The iPod Touch is Pretty Cool...

New York University students have spoken. According to a poll conducted by an NYU journalism class, 20 percent of NYU students say they would give up their vote for president if they could have a free iPod Touch. Apparently, Apple products are dominating not only the computer realm, but also the basis of the entire free world! I am sure that people in other countries living under a cruel dictatorship with little to no freedoms, all feel life would be just fine if they could only get their hands on a cool new iPod touch. Other students' priorities lie elsewhere. Two-thirds of students polled would give up their vote for a year's tuition, 66 percent would do it for a free ride to NYU and about half of the students said they would give up their vote for a nice fat check of $1 million - that they could spend on tuition of course, or maybe a few hundred iPod Touches.

As a student at Northeastern University, I can understand student debt. I myself have almost six figures worth of loans out just for my undergrad degree and like NYU, Northeastern is very expensive, costing upwards of $40,000. I am not saying any of this justifies this poll's finding, because I think it is abhorrent that students in pursuit of a higher education would put voting so far down on their list of "important things" that they would take a new piece of technology over their rights as an American citizen. The college tuition thing I can sympathize with, but I think when some analyze this poll they might be quick to judge it as a glaring example of our generation's apathetic attitude and feelings of being disenfranchised. However, those same students seem to contradict themselves:

Ninety percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for the money also said they consider voting "very important" or "somewhat important"; only 10 percent said it was "not important." Also, 70.5 percent said they believe that one vote can make a difference - including 70 percent of the students who said they'd give up their vote for free tuition.

Click here to read the entire article. The findings are really quite illuminating.