I’ve been living the past few years without cable TV. It simply doesn’t excite me. When I visit my parents the TV is just an annoying noise in the background, filled with advertisements for products that I could care less about. I think the last time I really watched much of it was in 2003-2004, but then for 2 years prior to that I didn’t have it then either. Guess I’m one of those people lampooned on the “Stuff White People Like” blog on the “Not Having a TV” thing. 
Generally it makes my life better and I feel more informed since I don’t have it. However, for some things this election I’m clueless. On a certain level it doesn’t really matter. Not to say that my “vote doesn’t count, but honestly I’m voting in Massachusetts. We will no sooner vote for McCain as a state than George Bush will call off the War on Terror. Massachusetts will go blue. The only reason we got any coverage last time was because Kerry lives here, and we had the DNC here.
At the same time, I am seriously missing some parts of the puzzle when it comes to this election. These might be the absolute least significant parts however at the same time. I haven’t seen a single commercial for the candidates. I haven’t watched a debate except for seeing clips on YouTube. For the longest time, through the lens that is the internet and Digg it looked like Ron Paul actually had a fighting chance and people knew who he was. Seems that in the “real world” that isn’t the case. I still read the NYT and WSJ when I get the chance of course to get real new, but I am seeing the election through very different lens than 99% of Americans. Oh, and I may or may not have downloaded and watched episodes of the Daily Show and Colbert Report (no self incrimination here MPAA!)
Maybe it is for the better. There’s too many debates. They are generally filled with as many false promises and lies as they were in High School during your student council elections (no you aren’t getting beer in the vending machines no matter what they say). The commercials are all useless slander and propoganda. At the same time, I feel like an outsider to most of America due to this different lens that I view the election through.
I should admit, to a degree I have a certain apathy about this election that I haven’t had in a long time, although I do read the “real news” still. As long as a democrat is elected I don’t care. Obama or Hillary doesn’t matter much to me. They both say and do things that piss me off. I think I like Obama better, but I know that when Bill was in the Oval Office my life was 100x better. Again, living in Massachusetts doesn’t do much for your voting pride as you know that it’s just another ball in the blue bucket. I’m just glad that it’s not (and can’t be) Bush.
