame you and that's exactly what these companies want they want you to say it's too complicated it's too contentious I it doesn't affect me screw it and and so there's really only one way they can win if you and others like you don't get educated and don't vote if you don't participate so because they've got all the money they've got the war chest they buy these ads but it's also in their interest I think to keep people unhappy to keep people dismissive of politics you can't win it can't you can't make a difference it doesn't I'm not going to vote and that's how that's really the ultimate way to win because the truth out of my thinking sir I'm sure my thinking is man my vote I know it counts but I hardly ever go into any voting scenario with faith yeah and that's why we have it's really our job I believe uh uh in in the in the media to convince people like you you're the Target and we said you're the most normal person on the show you're the time to convince people like you that you're not only your vote count it's the only way to win against Deep Pockets and so that but it's hard you know explaining net neutrality I do this I've been doing this for 10 years trying to explain that neutrality it's very very difficult and companies make it even more difficult with giveaways you know explaining zero rating yeah explaining zero rating to people is very hard this is where T-Mobile says hey by the way you're going to get a year free at Disney plus and it's not going to count against your data cap and so that's all called zero rating it's a way that T-Mobile can put their thumb on the scale and make consumers go well there's nothing wrong with that I like that and so it's a very difficult thing but we have to do better I think we media has to do better educating people about what neutrality means why this is so important especially we on the internet we who use the internet to to broadcast to write to to communicate because it really is the one of the most important issues that the FCC has to deal with right now and ultimately and this is what the eff said by the way in response to sone's withdrawal um this is the uh the guy I just quoted from the eff Falcon he said it's never been about Gigi son it's always been about preventing the FCC from doing its job these companies that's what it sounds like yes they don't want regulation they've got the money to buy the Billboards to convince and by the politicians to buy the politicians and honestly if people voted money is only good to the extent that it sways people's votes if people voted ultimately that's the only real currency in any of this is your vote well as people vote and become more successful what we're seeing is that an attack on voting rights we cannot solve this here but yeah that was the other part is some people they it's apparently is a struggle just to be able to go and vote that should tell you something that should tell you something that means your vote is valuable because they're they're putting a lot of effort into keeping you from voting especially as a black person yeah they do not want black people voting in this country so that should tell you your vote is valuable everybody's vote is valuable and I I would have no fear for this country at all if everybody voted and everybody got educated before they voted that would be the best thing well that's the other piece is education yeah the education education I absolutely hated reading all of those dadgum pamphlets and arguments you know prior to voting because everybody's gonna again throw mud first and foremost before presenting any type of facts and then you finally get to the facts to figure out okay why am I voting on this why does this matter to me or does this matter to my family so on and so forth I hated reading those things what's that the League of Women Voters pamphlets those are pretty those are relatively neutral I would say and then if you have like hadn't seen that I'd just get whatever comes in the mail and then I go online and try to look at multiple different sources because you know I don't want to look at the League of Women Voters I don't know did they start because they were trying to educate women yes when we finally got the vote only oh my God was it only essential yeah that's a very trustworthy non and I would say non-partisan Source yeah I also go to a place called ballot pedia which I recommend to everybody yeah also really all about not partisan not arguing one way or the other but just about giving you the information because it's hard to get that information we're dealing with this right now with Michael who uh uh just got the right to vote you know in last year's win talk about vulnerable yeah and so uh and Lisa's great at least it's so good with this because she'll she sat down with his ballot she said let's go over each of these issues let me show you how to research it let me show you and then she says so now that you know this what do you think and he'd say well here's what I think and we said good there's your see check that box then and uh I think every parent needs to do this with their kids when they get turned 18. uh they do it before I do it when I'm voting I when I was a kid when I was a when our kids were little I would take him to the voting booth with me absolutely I wanted them to understand this is the single most important thing you do in a democracy this is this is the the this is my job this is your job it's your it's your job paying taxes and voting and and it's the lifeblood if you don't like the taxes then vote you know right all of this all of it the problem is it's really easy to think where it doesn't matter I don't see the impact and honestly when it and I think this is the intent when you flood the Zone with BS people throw up their hands they say ah screw it so this is this is the Vladimir Putin's strategy this is the trolls strategy this is to some degree the political party strategies these days and this is what this is where I think Twitter went wrong you flood the Zone with so much conflict and Bs that ant you go screw that I'm done and you know what I'm going to keep my head down I'm going to do my job I'm going to feed my family I'm going to you know watch a movie on Saturday night yep have a whiskey have a cigar yep and I completely understand that I often wonder how people who live in places like Putin's Russia survive and that's how you survive you just you say I you trust nothing that's not not even that it doesn't affect me I got the potatoes to to harvest I'm gonna make my vodka you know we'll see you later and and unfortunately more I see especially smart Geeks this is very common among people who love technology in our audience is there's they go ah it's just a cesspool screw it yeah but that's how people like Donald Trump get elected is the lack of uh involvement among people not so much who votes but who chooses not to vote right makes that happen well said Mr Jarvis and by the way the political parties know this and so they carefully tailor their message to get the voters they want to the polls which is why all these social issues are taking the the four because that's a hot button issue that can get you out to the polls galvanizes galvanizes people this episode of tech break is brought to you by ACI learning while organizations continue to seek out cyber security Talent the Cyber skills Gap grows bigger every day the average salary for cyber security specialists in the United States is 116 thousand dollars through it Pro's binge-worthy programs ACI learning can help Elevate anyone choosing to start their I.T career visit go.acilearning.com twit to get started today thank you\n"